Free Republic

Of all the gloomy economic indicators since the Wall Street collapse, perhaps the most startling one seen by New Jersey residents is this: Gov. Jon S. Corzine with his hand out. Mr. Corzine, 62, famously spent $60 million of his own money on a record-shattering Senate race in 2000, then $43 million more laying siege to Trenton four years ago. But now, after a costly divorce and a steep decline in his net worth, Mr. Corzine, the onetime chief executive of Goldman Sachs, is in the unfamiliar position of seeking donations to help foot the bill for his campaign. It...

MoveOn rakes in $120K+ off Palin email @ 11:01 am by Jeremy P. Jacobs In yet another example of Sarah Palin's lightning rod quality, MoveOn.org has raised over $120,000 in just a day after sending out an email criticizing the Alaska governor and asking for money. On Wednesday, MoveOn sent an email to supporters criticizing Palin's op-ed on energy issues in the Washington Post. The group asked for money to run an ad in response to Palin. At the time of this writing on Thursday, MoveOn has raised $124,000 and has extended its goal to $200,000. Palin has a high...

SarahPAC is off to a quick start on the fundraising end. From the Politico Sarah Palin’s political action committee raised nearly $733,000 in the first six months of 2009 and has more than $450,000 in cash on hand, according to new filings with the Federal Election Commission. While Republicans are hopeful that Palin will be a big fundraising help for them, her political action committee hasn’t exactly been a campaign-finance ATM. Since its formation in late January, it appears to have made just two political contributions — $5,000 to Palin’s 2008 running mate, Sen. John McCain, and $5,000 to Alaska’s...

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 Obama/Soros Group MoveOn.org Already Targeting Sarah Palin By Joseph Russo It appears that Palin's impressive SarahPAC showing and op-ed regarding "cap and tax" have the lefties running scared. CNN reports: "(CNN) – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's political action committee is confirming a flood of new donations that push her cash haul close to the million-dollar mark, as one of the nation's largest liberal PACs announced an ad targeting the former GOP vice presidential candidate. Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton confirmed a report in the Anchorage Daily News that more than $200,000 had poured into SarahPAC since Palin's...

(CNN) – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's political action committee is confirming a flood of new donations that push her cash haul close to the million-dollar mark, as one of the nation's largest liberal PACs announced an ad targeting the former GOP vice presidential candidate. Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton confirmed a report in the Anchorage Daily News that more than $200,000 had poured into SarahPAC since Palin's announcement a week and a half ago that she would be leaving office by the end of the month. Those funds, along with $732,867 received through June 30 according to federal campaign finance filings,...

The political action committee associated with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin , SarahPAC, reported strong support from small donors in its mid-year report. SarahPAC reported $733,000 in total receipts through June 30, of which $420,000 was “unitemized� or from donors who contributed $200 or less. The PAC was established in January of this year with a stated goal of supporting Palin’s plans to improve the country as well as candidates who support her ideals. Palin announced July 3 she will resign as governor later this month and left the door open to possible plans to seek the presidency in 2012. Palin’s...

That's right, five months -- not six --  bacause as Allah notes at Hot Air -- SarahPAC wasn’t fully operational until the end of January: "By comparison, Romney’s PAC raised $1.4 million through the end of May, but then fundraising is pretty much Mitt’s full-time gig these days and he already has a polished team around him left over from the primaries. Let’s see what happens in the second half when he and Palin go toe-to-toe." Not only that, but as Meg Stapleton told Politico: SarahPAC was actually 'dark,' meaning it took in no money, from a period in mid-April...

Actually, that’s only a five-month total since the PAC wasn’t up and running until the end of January. By comparison, Romney’s PAC raised $1.4 million through the end of May, but then fundraising is pretty much Mitt’s full-time gig these days and he already has a polished team around him left over from the primaries. Let’s see what happens in the second half when he and Palin go toe-to-toe.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A report says Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's political action committee raised nearly $733,000 in its first five months. A report filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission shows receipts totaled $732,867.70 in the period between Jan. 1 and June 30. The former GOP vice presidential candidate launched the committee, SarahPAC, in late January, saying the goal was to help support candidates for federal and state office.

Sarah Palin’s political action committee raised nearly $733,000 in the first six months of 2009 and has more than $450,000 in cash on hand, according to new filings with the Federal Election Commission. While Republicans are hopeful that Palin will be a big fundraising help for them, her PAC hasn’t exactly been a campaign-finance ATM. Since its formation in late January, it appears to have made just two political contributions — $5,000 to Palin’s 2008 running mate, Sen. John McCain, and $5,000 to Alaska’s Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski. The majority of the money raised by SarahPAC so far has come...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- A New Zealand taekwondo athlete has opened a brothel to help fund his bid to compete at the 2012 London Olympics, local media reported Sunday. Logan Campbell, 23, told the Sunday Star-Times newspaper he hoped his Auckland "gentleman's club," which provided escort services, would help him raise about $200,000 toward his London Games campaign. Campbell, who finished in the top 16 in the featherweight division at last year's Beijing Olympics, said he spent around $90,000 competing in international events leading up to the games.

Sarah does the right thing, but the chattering claases in the DC beltway(and some on FR) can't see the forest from their chardonnay

"The prevailing narrative today is that Romney has risen to the top of the 2012 Invisible Primary because he's the last man standing. True, Romney hasn't made any obvious mistakes. But his rising standing is a consequence of decisions he's made, and not just a result of the luck." "It's a credit to his communications team that he can appear on television once every two or three weeks and seem to be part of the dialog. When Romney has something to say, he'll find a venue to say it. On auto restructuring, on the Republican stimulus plan, on a free...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Leading pro-abortion groups continue to devise every method possible to raise money by exploiting the shooting death of late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller. One group is running a signature ad campaign in Ms. magazine while another is selling bracelets like Lance Armstrong's.A new fundraising email from NARAL begins this way, "You've heard of wearing your heart on your sleeve. Well, in honor of Dr. George Tiller's work, we want you to wear yours on your wrist."NARAL is selling purple wrist bracelets with the message "Trust Women," a mantra of sorts of Tiller's that he used...

Monday, June 22, 2009 Shining a Light on the Palin Administration? Linda Kellen Biegel's Own Transparency Is Questionable By I A Crowther Shining a light on the Palin Administration. The fight for government transparency. I want an open and transparent government! Of benefit to the public interest. Linda Kellen Biegel, aka Celtic Diva, has called on the help of her readership to shine “a light on the Palin Administration” by asking for donations to the tune of more than $5,500 to fund a request for the email records of six members of the Office of the Governor, dating back more...

Gov. Sarah Palin reportedly now has more than $600,000 in legal bills as a result of ethics complaints, and a national campaign fueled by a conservative Web site reports bringing in more than $100,000 in the past week to her defense fund. The accusations are described by Palin supporters as frivolous attacks, and the governor's office says 14 complaints have been dismissed... ..... Other complaints have not been settled, and Kristan Cole, the trustee for the legal defense fund, said the bills continue to climb and "my sense is they are over $600,000." ..... "Our trust is one of the...

The RNC called me this morning looking for cash. The young gentleman on the other in started out by thanking me for my past support. Then he went on to say that they were standing up to Pres. Obama and that not one Repub. voted for Barry's 2010 budget. I cut the guy off right then and there and said, "Well, that may be the case, but plenty of them voted for TARP, and the Stimulus/Porkulus bill and until they can get their act together and also quite trying to silence us social conservatives, I want NOTHING to do with...

President Obama has the star power to raise millions of dollars for the candidates and organizations he graces with his stump speech. But when the president hit the road Tuesday for a two-day fundraising tour to pack the party coffers, he also was racking up a $265,000 partisan bill for just one leg of the trip, according to a watchdog group -- part of which taxpayers, regardless of party affiliation, will have to pay.

President Obama left Tuesday for a two-day fundraising tour in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The Democratic National Committee is expected to pick up part of the cost, but if history is any gauge, taxpayers will pick up most of the tab.

CHICAGO -- Transcripts from a call taped by the FBI show Sen. Roland Burris pleaded to be appointed to the U.S. Senate and promised to "personally do something" in response to a fundraising appeal on behalf of then-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The promise came in a phone conversation with Blagojevich's brother, Robert Blagojevich, who led the campaign fund. Burris repeatedly says how much he wants to be appointed to President Obama's former Senate seat. In response to an appeal for money from the governor's brother Burris says: "I will personally do something." The transcript was released Tuesday as part of...

