June 10, 2008
Obama's Donation Ban Irks Some Dems
Politico: Many Congressional Candidates Feel They Can't Turn Their Backs On Money From Lobbyists And PACs
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Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. speaks about the economy, Monday, June 9, 2008, at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Jim R .Bounds)
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Sen. Barack Obama’s ban on contributions from lobbyists and PACs has irritated Democratic lobbyists and fundraisers, who say that Democratic congressional candidates can’t - and won’t - turn their backs on such a steady stream of campaign cash.
“Quite honestly, we’re taking what we can get,” said a top aide to a House Democratic candidate facing a competitive race in November. “The amount of money needed for a campaign today is just so huge that you really have to look under every rock.”
At a campaign appearance in Virginia last week, Obama said that lobbyists don’t fund his campaign and “will not fund our party,” either. The Democratic National Committee will play by Obama’s rule, but the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said last week that they would continue to accept contributions from lobbyists and PACs; spokesmen for the committees said new ethics rules already provide plenty of transparency.
Although some lawmakers adopt their own giving rules, including bans on lobbyist and corporate PAC giving, Democrats in Congress haven’t exactly rushed to embrace Obama’s rule.
It’s a pragmatic decision. Congressional campaigns - both Democratic and Republican - generally rely much more on PAC and lobbyist money than presidential campaigns do.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Democratic House candidates have received more than $103 million from PACs this election cycle.
Sheila Krumholz, the center’s executive director, says House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) has received a higher percentage of his campaign contributions from PACs this cycle than has any other member of Congress.
Democratic Senate candidates have taken in about $20.5 million from PACs. By contrast, the 12 Democratic presidential candidates combined have raised just $2.5 million from PACs - a tiny share of the $547 million they’ve raised to date.
Democratic lobbyists complain that Obama’s ban has failed to account for the realities confronting candidates who lack the fundraising appeal of an electrifying presidential candidate.
“I’m curious how much [the Obama campaign] thought about this decision,” said one Democratic lobbyist. “I take Obama at his word that he’s serious about changing the culture of Washington. But he’s also got to realize that right now, he’s the Babe Ruth of politics. You’ve got a lot of other people out there who are AAA ballplayers; they don’t have the ability to do what he’s doing in terms of raising money and wowing crowds.”
Another Democratic lobbyist said Obama’s ban effectively tars everyone who can’t live up to it.
“Now you’re implying that the House and Senate Democrats - and Republicans - are scumbags that take lobbyist money,” the lobbyist fumed.
Republicans wasted no time in highlighting the disconnect between the Democrats’ presumptive presidential nominee and the congressional campaign committees.
“They plead for donations on K Street with a tin cup in their hands and then have the audacity to self-righteously proclaim themselves agents of ‘change’ and cheer Obama on as he bashes lobbyists in Washington on the campaign trail,” said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
But the GOP won’t go as far as to directly challenge congressional Democrats to give up the money. That’s because the Republicans need the PAC and lobbyist checks just as much as the Democrats do.
House Republicans have raised $66 million from PACs so far this cycle; Senate Republicans have collected close to $27 million from PACs.
Unless Republicans are willing to wlk away from that money themselves, Democrats say GOP candidates will have a hard time making hay out of anyone else’s failure to live up to the Obama model.
Add it all up, and seasoned fundraisers say they don’t expect to see congressional candidates from either party embracing Obama-style bans anytime soon. Indeed, by prohibiting PAC and lobbyist contributions from flowing into his campaign or the DNC, Obama’s decree could actually increase PAC and lobbyist giving to the congressional committees and individual campaigns.
Giving up that money would “be a one-day positive news story and that’s it,” said a former Democratic Party fundraiser. “So you’d get one little bump out of it [and] nobody would remember in November.”
But even if Obama’s ban doesn’t have an impact on the overall money game, many Washington insiders view the condemnations of their professions by the campaigns of both Obama and Sen. John McCain as overly simplistic and counterproductive.
“There’s nothing wrong with lobbyist and PAC money, because the government can’t be bought,” said Nicholas Allard, co-chairman of the public policy department at lobbying firm Patton Boggs and a veteran of many Democratic campaigns, including former Vice President Al Gore’s 2000 White House bid.
Allard said lobbyists volunteer their time and make political contributions because they love the thrill of politics, want to support their party and even hope to secure a position within an administration or congressional staff - not to win influence for clients.
While he regrets some of the implications of Obama’s and McCain’s positions on lobbyists, Allard sees a very positive sign in Obama’s fundraising prowess and the confidence with which he can ban contributions from federal lobbyists and PACs.
Not only has Obama shown he can use the Internet to raise more money, at a faster pace, from more people - most of whom live outside the Beltway - he’s also used the Web to connect with voters, reducing at least some of the need for spending on expensive television ads - the part of modern campaigns largely responsible for the escalating cost, Allard said.
