300.

Reacting to a New York Times article that credulously reported on Obama's sprawling, 300-person foreign policy advisory team, Steve Clemons makes a sound point:

During George W. Bush's first campaign, Robert Zoellick -- then head of the Center for Strategic and International Studies -- played a key role in tying together the Washington policy intellectual scene. I was amazed to see how quickly Zoellick turned the Republican think tank crowd into an engine for Bush. John McCain didn't make any substantial efforts on this front in 2000 -- and from my vantage point, Al Gore didn't give it much attention either. But Bush's key spear-carriers at the time did.Thus, what Bumiller might have said is that Obama himself is colonizing the public intellectuals scene -- rather than focusing on the fact that all of these people are supposedly advising him.The closer truth is that Obama is colonizing them. And that's politically smart.

There's an old saying about bureaucracies: No meeting is bad if you're part of it. No idea is unwise if you helped shape it. In general, the massive advising teams candidates put together during elections are less so they can receive analysis from all those experts than so all those experts can feel like they're contributing analysis. Thus, they become invested in Obama, and use their influence on behalf of his political success.