Two Issues That Could Sink Obama's Ship: Part 1 - Obama's Money
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One of the problems I am having with this year’s presidential campaign is the media’s refusal to properly do its job and vet Barack Obama. They aren’t doing the American public any favors by treating him as Christ’s Second Coming; and ironically, they are not doing Senator Obama any favors either. He now runs the risk of being blindsided as the traditional media has left the job to bloggers and talk radio hosts and people like me who often don’t get the facts right…well, I do. I can guarantee you that the Republican Party, John McCain, and Hillary Clinton have done their homework, and issues will arise causing Obama’s usual “how dare you ask me those things” smarmy attitude to finally fail him. There are two areas that can be fatal to his campaign. Here is the first.
Over the course of his campaign, Senator Obama has raised in excess of a quarter billion dollars (that’s with a “B”). He has set all sorts of records, and the media has gloated over his “new” approach to campaign financing. In February of 2008, he raised $55 million, $45 million of which was raised “online”. His individual contributors are supposedly in the range of 1.5 – 2.0 million people. Really?
Let’s look at who his supporters are. The Obama coalition consists of almost 100% of the black vote, the college students/youth vote, and the suburban intelligentsia. The traditional Democratic white/blue collar workers, seniors (the wealthiest segment of our society) and women have supported Hillary Clinton. Add to the mix that individual contributions to political campaigns are now limited to $2300.00, and it raises some interesting questions.
Let’s do the math. 2 out of 3 of Obama’s constituencies aren’t usually big contributors to political campaigns. The youth/college vote is cash strapped. I suspect that sizeable contributions from the black community are slim at best. That doesn’t mean you won’t get those who go online and contribute five or ten bucks, if they have access to computers and online accounts and credit cards. But we are talking a quarter billion dollars, folks. Let’s assume that he has received 75% of his contributions through the internet with 1.75 million people making the contributions. That means the average contribution would be $107.00. Do ya think?
Bundling contributions is an old trick. It was done pre-internet through selling a bunch of event tickets to the true contributor at a per ticket price just under the reporting requirements, then handing them out to individuals to show up and fill in a name if needed. The Clinton’s raised it to an art form by their true contributors giving $1,000.00 to an individual, allowing the individual to keep $100.00 while sending in $900.00 as a contribution. Many of the contributors still can’t be found, giving rise to the traditional phony addresses and dead people contributions. Nothing is new under the sun. Just because this is being done through the internet doesn’t mean it is not subject to fraud. Internet fraud happens daily. Are there a lot of folks who have gone on line giving him $10.00? Yes. But I don’t believe for a minute that the purity and ingenuity of his fund raising will stand much scrutiny…not a quarter billion.
The so-called fat cat Republicans, on their best day, couldn’t raise that kind of money in individual donations. So where is Obama’s money coming from? Given that he is a "new" kind of politician, I sure would like to find out. Stay tuned.
Next Week: Obama on Reparations
One of the problems I am having with this year’s presidential campaign is the media’s refusal to properly do its job and vet Barack Obama. They aren’t doing the American public any favors by treating him as Christ’s Second Coming; and ironically, they are not doing Senator Obama any favors either. He now runs the risk of being blindsided as the traditional media has left the job to bloggers and talk radio hosts and people like me who often don’t get the facts right…well, I do. I can guarantee you that the Republican Party, John McCain, and Hillary Clinton have done their homework, and issues will arise causing Obama’s usual “how dare you ask me those things” smarmy attitude to finally fail him. There are two areas that can be fatal to his campaign. Here is the first.Over the course of his campaign, Senator Obama has raised in excess of a quarter billion dollars (that’s with a “B”). He has set all sorts of records, and the media has gloated over his “new” approach to campaign financing. In February of 2008, he raised $55 million, $45 million of which was raised “online”. His individual contributors are supposedly in the range of 1.5 – 2.0 million people. Really?
Let’s look at who his supporters are. The Obama coalition consists of almost 100% of the black vote, the college students/youth vote, and the suburban intelligentsia. The traditional Democratic white/blue collar workers, seniors (the wealthiest segment of our society) and women have supported Hillary Clinton. Add to the mix that individual contributions to political campaigns are now limited to $2300.00, and it raises some interesting questions.
Let’s do the math. 2 out of 3 of Obama’s constituencies aren’t usually big contributors to political campaigns. The youth/college vote is cash strapped. I suspect that sizeable contributions from the black community are slim at best. That doesn’t mean you won’t get those who go online and contribute five or ten bucks, if they have access to computers and online accounts and credit cards. But we are talking a quarter billion dollars, folks. Let’s assume that he has received 75% of his contributions through the internet with 1.75 million people making the contributions. That means the average contribution would be $107.00. Do ya think?
Bundling contributions is an old trick. It was done pre-internet through selling a bunch of event tickets to the true contributor at a per ticket price just under the reporting requirements, then handing them out to individuals to show up and fill in a name if needed. The Clinton’s raised it to an art form by their true contributors giving $1,000.00 to an individual, allowing the individual to keep $100.00 while sending in $900.00 as a contribution. Many of the contributors still can’t be found, giving rise to the traditional phony addresses and dead people contributions. Nothing is new under the sun. Just because this is being done through the internet doesn’t mean it is not subject to fraud. Internet fraud happens daily. Are there a lot of folks who have gone on line giving him $10.00? Yes. But I don’t believe for a minute that the purity and ingenuity of his fund raising will stand much scrutiny…not a quarter billion.
The so-called fat cat Republicans, on their best day, couldn’t raise that kind of money in individual donations. So where is Obama’s money coming from? Given that he is a "new" kind of politician, I sure would like to find out. Stay tuned.
Next Week: Obama on Reparations
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