Hillary's Ex

Barack has expanded and realigned in preparation for the next phase of the campaign, including grabbing Hillary's ex.

Patti Solis Doyle, who was ousted from the faltering Clinton campaign in February, will be chief of staff to Obama's eventual pick as vice presidential nominee.

That could revive talk of whether the former first lady might become Obama's running mate, although she and Solis Doyle have reportedly not spoken for months and Clinton herself says she is not in the running for the job.

In some ominous news for the Obama team, they've even taken on one of John Kerry's people.

Among other prominent hires was 2004 nominee John Kerry's spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter as chief of staff to Obama's wife Michelle, portending a harder hitting rebuttal of Republican attacks on the putative first lady.

Hard hitting? Really?