But while that may surprise those unfamiliar with the sharp-elbowed world of presidential politics, it's hardly unexpected that the DNC would prefer an established Democrat with centrist views over a fair-weather party member who self-identifies as a democratic socialist.
The Clinton plan, he wrote in a December 1993 memo, would addict Americans to a "new government dependency," establish Democrats as "generous protector(s) of middle-class interests," and thus "strike a punishing blow against Republican claims to defend the middle class by restraining government".
By this stage in most Republican campaigns, a clear front-runner has normally established himself (Democrats are more fickle).
These established House Democrats find themselves in the same endangered straits as some of their newer colleagues, particularly those who were swept into office in 2008 by Mr. Obama as he scored victories in traditionally Republican states like Indiana and Virginia.
The advertisement could help in establishing the Democrats as the party of the middle class, and it does complement Senator John Kerry's accusations that Mr. Bush's policies cater to corporate interests more than they do to regular, working people.
It is imitating the tactics that established the Liberal Democrats as a strong parliamentary force in the 1990s.
Most Republicans have bitterly opposed the C.F.P.B. since Democrats established it as part of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010.
All three parties campaigned vigorously, and, for the first time, the Whigs and the Democrats established national committees to help direct their efforts.
She tells us that past concessions have established in both Democrats' and Republicans' minds the thought that Obama was a weak negotiator a "pushover".
