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The first sentence in the last paragraph implies that Obama's campaign is opting out of the 50 state strategy. Is that true?
on the other hand, the wrong side's 527s are well funded and the dems don't seem to have any.
i agree. this is good. if nothing else, obama can drown the right wingers in dollar bills :-)
"In the past couple of weeks, our campaign counsels met and it was immediately clear that McCain's campaign had no interest in the possibility of an agreement," Burton said. "When asked about the RNC's months of raising and spending for the general election, McCain's campaign could only offer its expectation that the Obama campaign would probably, sooner or later, catch up. And shortly thereafter, Senator McCain signaled to the 527s that they were free to run wild, without objection."
And without comprehensive limits on all political players, it made little sense for Obama to tell his millions of small-dollar donors that they couldn't invest financially in his campaign.
Of course, Republicans will whine that Obama "broke his promise". They've got no other choice. McCain is getting crushed financially, and has little of the popular support that Obama enjoys.
Yeah Obama, you can have more of my money!
T.
But it was politically smart to opt out of public financing because he has to be able to compete with the smears that are going to start coming his way.
If they're really serious about public campaign financing, Obama's move should not only force McCain to opt out, but it should have Rahm Emmanuel shytting in his pants because this move effectively challenges sitting House and Senate members more beholden to corporate cash than representing their districts. The districts can talk with their votes and their money.
How many CBC members do you think Obama pissed off with this move? Even though they will actually get more money from public donations than they get with corporate cash, because they are low on the feed chain in terms of payola ($1000 for them vs. $50K Tom DeLay used to charge lobbyists just to take their phone calls).
Thanks.
Rik-
The first sentence in the last paragraph implies that Obama's campaign is opting out of the 50 state strategy. Is that true?
ptcruiser,
I never meant to imply that Obama was abandoning the 50 state strategy. Just the opposite: I believe he is very devoted to it.
In fact, I believe this is Obama, taking to a National Level, his Pennsylvania strategy that he did against Hillary.
In case you don't know what I mean, right after Pennsylvania, I read a post on HuffingtonPost where this guy wrote that Obama had just won the nomination, because he had used Pennsylvania to bankrupt Hillary Clinton.
I believe he's using the 50 State Strategy to strangle McCain financially. There will come a point where McCain simply, even if he gets an huge infusuion of cash, won't be helped. I believe Obama is pushing toward that goal.
Left wing operatives such as Bill Moyers have been gunning about "too much money and influence in politics". Now that Obama has raised more money than anyone in history......the silence is deafening.
Where as you all are inclined to point to the record number of individual contributors......the same CORPORATE OPERATIVES that you hate have also contributed and thus the record amount.
Who has purchased Obama?
Who does he owe now?
I have little doubt that his recorded message to his donors, many of which who sent money to his campaign but have in the past complained about 30 year old text books in their own community - will be pacified by his message despite the about face on an important subject that you all have lobbied for for years.
Is that which you claim is most dear to you all subject to the conditions that are present and the person in question?
If you have ever read the book "Animal Farm" the key to the ruling power's power was that their 'constitution' was written in chalk and could be modified to fit the changing situation. Or do you all use dry erase markers for yours?
(If Obama is elected I will have a field day in reporting on you all's hypocrisy)
If they're really serious about public campaign financing, Obama's move should not only force McCain to opt out, but it should have Rahm Emmanuel shytting in his pants because this move effectively challenges sitting House and Senate members more beholden to corporate cash than representing their districts. The districts can talk with their votes and their money[/quote]
Christian Progressive Liberal:
Just as you have a "CBC Watch" I am acting as a "CPL Watch".
Do you notice how you shifted your analysis of how OBAMA has vacated a position that you had favored (public financing) but you tell MCCAIN to put up or shut up?
What is your opinion of Obama vacating the important promise on Publicly Financed election now that he is flush with corporate cash?
"A top McCain adviser told MSNBC earlier this month, "now that we're in the general election, the RNC money counts, the DNC money counts. So the truth is today, John McCain has more cash on hand and more money than Barack Obama does."
