Free Republic

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....

Barrack Obama touts himself as the only presidential candidate not corrupted by Washington politics but his earmark records contradict that because he tried steering millions of federal dollars to his wife's employer and the company of a top campaign donor. Recently released earmarks reveal that he requested $1 million for the hospital that employs his wife Michelle and $8 million for a military contractor with a board member who has given hefty sums to his campaign. The $1 million was requested in 2006 to build a tower pavillion at the University of Chicago Hospitals, where Michelle Obama was vice president...