Money Might Not Be Enough For Obama

The New York Times says Barack Obama shattered fundraising records in September, raising somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 million dollars:

Senator Barack Obama’s announcement on Sunday of his record-shattering $150 million fund-raising total for September underscored just how much his campaign has upended standards for raising money in presidential campaigns.

His campaign has now raised more than $600 million, almost equaling what all the candidates from both major parties collected in private donations in 2004.

It is a remarkable ascent to previously unimagined financial heights — Mr. Obama’s September total more than doubled the record $66 million he collected in August — that has been cheered by some and decried by others concerned about the influence of money in politics.

snip

David Plouffe, the Obama campaign manager, said in a video message sent to supporters that Mr. Obama had 632,000 new donors in September, bringing the campaign’s total to 3.1 million. The average contribution, Mr. Plouffe said, was less than $100.

632,000 new donors, huh?  Name ‘em.  Of course, that’s not something Camp O is likely to do.  In a Newsweek article about dicey campaign contributions dated Oct. 4, it was reported that Obama flat-out refused to name small donors:

This summer, watchdog groups asked both campaigns to share more information about its small donors. The McCain campaign agreed; the Obama campaign did not. “They could’ve done themselves a service” by heeding the suggestions, said Massie Ritsch of the Center for Responsive Politics.

However, all the money in the world might not buy Obama the White House.  A few days ago, it was announced virtually everywhere that the Obama campaign was pushing into traditionally red states.  Politico, on Oct. 16, said:

With the markets in turmoil and the real economy starting to suffer, Obama will spend the final 19 days working to connect with voters who are “voting their pocketbooks, voting their interests,” said Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-Mich.). He’ll be making that case, however, on what has long been Republican turf. The Democrat heads out Friday on what aides are calling a “red state tour,” taking in Virginia, Missouri, North Carolina and Florida.

However, today, Politico is reporting that not everyone in those red states is exactly rolling out the welcome mat.  At a food stop in Fayetteville, N.C., the reception “turned ugly:”

Barack Obama’s stop at Cape Fear BBQ and Chicken in Fayetteville, N.C., this afternoon underscored the continued resistance of some voters to his candidacy — and his identity. The trip, according to a pool report, offered “some powerful and at times ugly interaction.”

Campaigning in a traditionally Republican state, the Democratic nominee found lots of supporters of John McCain, at least one woman who believes the Illinois senator is a “closet Muslim” — and another who repeatedly shouted “Socialist.”

According to pool reporters contributing to the story, some of the patrons clearly are not buying the Obama media love spin:

Fanning said she’d heard that former Secretary of State Colin Powell had endorsed Obama but said that “Colin Powell is a RINO, R-I-N-O, Republican In Name Only.”

Later, Obama came to the long table where Fanning and other members of a local First Presbyterian church were gathered. He held out his hand to her and asked, “How are you, ma’am?” but she declined to shake his hand.

Fanning, first name, Dianne, was the patron who yelled “Socialist!” and also commented that she still thought he was a “closet Muslim” when he left her table.  Some patrons were receptive to varying degrees, especially a woman named Sheila Evans, identified as bi-racial:

Sheila Evans, 39, who is biracial, told Obama, “I’m so proud of you.” She told your pooler Obama had chosen a restaurant frequented more by whites, while one a couple of doors down had predominantly African-American diners on Sundays.

Curious.  Equally curious is the itemization of Obama’s order that ended the article:

Obama ordered some food to go for himself and his aides. They ordered chicken, collards, baked beans, slaw and wings. The tab was $13.91. The visit lasted about half an hour.

Stark contrast to that Michelle Obama $450.00 “snack” the other day, huh?

Maybe that was the point.

Wonder why NYT used that “shadow man” photo in its’ Obama money story, though.

Palin Draws Big For SNL

AP-Yahoo News reports that ratings for Sarah Palin’s quick shot appearance on Saturday Night Live were durned good:

Although a complete audience estimate for the rest of the country won’t be available until later in the week, it is likely to be around 14 million.

For the first half-hour, when Palin first came out, the audience was about 17 million. That’s pretty impressive for a TV program around midnight. The week before, only two other shows in prime time had a bigger audience, Nielsen said.

The linked article suggests that SNL and NBC/Hulu owe Palin big-time:

Michaels owes Palin a debt of gratitude. “Saturday Night Live” so far this season has been up 76 percent over last year at this time, Nielsen said.

