UPDATED: 11:25 a.m.:
Barack Obama is expected to announce new fundraising guidelines for the DNC today, which will bar federally registered lobbyists and political action committees from contributing to the committee.
“The DNC and the Obama Campaign are unified and working together to elect Barack Obama as the next president of the United States. Our presumptive nominee has pledged not to take donations from Washington lobbyists and from today going forward the DNC makes that pledge as well,” said DNC Chairman Howard Dean.
“Senator Obama has promised to change the way things are done in Washington and this step is a sure sign of his commitment. The American people’s priorities will set the agenda in an Obama Administration, not the special interests.”
The rules are the same Obama imposed on his own campaign during the primary election.
The move comes as the Obama campaign begins revamping the DNC from an independent national committee to a coordinated arm of the campaign. Obama has pegged senior strategist Paul Tewes to head his DNC efforts.
The campaign already has FEC approval for joint fundraising efforts with the DNC and will hold a joint fundraiser tonight where the maximum contribution will be more than $28,000.