In April alone, they raised nearly $45 million. That's more than our campaign and the Democratic National Committee combined. And that doesn't include the plans of 527 groups like the one called "Freedom's Watch," which has said it will spend as much as $250 million under Karl Rove's direction to attack and defeat Barack Obama.
To compete, Barack has put his faith in ordinary people giving only what they can afford. That's been the strategy of this campaign from the beginning, and more than 1,500,000 supporters like you have gotten us this far."
There is no need to explain, and if the shoe was on the other foot?? McCain would not give it a second thought.
1.5 million donors and a reported 8 million online supporters give Obama LOTS of leverage. In fact that is one of the reasons why HRC could not persuade the supers to back her, despite major pressure and threats..they simply looked at her broke ass pockets vs Obama's stacks and said SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIT!!
McCain is also broke, most GOP faithfuls neither trust nor like him--he just accepted public funds and they are pissed! lol
What can Obama do with 8 million supporters? ALOT...with his stacks and peeps, he can apply pressure to pesky repugs holding up legistlation with boots on the ground (50 state strat) and money (campaign donations). Unlike Senators, House members are in pertual campaign mode and always need money. Therefore they are susceptible to corruption and lobbyists. If he can provide them with an alternative to corporate and special interest funds--he can keep wayward dems in line and scare the crap out of the GOP.
That is why he is SOO SCARRRY!!
Sad...very sad.
SO lets see:
527s $250-300 million
GOP $40-85 Million
McCain $85 million
That's nearly $500 million!!
McCain opted out of public financing (after pledging he wouldn't) before Barack did, but there was no fanfare.
I give you one guess as to why.
Barack will take this manufactured hit and keep on winning.
McCain is talking about "solemn pledges". "I can't control all those 527's."
Bullshit. He doesn't want to control them because he has NO CHANCE of winning without them.
He's a crook.
Another Nixon running or president.
Barack is a politician. If he prooves to be a crook, I'll call him one.
But this doesn't make him a crook.
John McCain is a crook.
Period.
I'll say it again: I won't be shocked if he's not on the ballot in November.
------
The never-ending race-baiting from Obama crowd continues. There appears to be no lower bar/threshold on the type of criticism Obama and his moonies consider to be "racist".
Obama breaks his word, is rightfully and widely criticized for doing so, and, of course, on cue, the Obama parrots squawk "racism".
Hysterical. Pitiful.
Keeping a promise, which would limit his reach, just to show some phony honor with a crippling campaign finance system is silly. Why should Obama let himself be a chump to the Repubs and their 527s? Why should he handicap himself?
I think he seriously considered it in the early days. From what I've read, money from the Internet exceeded expectations. Money is the least of his worries.
His numbers for Virginia are looking good.
Here is the link to the diary on dkos, rec it and more importantly if you have an ebay account complain. There are also phone numbers to call.
Thanks.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/6/19/181143/757/380/538648
Let them either both play by the rules or stop crying "foul" when the other party does it.
As for you Constructive Feedback, I do believe I can report you for stalking and you've left enough evidence, including the invoking of a "CPL" watch to get you banned from most blogs because you're stalking me and you hijack threads.
Now I know why you have 50 million blogs with different names and no one's reading them, so you come on blogs that I frequent and stalk me.
Even internet stalking is a crime and you continue to hand me enough evidence to get you banned from blogs if not convicted in a court of law. Keep it up...
The sooner Obama realizes that he can't please everyone (a typical liberal trait) the sooner he'll be on his way to a landslide victory in November.
Democrats have been clear to say that they don't want to get swift-boated this year. Well, this is the first step to ensuring that won't happen.
The Republicans know that they have absolutely NO control over two matters that will likely decide this election.
The first is the financial tsunami through record waves of new donors and campaign contributions.
The second is voter turnout. High registration amongst black and youth voters must be giving the Republicans nightmares. A 20% lead among women . . . 60%+ support from both Latino and Jewish voters. . . all bad signs for the Republican party this year. It means that hopes for a splintered Democratic party are slowly beginning to fall by the wayside.
After months of "Obama can't get xyz votes" the Democratic party is beginning to coalesce behind its noiminee (still shaky ground, but looking very positive at the moment). Add in a 20-25% gap in voter enthusiasm and Obama's got all the right ingredients for a big victory come November.
