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Cunningham looks out-of-state to build a political team

In putting together a political team for his likely gubernatorial bid, Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham has drawn from consultants and operatives from outside the Keystone State.

His committee, Friends of Don Cunningham, has hired Dan Kelly as a campaign manager and political director. Kellly, who will also manage Cunningham’s reelection battle this year, has worked on and managed Congressional races in Virginia and Ohio, and has also done field work for Democratic Party organizations in Virginia and Wisconsin.

Cunningham’s most high-profile pick was to hire Celinda Lake as his pollster. Lake runs the Washington-based polling firm Lake Research Partners, which has worked for heavyweights like Bill Clinton, Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi.

John Rowley, president of Fletcher, Rowley & Riddle in Nashville, has been hired to handle the campaign’s advertising strategy. And Drew Westen, a psychology professor at Emory University who runs the political consulting firm Westen Strategies, has been retains as a policy and communications consultant.

For the moment, all of them work for Cunningham’s committee, but he signaled they would be retained if and when he declares his run for governor.

“We have a top-notch political team that’s hired and in place,” Cunningham told pa2010.com. “We’ve make key strategic hires in the areas we a

May 7, 2009 at 3:40 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Don Cunningham

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