This is a new one minute radio spot being run and paid for by the RNC on behalf of John McCain. The ad attacks Senator Obama for “failing to rise above politics to protect our troops.”
Vote Vets is an organization that aims to put Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in Congress who are critical of the execution of the war in Iraq. It will start running this anti-McCain ad beginning on Friday. I am not sure if anger sells but only time will tell.
The Obama campaign has made a $5 million dollar ad buy during NBC’s coverage of the Beijing Olympics that start on August 8, 2008.
Via Advertising Age:
It’s official. Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign will be among the TV sponsors of NBC Universal’s Olympics coverage. In the first significant network-TV buy of any presidential candidate in at least 16 years, the Obama campaign has taken a $5 million package of Olympics spots that includes network TV as well as cable ads. According to NBC’s political file, the campaign had initially requested information about 500,000, $2 million and $4 million package of Olympics spots. The network also offered the candidate a $10 million package.
Most dayparts
NBC Universal is airing 3,600 hours of Olympics coverage on its broadcast network and cable networks including NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, USA Network, Oxygen and Telemundo, and while some of the Obama campaign’s spots will air on network TV, the breakdown of how many or exactly when they will air was not immediately available. It did encompass most dayparts.The Obama campaign did not return several calls and messages seeking comment on the reasoning behind the buy.
The Obama campaign will join major advertisers including McDonald’s and Anheuser-Busch. The Beijing games begin with opening ceremonies Aug. 8.
While Rudy Giuliani’s campaign did a tiny buy to air political ads on “Fox News Sunday” in consecutive weeks, the Obama campaign’s spending on the high-rated and expensive Olympics top anything that has been done on network TV by presidential candidates in years.
Bob Dole’s 1996 buy
The last network TV spot bought by a presidential contender was apparently a single multi-minute ad run by Republican Sen. Bob Dole in 1996.Presidential candidates have mostly used their advertising to target battleground states, turning to cheaper cable buys when they sought national scope.
Obama campaign officials have said before that, in addition to swing-state buys, they were looking at the possibility of doing national advertising and were looking at a variety of options including cable channels such as MTV and BET and potentially the Olympics.
The buy comes as the Obama campaign continues to set fundraising records. Its decision not to accept federal matching money leaves it able to spend as much money as it can raise. The campaign reported it raised $52 million in June, compared with the nearly $21.5 million raised by his challenger, Sen. John McCain.
In June of this year, the new leader of the FARC Alfonso Cano sent a letter to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega asking for a meeting. The letter was made public by the FARC’s Swedish-based News Agency and by Daniel Ortega himself. At that point, the Colombian government sent a diplomatic note to Managua telling the Nicaraguan government that it was not authorized to meet with any member of the FARC. To this, Ortega replied that he didn’t “permission” from anybody to meet with the FARC. The meeting took place in Esteli on July 19th according to the Nicaraguan press. Today, both the Colombian and Venezuelan press is reporting that Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA flew six members of the FARC including two members of the FARC’s Secretariat on one of their planes from Venezuela to Managua.
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez claims that his government does not provide assistance nor refuge to the FARC. Flying the FARC on a Venezuelan state owned Cessna flies in the face of those claims.
Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chávez are playing a dangerous game. Iván Márquez, Pablo Catatumbo, Rodrigo Granda and Pastor Alape are wanted by Interpol and Nicaragua was informed on this. Nicaragua chose to disregard the information. It is time for economic sanctions against the regime of Daniel Ortega. More from Venezuela’s Noticias 24.
“Now, in terms of knowing my commitments, you don’t have to just look at my words, you can look at my deeds,” Obama said. “Just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my committee, a bill to call for divestment from Iran, as a way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don’t obtain a nuclear weapon.”
Problem, he doesn’t even sit on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee.
Members of the US Senate Banking Committee
To be fair, the Iran Divestment Bill S.1430 is Obama’s bill, introduced in May 2007 that calls for state and local governments to direct divestiture from, and prevent investment in, companies with investments of $20,000,000 or more in Iran’s energy sector, and for other purposes. The House version of the bill passed the House 408-6 last summer and has been sitting in the Senate Banking Committee. Last week, Obama’s bill passed in the committee by 19-2 vote. It now goes to the Senate floor. Nor Obama claim that he voted for the bill since he does not sit on the US Banking Committee. In fact, Obama can’t claim many votes at all. Barack Obama has missed 277 votes (44.3%) during the current Congress. Again to be fair, John McCain has missed more votes.
Obviously, Senator Obama misspoke. He meant my bill not my committee. But I hope you recognize the larger pattern. He constantly misspeaks. The question is it intentional with the aim to deceive or is he just an idiot? Not that McCain is much better though in McCain’s case it is clearer that he just gets his facts wrong. With Obama, I am not so sure. I get the impression he is actually trying to pull one over on us.
El Nuevo País
Venezuela’s newspapers on the news that Chávez would welcome Russian bases in Venezuela.
