Well technically, it is bundling for Obama but bumbling just seems a better description. This is the first in an irregular series on who is raising cash for Barack Obama. The Obama campaign likes to make a lot of claims on the money it has raised. He touts that he doesn’t take money from oil companies (no one does or has since the 1907 Tillman Act that prohibits corporations from making direct campaign contributions) and that the bulk of his campaign contributions are raised on-line in small contributions. In fact a little more than half has been raised on-line. Sixty percent of the Obama campaign’s funds have come from people who have given at least $1,000, the kind of donors who are most often recruited by bundlers, wealthy individuals who tap their network of friends and business associate to raise funds. Less than 30% of his contributions come from people who gave less than $200.
Obama, like any other serious candidate, uses a cast of well-connected fundraisers to bundle donations from wealthy folks. In return, they get extraordinary access to the candidate and the campaign. Bundlers have direct access to top campaign officials and get regular updates from the campaign. Weekly conference calls and daily emails are the norm.
I remember Ed Koch fondly growing up living for a short spell in New York City. He’s feisty, combative, and blunt. Qualities I admire. Here are some comments he made today on the Democratic race:
As Democrats coalesce around Sen. Barack Obama, one of Hillary Clinton’s must outspoken supporters is not mincing words: the party is walking needlessly and unaware into a general election buzzsaw.
“I believe Obama probably will win [the Democratic nomination], although in politics you never ever can count anybody out,” said former New York Mayor Ed Koch. “I think Hillary is doing a magnificent job and is a great candidate and if anybody can pull it out, she can. But my honest opinion is, it probably won’t happen. And that he will be the candidate and that he will lose.”
Mistake is not exactly the word,” replied Koch. “It is the wrong judgment. The reason that the superdelegates are there is to select that person who is most likely to prevail. And…even though he does not win on his own merits in terms of racking up sufficient delegates, in all probability the superdelegates will be afraid to exercise their own judgment. And we will simply go along with the count of the delegates that were chosen in the polls.”
Koch’s argued that Obama showed a complete lack of conviction and leadership in handling the controversy surrounding his former pastor. The theme is a constant feature in the former mayor’s syndicated columns, several of which have directly questioned the credibility of Obama’s attempts to distance himself from Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
“I am shocked, without knowing the reason that it is happening, that none of the allegations with the respect of Wright, his former pastor, have had any impact on his polling,” said Koch. “I’m absolutely surprised because I think that all the things that Wright says — and nobody believes that Obama supports those statements — but he didn’t have the courage to stand up and object for twenty years. If you are running for president, you can’t be like some other poor guy in the pews who is afraid to stand up or even say something privately to the minister. You’re the guy who wants to lead the country and you have to have courage to stand up and lead your own pastor. He did not exhibit that. But the fact that the Democratic constituency doesn’t seem to care is a shock to me, but I’m certain that the overall constituency voting in November will care and that it will make the difference in the adverse way to his candidacy.”
Saying he would support Clinton and “hope she ultimately prevails,” Koch wasn’t worried that Democratic infighting could hurt the party’s chances in the fall. It was Obama’s candidacy, he repeated, that would be the death knell.
Obama’s candidacy is the death knell. Yup, this is a looming disaster. And Koch understands why:
But the fact that the Democratic constituency doesn’t seem to care is a shock to me, but I’m certain that the overall constituency voting in November will care and that it will make the difference in the adverse way to his candidacy.
Can it be any clearer than this? This is why in politics, words can not be minced. Bluntness is required.
Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfensen was on MSNBC’s Morning Joe this morning and offered insight as to why Clinton should not be counted out. It’s on to West Virginia.
This article from the North Western Indiana Times has more background on the delay in reporting Tuesday’s results. While more than one official is embarrassed, Gary Mayor Rudy Clay remains defiant:
Clay responded, “There is no hanky-panky going on here in Lake County.” But Clay conceded Wednesday improvement was needed. “We’re going to make some changes,” he said. “We’ve got to do better. Things will be different in November (for the general election).” Clay did not elaborate on the changes.
No hanky-panky? We not talking about a sex scandal, we are asking why the votes were not released when they were tabulated. And why is it that Obama and his cohorts always promise change without specifying exactly what they mean?
Of all his speeches I dare say this one is the most truthful that he has given. From March 12, 2006 at Washington’s Gridiron Club Dinner. He was so honest and modest when he admitted:
This appearance is really the capstone of an incredible 18 months. I’ve been very blessed. Keynote speaker at the Democratic Convention. The cover of Newsweek. My book made the best-seller list. I just won a Grammy for reading it on tape. And I’ve had the chance to speak not once but twice before the Gridiron Club. Really what else is there to do? Well, I guess…. I could pass a law, or something…
That would have been nice. Even just one out of committee could have been cool. Hell just holding a committee meeting would have done the trick. But don’t worry you reached across the aisle and voted for the Bush-Cheney Energy Bill so we know you can work with the Republicans, ain’t that a relief.
