Uh, yeah. Obama raised a hundred mill.
And all from the little people sending
their nickels and quarters.
Sure.

Sorry, B.O. PA hicks dumb enough to
buy what you're selling.

I agree, it's a very effective ad. His video is great too!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/15/campaign-adwatch-obama-hi_n_96756.html

PACs and lobbyists aided Obama's rise
Data contrast with his theme:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/08/09/pacs_and_lobbyists_aided_obamas_rise/

Sen. Obama Has Ties to Lobbyists in His Presidential Bid
Public Citizen: 10 of Sen. Obama's bundlers have been federal lobbyists. The Public Citizen report listed the following ten bundlers for Sen. Obama who have registered as federal lobbyists: Frank Clark, Commonwealth Edison; Scott Harris, Harris Wiltshire and Grannis; Allan J. Katz, Akerman Senterfitt; Robert S. Litt, Arnold & Porter; Thomas J. Perrelli, Jenner and Block; Thomas A. Reed, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP; Paul N. Roth, Schulte Roth & Zabel; Miriam Sapiro, Summit Strategies; Alan Solomont, Solomont Bailis Ventures; and Tom E. Wheeler, Core Capital Partners. [Public Citizen, 1/29/08]
Sen. Obama takes money from employees of firms that lobby and has lobbyists as advisers. "But those who lobby for a living say it's not that simple, and even Obama's stance shows some flexibility. He won't take money from federal lobbyists but accepts money from employees of firms and corporations that lobby, and he uses lobbyists and other government relations professionals as advisers... Obama has also used major fundraisers who are registered lobbyists on the state level. And he uses registered federal lobbyists such as Broderick Johnson, who lobbies for AT&T and Shell Oil, among others, as a campaign adviser. Because Johnson isn't giving money to Obama, his name won't show up in Federal Election Commission records." [Chicago Tribune, 2/10/08]
Bloomberg: Five of [Obama’s] ten biggest sources of funds are groups of employees at law firms that lobby in Washington. "While Obama doesn't accept money from registered federal lobbyists, five of his 10 biggest sources of funds are groups of employees at law firms that lobby in Washington…Among Obama's top donors were employees of the Chicago-based law firm of Sidley Austin LLP, who gave $105,750 in the first quarter. The firm was paid $4.5 million last year" for lobbying the federal government. [Bloomberg, 6/7/07]
Obama's presidential campaign has received $2,812,336 from firms that employ registered federal lobbyists. [fec.gov]

Obama has taken $405,747 from the Pharmaceutical industry. [opensecrets.org]

Obama has received $1,185,937 from the Commercial Banking industry. [opensecrets.org]

Obama has received over six million dollars from the Securities & Investment industry. [opensecrets.org]

Obama has taken $608,822 from the Insurance industry. [opensecrets.org]

Obama has taken $168,584 from the Mortgage Banking industry. [opensecrets.org]

Another dumb move.

GOTALIFE: The Hillary Spambot 9000 model, now available in the very popular Tuzla camouflage pantsuit colors.

THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR HILLARY!!!

You know, guys, I've been thinking. I'll pay someone to go somewhere Clinton is and ask her if she still remembers the cookie recipe she was forced to release after the Republicans raised such a furor over her remark: "I'm not just a little woman who stays home and bakes cookies for her husband."

Cause I don't know about y'all, but that statement sounds a tad Elitist to me.

I think we have reached the Land of Instant Postings!!!

I have nothing to ad, except that this ridiculously long campaign in PA will be over in less than a week! Huzzah!

Obama draws fine line between lobbyist, lawyer donors

WASHINGTON - Last fall, Barack Obama quietly slipped into the Miami headquarters of a major law firm scarred by the scandals of Jack Abramoff, its once-powerful Washington lobbyist who now sits in jail.

Arriving a little after 10 a.m. on Oct. 1, Obama spent the next three hours schmoozing, speaking in a video conference to branch offices and raising money at Greenberg Traurig, a billion-dollar firm with one of the biggest lobby shops here.

Obama has now raised about $125,000 from Greenberg Traurig employees -- nearly half of it at the time of the event -- more than from any of the other top law and lobby firms.

Symbolically, it was a starkly contradictory event: an appearance by the candidate who crusades most adamantly against lobbyists at the onetime firm of the poster child for out-of-control influence peddling.

Public anger over the Abramoff lobbying scandal led Obama to institute the ban on lobbyist money in the first place, an aide said last year.

Realistically, it shows the fine line Obama draws when he says he does not accept money from lobbyists and political action committees, while raising a stunning $200-plus million overall.

Taking funds from lawyers but not lobbyists -- the distinction Obama draws -- is "hair splitting," according to League of Women Voters president Mary Wilson.

"It has huge symbolic value to take the no-PAC pledge and reject lobbying money, particularly for a campaign that presents itself as populist," said Sheila Krumholz of the Center for Responsive Politics.

But she added, "When you dig deeper, the interests that finance the Obama campaign are much the same as the others."

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/politics/ny-usobam0413,0,6020233.story

As an English instructor, I sincerely appreciate that the mailer cites all its sources--and that all of them are significant sources, as opposed to internet smear cites. Way to go, O!

And no, evie, all US citizens are allowed to donate to candidates. They just have to donate as the citizens they are, not as official representatives of their company. Why in the world would getting a job at a tobacco company mean that you're no longer allowed to participate in the national election process?

Hillary Clinton let it be known that she wasn't going to stay home and bake cookies like some little woman who'd "stand by her man like Tammy Wynette."

The Republicans howled about that like a pack of hyenas for months.

See, this is how she gets to be so completely void of morals in my eyes now. She is doing the same thing to Obama that the Republicans did to her for years. I don't get that.

I honestly don't - it would seem to me that once you've been through something like that, you wouldn't want to do it to someone else.

But what do I know? I would have thought anyone who had been tortured, or even more importantly - had heard the screams of his comrades as they were tortured - would never turn around and vote to do the same thing to other prisoners.

The two aren't equivalent, but I still think it's indicative of the same disease - no goddamn morals.

. I remember so well Hillary's elitist cookie-tea-and-Tammy Wynette comments of '92. Couldn't believe back then she'd come out of years in AK with such a tin ear.

Well, she's not the only one - I can't believe I've watched Bill totally lose it in public, twice now.

It's pathetic.

News for you. His events in San Francisco were bundled events. How naive can you be?

Less than half of his contributions come from small donors of under $200 per contribution.

You are falling for falsehoods from the Obama campaign.

On the front page Josh quotes somebody clutching her or his hankie in anticipation of an Obama third strike after Rev. Wright and "bitter," that Clinton or McCain will deploy, and it will be all over. Curious, that. I would say that Obama is the least damaged candidate out there right now. By far. Maybe this is about him being out there while being the least white.

Of course, he was insulting the voters in front of these donors.

Obama not only thinks you are bitter but also thinks you are stupid.

He is insulting your intelligence but he may have a point there.

Geez.

Hillary's Top Gun in Pennsylvania, Governor Ed. Rendell said this about White Pennsylvania voters, on February 12, 2008, in an on the record interview.

Why did Hillary not chastise her Top Gun for talking about White people, in such 'an elitist way". Hypocrite, thy name is HilAnny Oakley Clinton.

Here is what Rendell said about White voters in his state;

Tuesday, February 12, 2008
By Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Gov. Ed "Don't Call Me 'Fast Eddie' " Rendell met with the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week to talk about his latest budget. But before turning the meeting over to his number-crunchers, our voluble governor weighed in on the primary fight between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama and what the Illinois senator could expect from the good people of Pennsylvania at the polls:

"You've got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate," he said bluntly. Our eyes only met briefly, perhaps because the governor wanted to spare the only black guy in the room from feeling self-conscious for backing an obvious loser. "I believe, looking at the returns in my election, that had Lynn Swann [2006 Republican gubernatorial candidate] been the identical candidate that he was --well-spoken [note: Mr. Rendell did not call the brother "articulate"], charismatic, good-looking -- but white instead of black, instead of winning by 22 points, I would have won by 17 or so."

I know I have a habit of sometimes zoning out in these meetings, but it sounded to me like Mr. Rendell had unilaterally declared Pennsylvania to be Alabama circa 1963. Was he suggesting that Pennsylvanians are uniquely racist in ways that folks in the states Mr. Obama has won so far aren't? By the way, Mr. Obama won Alabama on Super Tuesday, thank you very much!

"New Obama Mailer In Pennsylvania Hits Hillary For Taking Money From Lobbyists And PACs"

This is yet another example of how Hillary Clinton keeps attacking Barack Obama. Shame on Hillary.

I find it interesting that whenever a Clinton supporter or news program delineates individual donors who have contributed to the Barack Obama campaign as members of the oil industry or a law firm, they never juxtapose these with the Clinton campaign's contributions in a similar vein. I would be very interested to find out how many times Hillary or John McCain met with lobbyists from the banking industry before selling out the American middle class by voting for the bankruptcy bill. Are senatorial appointment books fair game? The hours spent in conference with a lobbyist are probably more damning than the money they receive (that's assuming they agreed with them, which can only be discerned by how they voted).

I find it worrying that Obama hasn't been able to put the primaries away. The fact that Hillary is likely to win in the states around Ohio rings alarm bells for a general election. Now I don't know what exactly is going on, but I suspect Hillary is getting most of the low information voters. Some of this I suspect is a racial bias, and some of it is just the power of the Clinton brand within the Democratic party. These low information voters, however, are the true wild cards in any general election and if Obama can't attract them then it will be a challenge to win in the general election against McCain.

I think Obama is suprisingly good but he needs to control his own image better. The media and Hillary are ganging up to label him elitist. I think Obama should show a flash of anger about that. One of the reasons why the "elitist" moniker sticks is that he is so damn pleasant, controlled and affable all the time. When you're being attacked like this, people expect you to show a little reaction. Just letting it roll of his back, like he has so far, is not how your typical guy would react. He needs his own "politician shows a little emotion" news story like Clinton had before New Hampshire. That was the news cycle where Clinton found a way to connect emotionally with a bunch of women. Well Obama needs to make that sort of emotional connection as well.

It's too late. Pennsylvanians know he's a phony. Too much Glitz, this last swamping of people's mailboxes will be filed vertically with the rest of the junkmail.

I thought it was great and funny.

If I had a gun I'd be praying over it right now while shooting at an immigrant.
:-)