See my earlier post from yesterday Chávez: Russia is Welcome to Build Bases in Venezulea.
Today, Hugo Chávez flew to Minsk to visit with Europe’s last dictatorship.
Last week, the Obama campaign reported that it had a $52 million haul in the month of June. In releasing this information, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe wrote in an e-mail to supporters that:
“You continue to prove what ordinary Americans committed to change can accomplish, despite the Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs funding so much of our opponents’ campaign.”
Two articles in the US media point to what I have long been saying about Obama’s duplicitous statements on where his money is coming from and it is not from “ordinary Americans”. It is from corporate interests and Washington lobbyists and yes PAC money. The only difference is that backhanded manner in which Obama collects his millions.
The first article is from the Los Angeles Times in article by Dan Morain entitled Donations to Obama campaign include some biggies:
Even as he touts his base of small donors, Barack Obama is relying heavily on well-heeled contributors who have given $28,500 or more each to Democratic Party committees that will campaign on his behalf.
Obama aides emphasized that the average donation to his campaign in June — during which he brought in $52 million — was $68. Over the course of his campaign, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee has raised $340 million. By law, an individual can give no more than $2,300 to a candidate for the primary and $2,300 for the general election.
Obama has established joint fundraising agreements with the Democratic National Committee and two other party committees. Those entities can raise larger sums and spend unlimited amounts on behalf of individual candidates.
Of the $20.3 million Obama’s joint fundraising committees amassed in June, 86%, or $17.6 million, came in chunks of $5,000 or more; 64% came in increments of $28,500 or more, campaign finance reports filed over the weekend show.
Frank Clark, head of Commonwealth Edison, which supplies electricity to Chicago, gave $2,300 to Obama early in the campaign and $28,500 last month to the Democratic White House Victory Fund.
John Rogers, founder of the Chicago investment house Ariel Capital, also gave the maximum to Obama’s presidential account, and $13,000 to Democratic White House Victory.
According to the campaign, Clark and Rogers are among Obama’s largest fundraisers, each having raised more than $200,000 from friends and associates.
Employees at Exelon, the parent company of Commonwealth Edison, have given more than $180,000.
Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt noted that the campaign, unlike the Democratic Party and the fundraising committees, has tapped small donors, raising the bulk of its money in increments of less than $90.
Michael J. Malbin, executive director of the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute, said that although Obama had raised an unprecedented $165 million from those who donated in increments of less than $200, “he cannot raise $150 million or whatever his budget says he needs without going to large contributors.”
The presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain, also has joint fundraising committees and will probably rely heavily on them in the fall.
Such committees appeal to candidates and donors because contributors can write a single check and have it split among the candidate, the party and related committees.
A review of the campaign finance reports filed over the weekend with the Federal Election Commission showed that attorneys accounted for at least $2.4 million of the $20.3 million the three Obama joint committees raised.
People who listed their occupations as investors or said they worked for investment houses contributed at least an additional $2.85 million. Individuals who said they were chief executive officers, company presidents or board chairmen chipped in $1.8 million. The entertainment industry accounted for $1.5 million.
McDonald’s President Donald Thompson and Pepsi Chairman Robert Pohlad each gave $28,500. The Pohlad family, including Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad, gave a combined $170,000 to Democratic committees.
Entertainers who donated $28,500 to the committees include producers Frederick W. Field and Steven Bochco and his wife, Dayna, and actors Samuel L. Jackson and Edward Norton.
NBA star LeBron James donated $20,000.
In several instances, couples doubled their donations. Professional poker player Phil Ivey and his wife, Luciaetta, for example, each gave $33,100 to the Obama Victory Committee. New York writer and entrepreneur Steven Brill and his wife, attorney Cynthia Brill, donated $61,600 last month, with $4,600 going to Obama’s presidential campaign and the rest going to one of the party’s joint fundraising committees.
Obama Promotional Flyer for His Rally in Berlin
Obama is to get “fan mile” in Berlin normally reserved for Germany’s national football team. Authorities are saying that perhaps as many as a million people may descend on Berlin from all over Europe. A million? 13,000 Americans live in Berlin. Has Europe gone mad? Reading these two pieces in Der Spiegel is chilling. Excerpts from both. The full articles can be found at Der Spiegel.
Berlin Reopens World Cup ‘Fan Mile’ for Obama
Don’t bring bags or placards, but make sure to smile for the camera! Barack Obama doesn’t want to let anything steal the show at his Berlin debut, where the streets and the Victory Column are being transformed into a “fan mile” for the US Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.
The profile, distinctive. The eyes, visionary. The mouth, just cracked enough to show that the man has something to say. The poster and flyers say it all. In big white-on-blue letters, they announce that the Barack Obama Show is coming to Berlin.
