Salazar, Kinney retool pro-Clinton American Leadership Project for general election

American Leadership Project, the pro-Hillary Clinton 527 group that is headed up by California-based political consultants Roger Salazar and Jason Kinney, is retooling as it gears up to play a role in a general election in which Clinton primary opponent Barack Obama will be the Democratic Party’s nominee.

“The primary season just ended, and we’re evaluating where we are,” Kinney told PolitickerCA.com today. “I think we can be an effective voice in the general election highlighting the issues.”

Kinney and Salazar declined to specify what role the organization would be playing, but confirmed that they were actively considering their options.

“We’re still talking about it,” said Kinney. “It’s something we’re seriously considering.”

The organization, which as a registered 527 was prohibited from coordinating its efforts with the Clinton campaign but was allowed to raise unlimited sums of soft money, focused its messaging on issues central to middle-class Americans. The organization raised nearly $3.58 million during the course of the cycle. It ran about $3.25 worth of television advertisements in the Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, Indiana, North Carolina, Montana, South Dakota, Oregon, and Puerto Rico primaries.

“We were all pleased by how it turned out,” said Kinney. “We focused on issues exclusively. We didn’t focus on scurrilous attacks.”

Kinney and Salazar are widely seen as two of the leading strategists in California Democratic politics. Kinney, a consultant at California Strategies, worked as an adviser to former Governor Gray Davis before serving as the lead strategist on John Garamendi’s successful 2006 lieutenant governor campaign. Salazar, who is part of the Sacramento firm Acosta Salazar, worked as a spokesman for Davis’s successful 2002 reelection campaign. He also worked on John Edwards’s 2004 presidential campaign and Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign.