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Author Topic: Obama's Finances
Sven
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 9972

posted 09 September 2008 02:38 PM      Profile for Sven     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Back in June, Obama rejected public financing for his general election campaign. As described, in part, by a Los Angeles Times article in June:

quote:

Democrat Barack Obama today rejected public financing for his presidential campaign, changing an earlier stand and becoming the first major party candidate to drop out of the system since it began after the Watergate scandal.

[SNIP]

“It’s not an easy decision, and especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections,” Obama said. “But the public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken, and we face opponents who’ve become masters at gaming this broken system.”

Early in the primary season, Obama had said he would use public financing if his Republican opponent did. But that was before the presumptive Democratic nominee harnessed the Internet and became a fund-raising powerhouse.


As noted in the Times article, that decision was contrary to his primary campaign promise to accept public financing if his Repubican opponent accepted such financing (which McCain has done).

Well, that may have been a mistake.

The International Herald Tribune is now reporting that the Obama Campaign's fundraising projections are "extremely anemic":

quote:

After months of record-breaking fund-raising, a new sense of urgency in Senator Barack Obama's fund-raising team is palpable as the full weight of the campaign's decision to bypass public financing for the general election is suddenly upon it.

Pushing a fund-raiser later this month, a finance staff member sent a sharply worded note last week to Illinois members of its national finance committee, calling their recent efforts "extremely anemic."

[SNIP]

The signs of concern have become evident in recent weeks as early fund-raising totals have suggested that Obama's decision to bypass public financing may not necessarily afford him the commanding financing advantage over Senator John McCain that many had originally predicted.

[SNIP]

Meanwhile, Obama campaign officials had calculated that with its vaunted fund-raising machine, driven by both small contributors over the Internet and a powerful high-dollar donor network, it made more sense to forgo public financing so they could raise and spend unlimited sums.

But the campaign is struggling to meet ambitious fund-raising goals it set for the campaign and the party. It collected in June and July far less from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's donors than originally projected. Moreover, McCain, unlike Obama, will have the luxury of concentrating almost entirely on campaigning instead of raising money, as Obama must do.


So, McPalin will be hitting the campaign trail 24/7 for the next eight weeks...while Obama is going to have to spend a significant amount of time "dialing for dollars".


From: Eleutherophobics of the World...Unite!!!!! | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
M. Spector
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8273

posted 09 September 2008 08:48 PM      Profile for M. Spector   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Obama is the first Republicrat presidential candidate in 30 years to reject the public campaign financing that is provided under election finance reform acts passed by Congress in the 1970s.

The funding comes from the US Treasury, financed by a $3-per-taxpayer checkoff on income tax returns. It is designed to limit the financial influence of corporate and other special interests. (In reality, there are huge loopholes that allow for candidates who use the public funds to also benefit from billions of dollars spent by their party and supposedly "independent" groups.)

Obama would have received $85 million in public funds for his campaign, on condition that he not raise any additional funds directly through private donations. But he chose to forgo the public funds and instead to rely on private fundraising with no legal limits.

Not only was this a flip-flop from his previous position, but it represents an abandonment of the whole campaign financing reform system. The system is in need of further reform and strengthening. But Obama has signalled that such reforms will not be a priority for any administration he may head.


From: One millihelen: The amount of beauty required to launch one ship. | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged

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