Barack Obama may have been a product of the cesspool of Chicago politics, but political corruption ultimately may have saved him from financial ruin caused by his own financial fecklessness. Permit us to explain: Democrat Carol Moseley Braun was a one-term U.S. senator from Illinois in the 1990s who might have been a two-term senator had she not used campaign funds to pay personal expenses. In 1998, voters instead elected Republican Peter Fitzgerald, a clean-government crusader who instigated the investigation that led to the indictment in 2003 of then-Illinois Gov. George Ryan. A Republican, Mr. Ryan is serving a six-year...

Laura Ingraham to hold Event(s) for Florida’s Marco Rubio: On her show Thursday, Laura Ingraham promised to hold events in Florida for Senate primary candidate Marco Rubio. Rubio is taking on the more liberal Charlie Crist in the Republican primary. In what looks to be a battle between grass-roots conservatives and the GOP Political class, Ingraham was very impressed with the message Rubio offered on her program and immediately offered to campaign for him against Crist. The Pro-Stimulus Governor/Obama ally Charlie Crist, meanwhile, immediately picked up the endorsement of NRSC Chair Jon Cornyn who earlier in the year endorsed Arlen...

Today Reuters reported the story "Democrat fundraiser guilty of illegal donations." Author Christine Kearney begins: A former U.S. Democratic Party fundraiser whose 2007 arrest prompted Hillary Clinton to return $850,000 in campaign contributions was found guilty on Tuesday of breaking federal campaign laws

Closing Arguments Focus on Whether Hsu Repaid Colleagues for Donations The fate of Democratic fund-raiser Norman Hsu, who faces criminal charges for allegedly violating campaign-finance laws, now rests with a federal jury in New York. In closing arguments Monday, prosecutors and counsel for Mr. Hsu focused on the central issue of whether Mr. Hsu repaid thousands of dollars in political donations made by his business colleagues. Such repayments would violate campaign-finance laws. Mr. Hsu's troubles began after an August 2007 Wall Street Journal story raised questions about whether he was making illegal contributions to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign by financing...

The head of an ethical and legal watchdog group is angered that Hillary Clinton is being given a pass by the media and U.S. prosecutors regarding her involvement with convicted con artist and former million-dollar Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu. Jurors in Manhattan federal court recently heard a voicemail message from then-Senator Hillary Clinton to her former top fundraiser Norman Hsu, who has pled guilty to a $20 billion Ponzi scheme that involved misleading investors about his contacts with key Democratic leaders. In the voicemail, Clinton was effusive in her praise of Hsu, suggesting she would win the Democratic presidential primary...

Senate Democrats are losing their fundraising edge on Wall Street, seeing less money for candidates at a time when the party’s liberal wing is demonizing billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts to banks. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) raised $10.4 million through the first three months of this year, compared with $9.6 million raised by its Republican counterpart during the same quarter. That’s a much narrower margin than last election cycle, when the DSCC raised $163 million compared to the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s (NRSC) $94 million. The DSCC’s edge has all but vanished since Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.),...

...Biden was in town for a Democratic National Committee fundraising reception at the River Oaks home of lawyer Neal Manne — who served as Specter’s chief of staff in Washington in the 1980s... The vice president said that, as a senator from Delaware, he was Specter’s best friend in the Senate for 33 years, and that he and Manne “have been trying to remind Arlen that he is really Democrat.” “I have been working on that in earnest for the past four years and double time for the past 100 days (as vice president),” Biden added. “It seems only appropriate,”...

DNC: Buy Cheney a ticket home @ 10:05 am by Eric Zimmermann The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is asking supporters to chip in for a bus ticket to send Dick Cheney back to his home state of Wyoming. In a letter to Democrats today, DNC Executive Director Jen O'Malley Dillon asks for contributions towards the $202 ticket price. I don't know about you, but I think it's time for him to stop sniping from the sidelines and let President Obama usher in the changes Americans demanded after eight years of Cheney's disastrous policies. That's why I want Cheney to go...

To feed their insatiable appetite for cash, the two parties’ House campaign committees are turning to their own members to fill their coffers. And as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has far outpaced its GOP rival in fundraising, so too have Democratic members given far more to the effort than their Republican counterparts. In total, Democrats have transferred $4.87 million from their campaign accounts to the DCCC, with 19 members forking over more than $100,000. By comparison, Republican members of Congress have given the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) just $477,000, with no member topping the six-figure mark. Both...