Even beyond that, the Fey skits have gone viral over the Internet, drawing more attention to the show. One study last week said only one-third of people who had seen Fey’s impersonations did so on live TV; the rest saw them on DVRs or on their computers.

I bet most of that increased internet viewership was due to the airing/retracting Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae sketch.

And/ oh, by the way, some people think this is funny.

Freddie Mac Lobbied Republicans Against Regulation

According to the AP-Yahoo News story quoted here, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hired a Republican consulting firm to lobby Republican senators, in an effort to kill a Republican-sponsored regulatory bill Democrats opposed:

Freddie Mac secretly paid a Republican consulting firm $2 million to kill legislation that would have regulated and trimmed the mortgage finance giant and its sister company, Fannie Mae, three years before the government took control to prevent their collapse.

In the cross hairs of the campaign carried out by DCI of Washington were Republican senators and a regulatory overhaul bill sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. DCI’s chief executive is Doug Goodyear, whom John McCain’s campaign later hired to manage the GOP convention in September.

Freddie Mac’s payments to DCI began shortly after the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee sent Hagel’s bill to the then GOP-run Senate on July 28, 2005. All GOP members of the committee supported it; all Democrats opposed it.

In the midst of DCI’s yearlong effort, Hagel and 25 other Republican senators pleaded unsuccessfully with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to allow a vote.

“If effective regulatory reform legislation … is not enacted this year, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system and the economy as a whole,” the senators wrote in a letter that proved prescient.

Unknown to the senators, DCI was undermining support for the bill in a campaign targeting 17 Republican senators in 13 states, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The states and the senators targeted changed over time, but always stayed on the Republican side.

In the end, there was not enough Republican support for Hagel’s bill to warrant bringing it up for a vote because Democrats also opposed it and the votes of some would be needed for passage. The measure died at the end of the 109th Congress.

McCain, R-Ariz., was not a target of the DCI campaign. He signed Hagel’s letter and three weeks later signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill.

African Press International “Update” A Downer

Once again, African Press International promises to release tapes it claims to have of Michelle Obama screaming at them about the lack of significance attached to her husband’s adoptive status on his citizenship qualifications.  Once again, they do not actually do so.  Now, they want us, the American public, to advise them as to which news outlet would best showcase their wares.  Heh, heh, heh.

The legal hurdles that API feared in connection with the release of the tape has now been settled. The American people has soon to be treated to the truth about the true personality of their (probably) incoming first Lady.

API is soon to conclude an agreement on which of the media channels in the US is to air the Michelle Obama tapes. This has come about because many news channels have shown great interest in getting the tapes so that they air to the American people before the elections.

Many Americans are waiting and we promise to satisfy their desire very soon. The delay in releasing the tapes is due to two things:

1. The legal issues that may arise after we release the tapes.

This one has now been cleared and API feels safe and is no longer in fear when it comes to a legal battle that may come when the information gets out.

2. Choosing one media channel to air the tapes in the USA.

When we wrote the story, many people contacted us asking for the verification. At the same time, many media outlets have contacted API and would like to be the sole network to air the tapes. What we are finalising now is to come to an agreement with one channel that will have to air the tapes unedited.

After noticing the desire that has been exhibited – to have the tapes out, may be you Americans would like API to air the tape through a particular news channel. Your advice will be appreciated.

Chief Editor Korir, just go with the one with the biggest checkbook.  Heh, heh, heh.

Yes, Virginia, There Really Are Racists

Racism is alive and well in America, a truth that has manifested itself repeatedly in this year’s election cycle.  While small fires of bigotry have popped up repeatedly in the last year or so, the flames have mainly been fanned by those sympathetic to (say it with me) “the historic nature of the first viable African American candidate, blah, blah, blah,” obsessively pointing fingers and calling out all incidents of perceived racism, real or (mainly) imagined, while the candidate himself stereotypes Popeye’s chicken-eating people named “Pookie” and equates presidential blackness with minstrel-esque dancing ability.

In this news story that I was lead to via the comments section of Sugar N Spice, a California women’s organization (like the creators of Obama Waffles) feigns innocence regarding their blatantly racist email.

The latest newsletter by an Inland Republican women’s group depicts Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama surrounded by a watermelon, ribs and a bucket of fried chicken, prompting outrage in political circles.