The campaign team of the presumed Democratic presidential candidate has already had the advertising theme on file for quite some time now. With all the wrangling over the last few days, all the graphic designer has had to do — a number of times — is switch out the name of the event location: first the Brandenburg Gate, then the Gendarmenmarkt, then Templehof airport and now — finally: “Tiergarten, Siegessäule, Am Grossen Stern (east side), Berlin.”
When all is said and done, Thursday’s speech will have been the only outdoor public speech delivered by the political pop star on European soil. “It’s a one-of-a-kind event,” says Michael Steltzer, “a gift to the city.” Steltzer is the American head of the Berlin chapter of Democrats Abroad, the official organization representing American Democrats living in foreign countries. Obama’s visit has nothing to do with the organization, but the Democrats Abroad here want to help make sure that as many people as possible show up to listen to Obama deliver his speech, which is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and is expected to last a little less than an hour.
Obama is the hope of a Western world filled with concerns. A recession looms as does high inflation sparked by exploding demand for commodities and natural resources. Furthermore, no one has yet come up with a convincing response to global warming. No one knows how to bring peace to the Middle East, Afghanistan or Iraq. And no one has a promising strategy for dealing with Islamist terrorism.
At the same time, the West is searching for its place in an “incomplete world order,” as journalist Peter Bender describes the current state of affairs. How strong will China, Russia and India become? How should the West interact with these countries? And is there even such a thing as the “West” anymore?
It is time for leadership. And only one man inspires the kind of confidence that would enable him to assume this leadership: Barack Obama. Germans, in particular, are pinning their hopes on this man. Whereas just 10 percent favor the Republican candidate John McCain, fully 76 percent consider Barack Obama the better candidate.
Europe doesn’t know Barack Obama. Obama voted for the Bush-Cheney Energy Policy. John McCain did not. And yet they think Obama is the clean energy guy. Germany has a female Chancellor. Are Germans aware that in a Spanish language ad in Nevada on the eve of the caucus there in January the Obama campaign called Senator Clinton “fucking whore”? Both the Clinton and the Edwards campaign called Obama to pull the ad. He did not. Europeans think him a visionary for the democratic process. Are they aware that in 1996 in first run for office on the last day Obama sent a team of lawyers to the Chicago Board of Elections to challenge the petition signatures of his main rival Alice Palmer and four others? He succeeded in knocking them off the ballot and ran unopposed. Hardly democratic. And hardly a civil libertarian either. He recently voted to gut the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution providing warrentless wiretapping of our phones and electronic communications. Or that in January, he had three pundits removed from CNN because he didn’t like their coverage. He claims that he doesn’t take money from Washington lobbyists. The key words are Washington lobbyists because he takes money from lobbyists who work in state capitals and from firms that do work at both the state and federal level. Or he takes money from their spouses. One of his main and early backers is former Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, now a lobbyist. And this is but a fraction of what I can say about Obama. He is nothing but duplicitous. He has no core convictions other than his own political welfare.
Here is the Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 edition of interesting reads from around the world.
Maoists Refuse to Form Nepal’s New Government
Nepal’s former rebels who won the most votes in a recent election for a governing assembly have said they will not form a coalition government because the assembly did not elect their candidate for president. From The Hindu:
“After our candidate was defeated in the presidential election we have lost the moral grounds to lead the new government,” Prachanda, leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), told reporters Tuesday.
He said the Maoists would be the opposition. His party secured the most votes in the April election for the Constituent Assembly, but did not win a majority of seats. Since that poll, Nepal’s main political parties have been unable to agree on how to form a coalition government.
Kurds Object to Iraqi Provincial Election Law
The New York Times reports that the Iraqi Parliament approved legislation on Tuesday to govern provincial elections, but Kurdish lawmakers boycotted the session, vowing to force the measure to be rewritten, and probably delaying the balloting for months.
German Firms Investing in Iraq
Now that the security situation in Iraq has improved somewhat, the government there is pushing ahead with plans to rebuild the war-torn country. Plenty of money — but a lack of expertise — is paving the way for lucrative contracts, particularly for German firms. More from Der Spiegel.
Qatar 1Q2008 GDP Up 15%
QATAR Statistics Authority (QSA) has released preliminary estimate of the state’s gross domestic product (GDP) in current prices for the first quarter of 2008, showing a 15% increase over the fourth quarter of 2007. More from the Gulf Times.
US Freezes Arms Sales to Taiwan
The Asia Times provides an update on the odd twists and turns of US arms sales to Taiwan.
Mexico Drug Wars Leaves Civilians in the Crossfire
The Houston Chronicle looks at the worsening drug-related violence in northern Mexico.
Will the dollar lose its place as the premier international currency?
Professor Marc Flandreau of the at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva looks at the previous episode of dethroning, in which the dollar overtook the pound, suggests that economic fundamentals, rather than network externalities, drive the choice of a great global currency. Occasionally, it takes an economic historian to remind his economist colleagues that history may not matter as much as one would want to believe. His article is at Vox.