A Question of Funding by: Bethany Stotts, April 23, 2009 Staff members at America’s colleges and universities often have often been unabashed about their admiration for President Barack Obama, a recovering academic himself. According to The Chronicle Review, a publication of The Chronicle of Higher Education, academics are considering taking Obamamania to a new level for their fundraising enterprises. Marc Parry describes in the April 24 issue of The Chronicle Review that some colleges have hired Blue State Digital, the consulting firm which designed mybarackobama.com, for fundraising solutions. “Now the strategic-consulting and technology firm, Blue State Digital, is courting colleges,”...

Fundraising numbers look good.

Even with the president on its side, the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) fundraising woes continued in March as the party earned fewer individual donations than did its GOP rivals. The Republican National Committee, under new Chairman Michael Steele, pulled in $6.7 million in March, padding the committee's swollen bank accounts and ending the month with $23.9 million cash on hand. That's higher than the $5.26 million the RNC raised in February, Steele's first month as chairman. The DNC, which hosted President Obama's first fundraiser since being sworn in in January, posted just $5.57 million raised from individual donors, down from...

WASHINGTON, April 17 (UPI) -- Reports filed with the Federal Election Commission indicate Democrats in the U.S. Senate are raking in contributions at a rapid clip for the 2010 election. First-quarter filings reveal that even incumbents considered to be vulnerable are pulling in more than their potential GOP challengers, The Washington Times reported Friday.

California politicians seeking and occupying seats in the Legislature and statewide office have raised more than $1 billion since 2000, despite a voter-imposed cap on campaign contributions, according to a critical new report by the state's campaign watchdog agency. "The $1,006,638,463 directly raised by officeholders and candidates works out to $344,503 per day or $14,354 per hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year," said Ross Johnson, chairman of the Fair Political Practices Commission, .. The FPPC's new report, entitled "The Billion Dollar Money Train," criticizes the vast sums of special interest money that has...

RICHMOND -- While his Democratic rivals confined their travels to Virginia, gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe quietly slipped out of the commonwealth a dozen times in recent weeks to attend fundraisers in his honor hosted by some of the nation's top Democratic donors. One day this month, he dashed from a morning roundtable in Roanoke, caught a United Airlines flight to Phoenix and landed in time for an evening event hosted by an Arizona Democratic activist. On another, he left on a pre-dawn U.S. Airways flight that required a plane change in Charlotte to get from a Chicago fundraiser to a...

President Obama continued collecting money for his 2010 Senate re-election campaign even after he resigned his seat from Illinois, including a maximum $2,300 donation the day after Christmas from a top executive of a Wall Street firm that had received a government bailout. Four contributions - $4,800 in all - were donated to the Obama 2010 fund on Dec. 26, according to Federal Election Commission reports. The money came from some of Mr. Obama's top presidential fundraisers: Bruce A. Heyman, managing director at Goldman Sachs, which received a $10 billion bailout last year; Steven Koch, vice chairman at Credit Suisse...

President Obama continued collecting money for his 2010 Senate re-election campaign even after he resigned his seat from Illinois, including a maximum $2,300 donation the day after Christmas from a top executive of a Wall Street firm that had received a government bailout. Four contributions - $4,800 in all - were donated to the Obama 2010 fund on Dec. 26, according to Federal Election Commission reports. The money came from some of Mr. Obama's top presidential fundraisers: Bruce A. Heyman, managing director at Goldman Sachs, which received a $10 billion bailout last year; Steven Koch, vice chairman at Credit Suisse...

U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning on Tuesday blamed his early fundraising difficulties on fellow Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell. Bunning, 77, is widely considered one of the most vulnerable incumbent senators up for re-election next year. The Hall of Fame pitcher barely beat Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo, at the time a little-known Democrat, to win his second term in 2004. Recently, Bunning had to apologize for taking the Lord's name in vain after remarks to reporters. Nearly a month earlier, he stirred controversy by saying U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg could die of pancreatic cancer within a year. Bunning...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama defended his strategy of tackling multiple challenges instead of focusing solely on fixing the U.S. economy in a return on Wednesday to the political fund-raising that helped elect him. Obama helped fellow Democrats bring in at least $3 million during two events, his first fund-raisers since taking office more than two months ago. He used his speeches to defend his proposed $3.55 trillion budget plan as the key to reviving the U.S. economy. Critics in Washington say Obama is trying to do too many things at once, complicating his efforts to mend the economy....

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a pair of political firsts as president, Barack Obama endorsed a fellow Democrat in a competitive special congressional election and was the main draw at two Democratic National Committee fundraisers on Wednesday. "Sign up and pitch in to elect Scott Murphy to Congress," the president implored in an early morning e-mail to at least 50,000 people in New York's 20th Congressional District. Tying his agenda to the election's outcome, he added that electing Murphy would "make a big impact on my efforts to bring about a lasting economic recovery." By evening, Obama planned to headline two...