The October newsletter by the Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated says if Obama is elected his image will appear on food stamps — instead of dollar bills like other presidents. The statement is followed by an illustration of “Obama Bucks” — a phony $10 bill featuring Obama’s face on a donkey’s body, labeled “United States Food Stamps.”

The group’s president, Diane Fedele, said she plans to send an apology letter to her members and to apologize at the club’s meeting next week. She said she simply wanted to deride a comment Obama made over the summer about how as an African-American he “doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.”

The article quoted is from an Inland California newsletter, Press-Enterprise.com and was picked up by the LA Times, which links to an anti-Sarah Palin site for equal time.  These examples of racism and misogyny are without a doubt deplorable, and should have no place in any civil discourse.  Period.  However, the fact they they do exist does not justify support for or against anything but the fact that they exist.  For anyone to make the leap that because some bigot is indeed a bigot, means that they should vote for whoever the bigot hates, is just stupid.

Colin Powell Proves Race Trumps Getting Fired

As expected, Colin Powell “endorsed” Barack Obama for president of the United States because they’re both black and he’s still pissed at the Bush administration.  Of course, he denied that, but, get real.  Though Powell denied that race had anything at all to do with anything, his answer to Tom Brokaw’s “race question” doesn’t really make a lot of sense:

Moderator Tom Brokaw said: “There will be some … who will say this is an African-American, distinguished American supporting another African-American because of race.”

Powell, who last year gave the Arizona senator’s campaign the maximum $2,300, replied: “If I had only had that in mind, I could have done this six, eight, 10  months ago. I really have been going back and forth between somebody I have the highest respect and regard for, John McCain and somebody I was getting to know, Barack Obama. And it was only in the last couple of months that I settled on this.”

“I can’t deny that it will be a historic event when an African-American becomes president,” Powell continued, speaking live in the studio. “And should that happen, all Americans should be proud — not just African-American, but all Americans — that we have reached this point in our national history where such a thing could happen. It would also not only electrify the country, but electrify the world.”

So, it couldn’t be a black thing because he didn’t do it months ago, and he didn’t even tell anybody when he decided, months ago.  Instead, Powell says it’s about Supreme Court appointments, Obama’s rhetorical skills, and Sarah Palin.

“She’s a very distinguished woman, and she’s to be admired,” he said. “But at the same, now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don’t believe she’s ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president. And so that raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Senator McCain made.”

Camp O, predictably, lied, when contacted about the announcement:

Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the campaign had not been told of the endorsement: “We didn’t know until General Powell spoke on Meet The Press.”

Powell will always be the guy who blocked LGBT equality in the military as far as I’m concerned:

Prior to Clinton taking office, the rule barring gays from serving was set solely by the President — and could be lifted by him, or her, as well. But once Clinton came in pledging to lift the ban, the opposition of his chairman of the Joint Chiefs — Colin Powell — and the hapless efforts by his first defense secretary, the late Les Aspin — ignited a firestorm on Capitol Hill.  As the “don’t ask, don’t tell” compromise was hammered out, Congress took the extraordinary step of removing the policy from the President’s hands and writing it into law.

According to Wkipedia, Powell drafted “don’t ask, don’t tell”:

The policy was introduced as a compromise measure in 1993 and approved by then President Bill Clinton who, while campaigning for the Presidency, had promised to allow all citizens regardless of sexual orientation to serve openly in the military, a departure from the then complete ban on those who are not heterosexual. The actual policy was crafted by Colin Powell and has been maintained by Clinton’s successor, George W. Bush.

Now he has trouble with conservative judges?  And, the guy who lied us into war is now concerned about civility.  From CNN:

Powell said he was concerned about what he characterized as a recent negative turn of Republican candidate Sen. John McCain’s campaign, such as the campaign’s attempts to tie Obama to former 1960s radical Bill Ayers.

“I think that’s inappropriate. I understand what politics is about — I know how you can go after one another, and that’s good. But I think this goes too far, and I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It’s not what the American people are looking for,” he said.

So, bottom line is, the black guy endorsed the black guy he has nothing else in common with, but race has nothing to do with it.

Riiiight.

Obama Up In Polls?

