Posted on 04/11/2008 9:26:23 AM PDT by Para-Ord.45
Obama credits his presidential campaign with creating a "parallel public financing system" built on a wave of modest donations from homemakers and high school teachers. Small givers, he said at a fundraiser this week
But those with wealth and power also have played a critical role in creating Obama's record-breaking fundraising machine, and their generosity has earned them a prominent voice in shaping his campaign. Seventynine "bundlers," five of them billionaires, have tapped their personal networks to raise at least $200,000 each. They have helped the campaign recruit more than 27,000 donors to write checks for $2,300, the maximum allowed. Donors who have given more than $200 account for about half of Obama's total haul, which stands at nearly $240 million.
- The list includes partners from 18 top law firms, 21 Wall Street executives and power brokers from Fortune 500 companies. California is the top source, with 19 bundlers. Both Illinois and Washington, D.C., have six, and five hail from New York.
-The bundlers grew to include perennial Democratic money men, including Louis B. Susman, the Citigroup executive who headed fundraising for Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) in 2004. Kirk Wager, a Florida trial lawyer and Kerry fundraiser, had planned to sit out this election before Obama persuaded him to come on board.
- Desiree Rogers, head of the Peoples Gas utility. Her ex-husband, John W. Rogers, the head of Ariel Capital Management, is also a bundler.
A $1,000-a-person fundraiser that Desiree Rogers hosted in January attracted 600 people and spilled over to a neighbor's apartment. Obama repeated his pitch three times, she said.
The Chicago contingent also includes James Crown, a director of General Dynamics, the military contractor in which his family holds a large stake. The company has been the beneficiary of at least one Obama earmark...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Obama may bypass public financing ( Something smells fishy) http://news.yahoo.com ^ | Wed Apr 9, 2:15 PM ET | JIM KUHNHENN
…his base of nearly 1.3 million donors could easily deliver in excess of the amount available from the federal treasury.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A base of 1.3 million !?
That is what smells. Who are they, are there really 1.3 million, who`s donating multiple times, where`s is the cash REALLY coming from, how many 'chinese dishwashers/empty storefronts are donating ?
Still waiting for some deep research to be done on these so called 1.3 million donors.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1999204/posts
The bundlers don’t just sit silently on the sidelines, either. Obama holds weekly conference calls to discuss campaign strategy and policy with them. They got a preview of the speech that Obama gave to do damage control over the Wright Stuff, and they pushed him to link the US economy and its problems with the Iraq war. Anthony Lake meets with them so often that the Obama campaign credits him with a portion of the funds raised by the calls with his national-security adviser.
That picture differs substantially from the image offered by Obama of a campaign directed by grassroots activists. Their money clearly doesn’t do the talking. Bundlers direct the campaign, quite literally, and those bundlers represent moneyed interests — a much different reality than what Obama and his advocates admit.
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/04/11/the-myth-of-grassroots-in-the-obama-campaign/
Don’t forget Code Pink co-founder Jodi Evans is a contributor and a bundler for Obama.
Seems like Obama has tapped his base already. It’s not like they can donate another $2300. McCain’s problem is he has little base to tap.
“Seems like Obama has tapped his base already. It’s not like they can donate another $2300.”
They can after the primaries, I believe.
Obama’s “base” is the same as the Democrats since the ‘80’s - “Wall Street” ie, the traders and finance houses, not the manufacturers.
None of these candidates are clean in the ‘bundling’ area.
McCain advisers tied to foreign lobbying
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/NATION/299288489/1001
[snip]
Two of Sen. John McCain’s top advisers and fundraisers are among several Republican and Democratic presidential campaign officials whose lobbying firms have been paid more than $15 million by foreign governments since 2005.
Other McCain campaign bundlers, who have committed to raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the candidate, also have received lobbying fees from foreign governments. They include the following:
Rob Allyn, head of the Dallas-based Allyn & Co.,(former PR firm for Mexico, Vincente Fox, George Bush) a public relations, advertising and political media firm, who was paid $720,000 by the Mexican government in 2006 to polish its image and call for a guest worker program for millions of Mexican nationals illegally in the United States.
The lobbying efforts came at a time Congress and the White House were debating comprehensive immigration-reform legislation, which was defeated in June. Then-President Vicente Fox was an outspoken critic of the proposed legislation.
Mr. Black and Mr. Loeffler also are listed by Mr. McCain’s campaign Web site as bundlers, expected to collect thousands of dollars in donations from several sources to bypass federal election laws limiting individual contributors to a $2,300 maximum donation.
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