If that trend extends down to congressional races - and Allard thinks it will - the appearance and reality of fat cat donors and industry bundlers trading cash for favors will lessen on its own.
“It’s incredible how Sen. Obama has democratized the fundraising process,” Allard said. “You’re going to look back at this election like the Kennedy-Nixon debate,” which historians say marked the advent of television’s campaign dominance, “as the benchmark of a new media taking over.”
By Ryan Grim and Victoria McGrane
Copyright 2008 POLITICO
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See all 87 CommentsHillary might start looking better come convention time! ROFL!
Congressional candidates don''t tell the Presidential candidate and the DNC what to do; it kinda works the other way around.
Obama must be hitting these guys in the pocketbook.
He''s got my vote. Finally someone who puts the american people first, not lobbyist and corporate fatcats.
Obama must be sent by God!
Yup, well said. Under rocks - that''s where you find lobbyists.
Posted by horse3farm
Hey, genius, good quote from the bible, whatever, but only thing is, Obama isn''t a Muslim. I guess if you keep repeating it, it must be true??
Wow, this guy has been lying so long he can''t even tell if his own words are true. How absurd to claim that lobyists don''t give huge campaign contributions to congressmen and senators to gain influence, that they just do it for the thrill of politics. Does he have any clue how ludicrous his statements are?
Posted by horse3farm at 01:51 PM : Jun 10, 2008"
You''re not very smart are you.
Posted by RowdyWicca at 12:20 PM : Jun 10, 2008"
Sure is a lot of whining going on.
Posted by horse3farm at 01:51 PM : Jun 10, 2008"
You''re pretty dam stupid, you know that? Obama is a Christian. You''re not only ignorant of the facts, but you''re the type that spreads lies on the internet; you disgust me, just go away little man/girl, whatever you are.
ITS ABOUT TIME!
AMERICA STAND UP OR SHUT UP!
Posted by makeitso928 at 02:44 PM : Jun 10, 2008
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So I suppose you think comments like this make you sound intelligent? You are an ignoramous!
Posted by aldon61 at 03:37 PM : Jun 10, 2008
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What a joke ! Do you think that a congressional or senatorial candidate or lobbyist give a *** what "One Term Obama" says? It will be business as usual no matter what kind of posturing he does.
If Obama needs vetters to inform him that Hillary is the obvious choice for VP, he deserves to lose.
Half of the Democratic Party is in a state of depression. Some long-time Democrats like myself will not even vote for him, let alone actively work for him, as I have done for Democratic nominees since 1972. What is taking him so long? Arrogance? Resentment? Fear? or just plain political naivete?
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Posted by horse3farm at 01:51 PM : Jun 10, 2008
You, sir, are a moron. I pity everyone who comes into contact with you for any reason.
Posted by phillysage at 04:34 PM : Jun 10, 2008
He probably doesn''t want his entire administration upstaged by Hillary, along with Bill circling overhead like a vulture.
Me personally, I think it would be a riot! LOL
James Henry "Jim" Webb, Jr. (born February 9, 1946) is the junior Senator from Virginia.
He is also an author and a former Secretary of the Navy under President Ronald Reagan. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
A 1968 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Webb served as a Marine Corps infantry officer until 1972, and is a highly decorated Vietnam War combat veteran.
During his four years with the Reagan administration, Webb served as the first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, then as Secretary of the Navy.
Webb won the Democratic nomination for the 2006 Virginia Senate race by defeating Harris Miller in the primary, then won the general election by defeating the Republican incumbent George Allen.
Webb`s thin margin in the general election (less than 0.5%) kept the outcome uncertain for nearly two days after polls closed on November 7, 2006, and provided the final seat that tilted the Senate to Democratic control.
Webb would become the senior Senator from Virginia in 2009 with the planned retirement of current senior Senator John Warner.
He''''s got my vote. Finally someone who puts the american people first, not lobbyist and corporate fatcats.
Posted by concorde5 at 01:56 PM : Jun 10, 2008
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I''ll second that.
He''''s got my vote. Finally someone who puts the american people first, not lobbyist and corporate fatcats.
Posted by concorde5 at 01:56 PM : Jun 10, 2008
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I''ll second that.
Posted by phillysage at 04:34 PM : Jun 10, 2008
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Typical Republican attitude. Quit pretending to be a Democrat.
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right on the money! All the Dems I know are ''FIRED UP!''
"Activists Preparing Against Use of %u2018Brown Note%u2019 at Dem Convention
by Cristina Corbin
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Political activists planning protest rallies at the upcoming Democratic Convention in Denver have their stomachs in knots over a rumor about a crowd control weapon - known as the %u201Ccrap cannon%u201D - that might be unleashed against them.
