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Adios, Sound Bites & Fat Cats
Just as the Internet has changed television, it's now transforming campaign finance. That sucking sound you hear is the power seeping out of the old, big-money establishment. Last month, a group of heavy-hitting "Hillraisers" (major Clinton donors) sent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a tart letter threatening to cut off money for the party if Pelosi didn't stop showing deference to the pledged-delegate count, which favors Obama. Those who didn't find the letter annoying just laughed at it.
Why? Because when you have a candidate for president like Obama, who boasts more than 1.3 million donors with an average contribution of only about $100, the fat cats start looking awfully thin. Hillary has also moved away from big donors; the 200,000 small ones she attracted online in February saved her campaign. Consider the magnitude of the change: in 2004, President Bush and Sen. John Kerry raised about 30 percent of their war chests in amounts of $200 or less. By contrast, about 90 percent of Obama's contributors are small fry.
Campaign "bundlers" of individual $2,300 contributions remain important—that's why Obama was in San Francisco for that fund-raiser—but they no longer control the party at the presidential level. (Senate and House races remain in the grip of big donors.) Obama has dramatically extended Howard Dean's 2004 efforts and turned the Web into a source of renewable energy. Even if you dislike Obama, this is a tremendously positive development in American politics.
If he makes it to the White House, Barack Obama will have a hard time changing how Washington works. We know what can happen when an irresistible force meets an immovable object. And his evident irritation at some of the perversities of the game won't help. But even if Obama fades, he and the Web have already transformed that process.
© 2008
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Member Comments
Posted By: kristinkare @ 05/20/2008 2:05:49 AM
Comment: Clinton takes Indiana by a ???razor??? and Obama wins North Carolina by a huge margin. Nevertheless, Kentucky, Montana and West Virginia are still to come.
The Democratic race for nomination is still very much alive ??? and most likely to be decided by superdelegates
If you???re tired of waiting around for those super delegates to make a decision already, go to LobbyDelegates.com and push them to support Clinton or Obama
If you haven't done so yet, please write a message to each of your state's superdelegates at http://www.lobbydelegates.com
Obama Supporters:
Sending a note to current Obama supporters lets them know it's appreciated, sending a note to current Clinton supporters can hopefully sway them to change their vote to Obama, and sending a note to the uncommitted folks will hopefully sway them to vote for Obama. It's that easy...
Clinton Supporters too ???. !
It takes a moment, but what's a few minutes now worth to get Clinton in office?! Those are really worth !
Sending a note to current Clinton supporters lets them know it's appreciated, sending a note to current Obama supporters can hopefully sway them to change their vote to Clinton, and sending a note to the uncommitted folks will hopefully sway them to vote for Clinton. It's that easy...
Posted By: noelcd @ 04/29/2008 9:46:16 PM
Comment: It stands to reason that if I am a 20-year member of a Communist Group I have communist leanings. In like manner Mr. Obama clearly shares his pastor viewpoints else he would not be associated with Black Liberation Theology (aka Black Power) for 20 years. The difference is Mr. Obama has the finesse to polish his public image whereas his pastor lacks that ability. Think Boris Yelskin & Vladimir Putin different personalities in public but a shared vision on political and social matters.
No amount of blogging is going to sway the majority of folks to believe that Obama is as innocent as a kitten up a tree. And if Democrats want to stick their heads in the sands and ignore the elephant in the room so be it. But I have faith the Republicans will not let it pass.
The lesson to be learnt from all this is that skin color does not equate to character. That is white folks are mean and devious and black folks are hapless victims. If we stick to Martin Luther we would have seen Mr Obama for who he really is as opposed to what many folks wanted him to believe he represented. The reasons for falling into this trap range from a sense of KINSHIP, I-HATE-HILLARY and/or I-HATE-BILL, WHITE GUILT.
No one bothered to check if this man's rhetorics matches his personal belief system - the very essence of who he is and the animus for all his actions. Always remember that hate blinds you to reality ...
Posted By: noelcd @ 04/29/2008 9:42:00 PM
Comment: It stands to reason that if I am a 20-year member of a Communist Group I have communist leanings. In like manner Mr. Obama clearly shares his pastor viewpoints else he would not be associated with Black Liberation Theology (aka Black Power) for 20 years. The difference is Mr. Obama has the finesse to polish his public image whereas his pastor lacks that ability. Think Boris Yelskin & Vladimir Putin different personalities in public but a shared vision on political and social matters.
No amount of blogging is going to sway the majority of folks to believe that Obama is as innocent as a kitten up a tree. And if Democrats want to stick their heads in the sands and ignore the elephant in the room so be it. But I have faith the Republicans will not let it pass.
The lesson to be learnt from all this is that skin color does not equate to character. That is white folks are mean and devious and black folks are hapless victims. If we stick to Martin Luther we would have seen Mr Obama for who he really is as opposed to what many folks wanted him to believe he represented. The reasons for falling into this trap range from a sense of KINSHIP, I-HATE-HILLARY and/or I-HATE-BILL, WHITE GUILT.
No one bothered to check if this man's rhetorics matches his personal belief system - the very essence of who he is and the animus for all his actions. Always remember that hate blinds you to reality ...