Leave it to the brain dead one foot in the grave already branch of the American conservative movement that is the National Review to tout the employment figures released last week as proof that the economy has exited “the recession that never was.” Jerry Bowyer writes:
Hat tip to my friend Larry Kudlow, official coiner of the term “recessionistas.” What is a recessionista, you ask? When you see reporters badgering the president for not admitting that “we’re already in a recession,” you’re seeing the recessionistas. When you hear financial pundits confidently asserting — without the slightest hint of self-doubt — that we’ve entered a recession, you’re hearing the recessionistas.
The problem with the recessionistas is that for the past five years they’ve been wrong. And now, right when their recession cries were reaching fever pitch, it appears as though they’re going to be wrong again.
Monday’s data from the Institute for Supply Management is our first real glimpse at the second quarter of 2008 — you know, the one we’re in now. The above chart shows that the service sector — which is by far a better guide to the ebbs and flows of our economy than the manufacturing one — bottomed in January and has been recovering steadily ever since. It is now at an expansionary 52 percent. (Anything above 50 is positive growth territory.)
When you hear a recessionista say, “Yes, we grew in the first quarter, but since then . . . blah, blah, blah,” show them this ISM report. The service sector has only gotten stronger since the first quarter ended. The recession that never was seems to be over.
What Boywer is excited about is that well a) he counts himself contra-recessionista and b) that the ISM report showed a gain of 90,000 service jobs in the first quarter. He omits the fact that the US economy lost 110,000 manufacturing jobs. Apparently losing the manufacturing base of the country doesn’t concern the contra-recessionistas. Geez, which pays more? Working at the Wal-Mart customer service desk or working at Maytag building appliances? Just curious.
Note: This was originally published on One Good Move on March 2, 2008. It has been slightly revised.
There is a rather interesting interview of Senator Barack Obama in the New Yorker magazine from November 2006. The interview makes for interesting read offering insights on how Obama views the Presidency.
In the interview one comment by Obama did irk me. Obama noted:
”By the way,” just as an aside. You know, I’m not a historian, so— There’s a hotel, I think it’s the Capitol Hilton, in Washington; and downstairs, where there are a lot of banquet halls, there’s a whole row of all the presidents. You walk by the forty-three that have been there and you realize there are only about ten who you have any idea what they did.
Here is the Thursday May 8, 2008 edition of interesting reads from around the world.
A Joint Israeli-Palestinian State?
The Los Angeles Times explores the possibilities and highlights some of the voices on both sides who think that may the solution.
Biofuels & Beef in Brazil
Germany’s Der Spiegel reports on the visit of Germany’s Minister for Environment Sigmar Gabriel to Brazil. Brazil plans to massively expand the production of biofuels but environmental campaigners worry about the effect this will have on the rainforest. Germany’s environment minister, who recently visited the country, thinks demand for cheap meat presents an even great danger.
Slovakia Joins the Eurozone
Slovakia today won EU approval to adopt the euro on Jan. 1 2009, thus becoming the 16th member of the European single currency zone. You might be surprised to learn the third largest company in Slovakia is the gay porn enterprise of Bel Ami. Now all those budding young porn hunks won’t have to worry their little heads about currency conversions. Bel Ami’s presence in Bratislava is one reason the city is considered one of the top five gay destinations in Europe. More on Slovakia’s Eurozone bid from Fistfulofeuros. And here is a gay guide to Bratislava.
Violence in Zimbabwe Escalates
What was once confusing is now increasingly clear. Robert Mugagbe intends to bully his opponents and retain the Presidency. His game now is the waiting game, postpone, defer and above all intimidate. Here is the latest news from Washington Post and the IOL South Africa.
Changing One’s Religion in Malaysia
Well if you are Muslim in Malaysia, you are not allowed to switch your faith. All Islamic countries have similar laws. However the case of a women orginally a Buddhist but converted to Islam but now wants to revert back to Buddhism has garned some international attention on freedom of expression in the Islamic world. Singapore’s Straits Times has the story.
Is Barack Obama Another Adlai Stevenson?
Historian Jean Baker, a professor of history at Goucher College, is the author of many books including, The Stevensons: A Biography of an American Family compares the two Senators from Illinois in this article in the History News Network.