Also called %u201CBrown Note,%u201D it is believed to be an infrasound frequency that debilitates a person by making them defecate involuntarily.
Mark Cohen, co-founder of Re-create 68, an alliance of local activists working for the protection of first amendment rights, said he believes this could be deployed at the convention in August to subdue crowds."
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This is exactly why every, so-called, campaign finance reform bill ever introduced in either the house or senate has always been a farce-for-show legislation to avoid any actual change. There has never been even one legitimate campaign finance reform bill introduced by either party that actually reached the floor.
In fact there hasn%u2019t been even a farcical one lately.
Our entire government, including a majority of the Supreme Court, is now owned and controlled by mega-corporations.
The takeover began slowly, nearly 40 years ago, in the Reagan administration, with gradual deregulation of business; radio and televisions use of the airwaves; the destruction, changing or ignoring of things like union workers roghts, anti-monopoly laws bankruptcy laws.
Any and all laws and/or legislations, designed and passed for protection of the working class, no longer exist or are totally ignored.
It has resulted in the destruction of the middle class and virtually impoverished everyone below the top 5%.
The past 8 years have come frighteningly close to destroying the Country in general.
%u201CNow you%u2019re implying that the House and Senate Democrats - and Republicans - are scumbags that take lobbyist money,%u201D the lobbyist fumed.
That these are bold face lies:
%u201CThere%u2019s nothing wrong with lobbyist and PAC money, because the government can%u2019t be bought,%u201D said Nicholas Allard, co-chairman of the public policy department at lobbying firm Patton Boggs and a veteran of many Democratic campaigns, including former Vice President Al Gore%u2019s 2000 White House bid.
Allard said lobbyists volunteer their time and make political contributions because they love the thrill of politics, want to support their party and even hope to secure a position within an administration or congressional staff - not to win influence for clients.
AND how do we know if the contributions from the internet are from lobbyists or not. You fake your ID so easily on there.
Posted by SeetheWay at 07:07 PM : Jun 10, 2008
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SeetheWay;
Do you think, for one moment, that ANY Lobbyist would donate to ANY candidate''s campaign without expecting favors in return?
The candidate could not know who contributor is/was if they did not identify themselves.
If the donor and/or candidate want to cover/conceal donations there are much easier ways than the internet
Nope, only Nazi collaborator George Soros and Al Qaeda cheerleader Tony Rezko do.
Obama - traitor who befriends traitors.
For White House Janitor - NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS.
Roll of Drums.
Jim "Moral Coward" Webb.
Note - I said "moral coward". I didn''t call this ex-honorably served Marine who lost his brain matter somewhere a traitor or a dirty so and so.
But he is a moral coward. He calls himself a "Reagan Democrat" when he is unaware that his buddy Stepin'' Obama hates White Reagan Dems. When Nancy Reagan pleaded with this bozo not to show images of him with her late husband during his senate race, the moral coward haughtily refused.
If the Libs and Left Fascists don''t like that, then they should refrain from calling a ''traitor'' and ''dirty Jew'' someone who may never have served in the military but has displayed more moral courage and honesty that Jimmy Webb ever has.
That man is Joe Lieberman. Someone who truly supports our United States Marines. The same USMC that Jimmy Webb, in his rushing to kiss Obama''s cowardly arse has seemingly abandoned.
Webb would have had my respect had he run as an Independent. He chose moral stupidity and cowardice over courage. But hey, he loves Obama, doesn''t he?
Senator Joe Lieberman loves this country just as much as Mr. Webb - and probably even more so. He chose to buck a party funded by Nazis and Islamofascist appeasers to support our troops and support a man who loves America.
Jim Webb chose a man who would return us to the days of James Earl Carter, coward and bigot. A man whom he really should have served instead of President Ronald Reagan. Webb isn''t fit, despite his real and true service in our military to shine McCain''s combat boots or Lieberman''s shoes.
Again, Neo-Nazis of the Obama camp. Kindly refrain from calling Senator Lieberman names and I''ll refrain from calling Jimmy Webb the moral coward and hypocrite he really is. Or it''s open season.
Savior of America?
I am your savior? I can solve all the problems in our nation? I can solve all of your problems? I will bring my change to you? I am your savior? Will you let me save you.? I can heal you? Vote for me because I will change you? Do you not want me to change you? I am your savior? Please let me save you? I love you? I care for you? Let me save you?
Plantation days here we come!
This is not mud slinging? This came from the black authorities in America, Dr. James Forbes , Dr. James Cone,David Manning Phd. Dr. Cornel West.Do you realize who these people are?
They do not want Obama because of Obama will bring us back to plantation days!
THIS IS THEIR QUOTES NOT MINE!
Hello, my name is Barack Hussein Obama and I will be running for president!