Go to just about any news site and you’ll probably see this headline:

“Voters Souring On McCain, Obama Stays Steady”

You will then read an AP Yahoo News story, identical to thousands of other stories carried on thousands of other outlets, with the last line:

AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

The info in this story will tell the woeful tale of the latest McCain poll misfortunes.  However, this one story, essentially Xeroxed around the country, and, probably the world, bears closer inspection.  The poll in question, conducted by Knowledge Networks, literally reflects the opinions of the same people who gave us the “White People Hate Obama” headlines last month, as well as “Dog Owners Like McCain Better” and “Football Fans Would Rather Watch The Super Bowl With Barack.”  I’m paraphrasing, but not by much.

You see, Knowledge Networks, the company that conducted the polls, just might be David Axelrod’s personal astroturf machine.  I have no proof of that, but given the firm’s history, and the polling results they’ve released this cycle, it doesn’t take a tinfoil hat and Twilight Zone music to go there.  Founded in 1998 by 2 Stanford University professors, Norman H. Nie and Douglas Rivers, the Menlo Park, California-based company’s founders could plausibly boast but a scant few degrees of separation from both Axelrod and Obama, if they were so inclined.

About Norman H. Nie:

One of the nation’s leading figures in survey research, quantitative social science and political science, Dr. Nie co-founded and is Chairman of SPSS (NASDAQ: SPSS), the leading vendor of statistical and survey software to the market research industry. For twenty-five years, Dr. Nie was a Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and a Senior Study Director at the National Opinion Research Center. Currently he is also Chairman of Knowledge Networks, a Professor (Research) of Political Science at Stanford University and Director of the Stanford Institute for Quantitative Studies in the Social Sciences. He received his B.A. from Washington University and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

About Douglas Rivers:

Douglas Rivers is co-founder and CEO of Knowledge Networks, and a leading authority on the application of statistical methods to social science. He has been a faculty member at Harvard, Caltech, UCLA and, most recently, Stanford, where he is a Professor of Political Science and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute. He is a Director of Preview Systems (NASDAQ: PRVW), a leading provider of digital rights management solutions. Dr. Rivers holds a B.A. from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Hmmm…Harvard, Columbia, University of Chicago…where have I heard those names before?  Could these 2 guys be among those oh, so generous Stanford donors Obama has?  Or would their donations (if any) be listed elsewhere?  Nope.  Anyway, about AP- Yahoo News/Knowledge Networks poll methods:

The AP-Yahoo! News Poll is a unique study that will track the moods and opinions of a group of more than 2,700 people throughout the presidential election campaign. The study involves an extensive national survey of 2,714 people who will be re-contacted several times during the next year to see how their attitudes and opinions change over time. The survey is being conducted by Knowledge Networks of Menlo Park, Calif., under the direction and supervision of AP’s polling unit.

The survey is conducted online with a sample drawn from a panel of respondents Knowledge Networks recruited via random sampling of landline telephone households with listed and unlisted numbers. The company provides Web access to panel recruits who don’t already have it. With a probability basis and coverage of people who otherwise couldn’t access the Internet, the Knowledge Networks online surveys are nationally representative.

Of couse, KN goes into a lot more mumbo-jumbo sounding detail to explain why their sample is statiscally accurate, but…

For this series of polls for AP, The Knowledge Network number of people polled has fluctuated, for reasons which are unclear.   For this latest poll, the number sampled was 841 out of the original 2,714.

So, basically, KN gave some people some computers, then polled those same people over and over again, then told whichever guy showed up from AP what they found, who then wrote one story about each survey and passed it around.  The country.  And the world.

And, lest you think I just make stuff up, this is a list of recent AP-Yahoo News/Knowledge Network Polls from the KN press release website:

10/17/08
Voters souring on McCain, Obama stays steady – The Associated Press | Yahoo! News Poll

10/08/08
Undecided voters not satisfied with both candidates – The Associated Press | Yahoo! News Poll

09/23/08
Obama struggling to win over Clinton voters – The Associated Press | Yahoo! News Poll

09/22/08
Poll shows gap between blacks and whites over racial discrimination – The Associated Press | Yahoo! News Poll

09/20/08
Racial views steer some white Dems away from Obama – The Associated Press | Yahoo! News Poll

09/19/08
People prefer Obama over McCain as teacher – The Associated Press | Yahoo! News Poll

09/19/08
Obama tops McCain as football-watching buddy – The Associated Press | Yahoo! News Poll

07/18/08
Poll: McCain’s backers less fired up than Obama’s – The Associated Press | Yahoo! News Poll

07/08/08
Poll: Pet owners prefer McCain over Obama – The Associated Press | Yahoo! News Poll