As a follow-up to campaign deal-making, here’s a verbatim transcript of a quick one-on-one I had with As a follow-up to campaign deal-making, here’s a verbatim transcript of a quick one-on-one I had with Obama consultant David Axelrod: DA: All I’ll tell you is that we’re after everybody…we want to be everybody’s choice. I don’t know anything about deals. TS: Can you comment on whether you approached other candidates? DA: I didn’t approach any candidates. TS: Did David [Plouffe, campaign manager] or anyone else? DA: I…I…believe we are aggressively pursuing all second choice…all the second choice options directly in the precincts without deal-making. TS: So, as a matter of targeting not as a matter of deal-making? DA: That’s what I’m saying. There was a notable pause before that second-last question. Earlier in the day, a Dodd spokesman basically confessed that some of the top-tier candidates, without naming names, had approached their campaign, too. --Tom Schaller