I and my wife and my children, have learned 20 years of hate speech of you whites keeping us blacks down,
We will change America! I promise you this America. You will get change!
Do you hear me you will get change!
Listen to me loud and clear YOU WILL GET CHANGED.
They don%u2019t want a candidate that mentions 57 states in his speeches. 50 states in the USA and 57 states in the Nation of Islam (IOC website)
They don%u2019t want a candidate that fights unfair and steals votes from his opponent.
The don%u2019t want a candidate that feels sorry to leave a church that is anti American and preaches hatred and racial views that are cruel and nasty.
They don''t want a candidate that is inexperienced.
They don%u2019t want a candidate that considers it a loss to not to be able to attend his anti American, racist Church.
They don%u2019t want a candidate that has a Muslim father.
They don%u2019t%u2019 want a candidate that can%u2019t win a debate
They don%u2019t%u2019 want a candidate that misleads the youth with an %u2018obama girl and her behind in their face%u201D
They don%u2019t want a candidate that says he%u2019s an African American and missed the MLK Remembrance Day and the Louisianna Black Caucus meeting
They don%u2019t want a candidate that has done nothing for humanity except talk about it.
They dont'' want a candidate named; Barack Hussein Obama
He scares them to death.
He is embarrassing.
He is unelectable.
They don''t want a candidate that has been in a twenty year relationship with Reverend Wright and the Trinity United Church of Christ.
They don%u2019t%u2019 want a candidate that has a twenty year relationship with Father Plaeger as his compass in life
They don%u2019t want a candidate that went to a church that supports Louis Farrakhan, an anti Semitic racist.
They don''t want to defend Black Liberation theology.
They don%u2019t want a candidate that lies about his relationship with Tony Rezko, the Syrian Criminal that sold his property to Obama and supported his campaign.
They don''t want a candidate that could work with a domestic terrorist, William Ayers.
They dont'' want a candidate that didn''t stand up for the voters of Michigan and Florida.
They don%u2019t want a candidate that Hamas supports.
They don%u2019t want a candidate that Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam supports
They don%u2019t want a candidate that has a wife that has just now realized she liked our country
"Housing Bill Creates National Fingerprint Registry
Posted June 9th, 2008 at 12.40pm in Entrepreneurship.
Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) authored a bill (with 11 co-sponsors, including Sen. Barack Obama) that was incorporated into a housing bill passed by the Senate Banking Committee 19-2 before the Memorial Day recess %u2014 a bill that creates a national fingerprint registry.
According to a Martinez press release, the language merely %u201Ccreate[s] national licensing and oversight standards for residential mortgage originators.%u201D
One of the standards, John Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise Institute says, may %u201Crequire thousands of individuals working even tangentially in the mortgage and real estate industries %u2014 and not suspected of anything %u2014 to send their prints to the feds.%u201D
This is a step in the wrong direction %u2014 at least for a nation that preserves freedom."
Stop this before it''s too late. Vote anyone but Obaba in ''08.
ST
Now you get it.
I%u2019m going to go over to ABC News (a.k.a. the real Clinton campaign headquarters) and rattle sabers. Then, to CNN. I don%u2019t even bother with F-U-X News. Fair and balanced my A-S-S. Nothing but T&A over there (ditzes). Some nice cleavage though.
Goodnight America. Goodnight CBS. Goodnight John Boy.
When I look at John McCain, I see that he admittedly is not knowledgeable about the Economy. What I do know is that John McCain wants the Republican Spending, Spending, Spending on the War in Iraq to continue longer than I do. The economy will not get any better until we stop throwing our money in the deep black hole of the Iraq War. After 8 years of Republican leadership our country is NINE TRILLION IN DEBT.
When I look at John McCain, I see a man with a plethora of health problems who has yet to pick a running mate. It is very possible that Senator McCain''s running mate will be come President. McCain could have a heart attack or stroke at any time. To me, the choice of his running mate will be extremely important.
When I look at John McCain, I see a man deeply anti-abortion and it makes me wonder, what John McCain thinks about stem cell research.
As between Senator Obama and Senator McCain, I believe Senator Obama is the least lousy solution. Sometimes in politics, that is the best you can get.
When I look at John McCain, I see a man who will keep in place all the huge tax cuts for the super rich and do nothing to alleviate the burdens of low and middle class Americans.
John McCain will keep the Patriot Act intact and that act is unconstitutional because it permits any of us U.S. Citizens to be plucked off the street without probable cause and be held without knowing what the charges against us are.
Senator Obama understands constitutional law better than Senator McCain. I believe that Senator Obama would restore civil liberties to the people of this country.
As between Senator Obama and Senator McCain, I believe Senator Obama is the least lousy solution. Sometimes in politics, that is the best you can get.
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