This is a trade-off. Obama gives McCain a campaign issue (public finance/trustworthiness/honor, etc.) in exchange for roughly 500 million dollars. . . money that will be well spent to defend himself against 527s whom McCain has already said he can't control (meaning, they're coming at Obama full-force).
McCain will work this issue for all that it's worth. And Obama had better watch out because McCain will be looking any and every type of corporate and/or special interest donation he can find to paint Obama as a hypocrite. Obama better be working on his surrogate game.
But, at the end of the day, people don't base their votes on public campaign financing. And McCain's best hope was to see if Obama might be gullible enough to throw away a security blanket of up to 500 million dollars just for the sake of "nobility."
Campaign finance is a great water-cooler topic, but it won't sway the election; especially not with larger issues like the War and economy to deal with.
And don't forget, people vote with their dollars. A campaign contribution is an investment. You don't need a poll to test the effectiveness of this gamble. . . just keep track of the ever-expanding donor list.
Obama will take a hit over the next news cycle. He might even take a slight dip in the polls (mostly among Independents). One round of the Sunday talk shows and we move on to the next issue by Tuesday morning.
The Obama website is asking donors to "Declare Independence" from the broken public financing system by making a donation.
I wonder how much cash they pulled in for May.
I heard speculation that Obama could reach 100 million (believe it or not) for the month of June. That's probably assuming that Obama got a substantial boost in campaign donations for his historic nomination as well as crossover donors from the Clinton camp ("to the victor goes the spoils" type of stuff)
I don't believe that number for a second. I think it's way too high, but I'm expecting a big number. . .perhaps 60 million might not be out of the ballpark. If Obama comes even close to 100 million . . . well, that would just be scary on so many levels.
Either way, this was a smart decision. And, although Republican surrogates will attack him for this ("no honor," hypocrite, etc.), I'm sure even they know that they'd do the exact same thing if they were in Obama's position.
Obama is raising huge amounts of money. That's something to celebrate, not something to be ashamed of. It's kind of like when Hillary tried to attack Obama for outspending her in every state. It sounds persuasive for a moment until you realize that he must outraise her before he can outspend her. That means more people are willing to invest in Obama's campaign than his opponent (at rates of 3 or 4:1). That's powerful stuff.
Obama just needs to keep an eye on those Clinton donors switching over to his camp. McCain will be looking for any corporate or special interest influence he can find. More money means a bigger tent, which means more opportunity for mischief.
This shouldn't be a big issue by this time next week. In fact I've heard a few moderate Republicans admit that this won't be a big campaign issue.
Let them either both play by the rules or stop crying "foul" when the other party does it.
::
Thanks, CPL. Just checking. I don't like to make assumptions.
::
That's a wrap.
it depends p
on what is you definition of "issues"
You'll see things like Vets for Freedom asking when Obama's going to Iraq.
Really, I think if any 527s play a serious role this year, they'll be from the dhimmicrat side.
"AS RECENTLY as November, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was unequivocal about whether he would agree to take public financing for the general election if his Republican opponent pledged to do the same. "If you are nominated for president in 2008 and your major opponents agree to forgo private funding in the general election campaign, will you participate in the presidential public financing system?" the Midwest Democracy Network asked in a questionnaire. Mr. Obama's answer was clear. "Yes," he wrote. "If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."
The man makes promises he has no intention of keeping. I have no problem with Obama spending all the money he can raise, but the larger question is whether Obama is a man of his word, the answer is No. And if the question is whether Obama is an honest politician, the answer is also No.
Stop Bitchin!! this is not Kerry and GORE...There will be no swiftboating going on here!!
Anon,
You'll see things like Vets for Freedom asking when Obama's going to Iraq.
Really, I think if any 527s play a serious role this year, they'll be from the dhimmicrat side,
Sometimes D, I think you're on the GOP crackpipe. Freedom watch spent nearly 1M in Mississippi...and will spend millions more to smear Obama. This time, the dems have a candidate that will outspend and force repugs to defend states like GA, NC, IND....I hope he raises A billion and force 527 to waste money DEFENDING AND PROPING UP McCain in RED states like TEXAS..lol
The election will not be close
Oh he plans an overseas trip to Western Europe with stops in Iraq and Afghanistan. While repugs are busy smearing him stateside, imagine Obama speaking in front of 50,0000 screaming Frenchmen?