Michael Steele, despite marred in a Rush Limbaugh faux-media-induced scandal, out-raised his Lib counterpart Tim Kaine! The Revolution will not be televised! In its first full month under the chairmanship of Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, the Democratic National Committee only raised $3.26 million in February, according to figures released by the committee this afternoon. The total lags behind the February fundraising total at the Republican National Committee, which raised $5.1 million during the month. RNC chairman Michael Steele, who faced a tumultuous first month as chairman, will get to claim an early fundraising victory over his Democratic counterpart. The DNC...

The Democratic National Committee raised $3.2 million in February, a strikingly low take for a financial juggernaut led by President Barack Obama and his legions of grass-roots supporters who helped him shatter campaign fundraising records. Even the committee's Republican counterpart raised more - $5.1 million - last month and did so under more difficult circumstances. The GOP was coming off of a disastrous election in which it lost the White House and saw its numbers in Congress shrink further. New GOP chairman Michael Steele also had a rocky start. Overall, monthly reports being filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission...

The Republican National Committee will report raising $5.1 million during the month of February when reports are filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission. The number is slightly down from the amount the party raised in January, when the RNC raised $5.77 million from individuals and other political committees, setting aside the $7 million Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) presidential campaigns transferred back to RNC accounts.

GOP strategists and party leaders are increasingly worried that the party’s run of bad news over the last month and a half is set to continue this week as the Republican National Committee (RNC) prepares to release what are expected to be markedly low fundraising numbers on Friday. The RNC has consistently outraised the Democratic National Committee on a month-by-month basis. Observers say that streak is likely to end this month. . . . . . Steele already had a high bar to meet; in January, under former Chairman Robert “Mike” Duncan, the committee raised more than $13.1 million, including...

We have been called numerous times over the last week from the RNC and the state Republicans both asking us for money. We refuse to give them any more money until they turn around and 'get right.' The callers sure are persistent, though, and talk right through my 'no'! Anyone else coming up against this?

The Chinagate/Buddhist temple cash skeletons in Gary Locke’s closet By Michelle Malkin  •  February 24, 2009 09:53 AM Is it possible for Barack Obama to pick a Commerce Secretary nominee who’ll actually make it past first base? Bill Richardson withdrew in the midst of a pay-for-play scandal. Judd Gregg withdrew in the midst of a humiliating power play over the Census and porkulus bill.Now, former Democrat Gov. Gary Locke — a lawyer for international firm Davis, Wright, and Tremaine who specializes in China — is rumored to be the next nominee for the post. The MSM is pulling for him. WaPo...

Near silence from the American mainstream media, but this news item from the Brits about Obama appointing one of his key fundraisers as Ambassador to Great Britain: Barack Obama has been embroiled in a cronyism row after reports that he intends to make Louis Susman, one of his biggest fundraisers, the new US ambassador in London....

CHICAGO, Feb. 17 -- In the latest in a series of shifting accounts of his conduct, Sen. Roland W. Burris (D-Ill.) told reporters that he tried to raise money for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich at the same time he was asking Blagojevich to appoint him to the Senate. Burris said he contacted "some people" about holding a fundraiser at the request of Blagojevich's brother, Robert, only to learn that no one was willing to help the governor. He said he later changed his mind, raised no money and contributed none. The account to reporters in Peoria, Ill., was Burris's fifth version...

WASHINGTON – Republicans are making another run at overturning a ban on unlimited "soft money" contributions. Their Democratic rivals say it is an attempt to bring big money back to politics because the GOP can't keep up with President Barack Obama's fundraising machine. The Republican National Committee is suing to overturn part of a ban on unlimited contributions passed by Congress in 2002 and upheld by the Supreme Court a year later.

VIDEO A little over a week after the November 4th elections, the Republican National Committee filed federal lawsuits to repeal McCain-Feingold federal campaign finance regulations. A day before the RNC elected it's new chairman, Michael Steele, the Democratic National Committee attempted to block the RNC's lawsuits to repeal McCain-Feingold. A recent press release from the DNC said the following: WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the Democratic National Committee announced that it filed a motion to intervene in the case of the Republican National Committee v. FEC, in which the RNC is seeking to dismantle the soft money provisions of...