Freedom's Watch was founded to be the conservative answer to MoveOn. They made a big splash in the beginning, but have have serious leadership problems since. Not even conservatives are jumping up and down about them anymore.
On the other hand, you have the various Soros organizations who are-most likely-holding back out of respect to Obama.
Think about it: if you have a million dollars to spend on attacking Obama, but you knew that there was someone with $25 million that would squash you the minute you jumped, what would you do?
Now I know why you have 50 million blogs with different names and no one's reading them, so you come on blogs that I frequent and stalk me.[/quote]
Sista Girl - don't sweat yourself. You are far from important in my life that I would spend time "stalking you".
I am focusing on your content, your hypocrisy and your heavy use of character assassination as standard tools in your tool box.
Please detail for me how making reference to "CPL Watch" is evidence of stalking?
Aside from that you have several blogs as well. I read these public resources and respond accordingly.
Let's be honest CPL - you don't like being confronted or confounded. As long as you are able to wage your attack and the world is as YOU say it is - all is fine in your world. As with many Black Quasi-Socialist Progressive-Fundamentalist Racism Chasers - to be QUESTIONED or challenged is a violation of YOUR rights - to hell with free speech.
My blogs are my own expression. I would much rather you point out where I am WRONG than pointing out how POPULAR I am or are not.
It seems to me that while many CBC members are POPULAR in their own districts - they have not EFFECTIVELY turned around their educational systems, the safety issues on the streets or the availability of businesses to employ the local people and provide for services. But hey - their job is to get reelected and the people who vote for them are getting that which they have demanded.
You do know that once OBAMA gets into office though - all of the Black communities are going to be positively transformed. We are all going to be so motivated to live up to our potential that other races are going to ask us to slow down so they can compete with us. Right?
(I have NEVER verbally assaulted you nor called you a name - other than a Philistine - of which you play the part. It seems that you need to improve your debating skills and not assume everything as an attack on your outer shell.
Or I could solve all of this by simply IGNORING all that you rant about)
b-serious.....YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!!!
This line of reasoning is why we have Negroes complaining about 30 year old text books in the public schools THAT DEMOCRATS RUN and yet they are sending a check to Obama each month as an INVESTMENT.
As I read your statement I clearly understood the BENEFIT that the Democratic party will receive from this rather organized effort by Black folks to get Obama elected.
What I am still puzzled about is exactly how the BLACK COMMUNITY benefits?
All of you should seek to rent the documentary "Eyes On The Prize II". It details the campaign run of Carl Stokes in Cleveland. If we removed the name Stokes and the location "Cleveland" and replaced it with Obama and the USA you would have a nearly indistinguishable situation. The entire effort of the Black community was put in DOING THE UNTHINKABLE.
At the end of the day they WON but they still LOST. Cleveland today is one of America's poorest cities despite this "ceiling" being thrust through. This should be a tale to all that makes the distinction between the AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM and that which you need to do in your OWN COMMUNITY in order to create wealth. Instead for to many the God-vermit is seen as the agent of wealth creation as they pursue the ever elusive "level playing field". Despite having mastered the use of the Bobcat to grade the field it seems that the practice of actually creating large and substantianable businesses to employ our people locally is a plateau that is not easily reached via a political movement.
What exactly is your community getting from all of this voter mobilization? Why can't I use the cities of Philadelphia, Newark, Detroit, Balitmore and St Louis as evidence that POLITICAL VICTORY does not always translate into economic victory nor law and order?
So much for hope, change, unity and other platitudes. Obama is a politician, as sleazy, scummy and two-faced as they come.
Do you actually believe any of that or are you just mindlessly repeating talking points? Is the "public" angry with Obama? His supporters are not angry with him. Now they know he's not a naive pushover.
This is silly, Obama has a responsibility to his supporters to conduct his campaign in a way that makes him win...within the rules. He is NOT a fool, and only a fool would turn his back on 1.5+ million donors in favour of a contrived morality.