Free Republic

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The principal reason why former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has climbed to the top of Sen. John McCain's practical wish list for vice president is the possibility that he could bring Michigan's 17 electoral votes to the Republicans for the first time since 1988. Private polls show Romney could make all the difference in Michigan. A McCain-Romney ticket carries the state by a moderately comfortable margin. With any other running mate, McCain loses Michigan. George Romney, Mitt's father, was a Detroit auto executive and the popular three-term governor of Michigan. The younger Romney won the 2008 primary...

Sen. Barack Obama held a private session with a group of about two dozen Iranian-American donors shortly before a fundraiser this month in California after one of the participants said the Obama campaign would hold such a forum if local Iranian-Americans were able to raise $250,000. The forum -- which was not on Obama's public schedule and was closed to the press -- took place shortly before a fundraiser at the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach, Calif., on July 13. That was less than a week before Obama's trip to the Middle East, where the U.S. relationship with Iran...

Shortly after 6 pm Central time -- just a few hours after Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, gave his speech in Berlin, which his campaign insisted was not political -- his campaign manager, David Plouffe, sent out a fundraising solicitation using the speech to raise campaign cash. "As you may have heard, Barack has been in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia this week," reads the email, with a big red "DONATE" sign. "Today, he spoke in Berlin, Germany. In a city where a wall once divided the free from the oppressed, he talked about tearing down the walls that divide...

Six weeks ago, Senator Jim DeMint launched the Senate Conservatives Fund, a PAC that supports strong conservatives in Senate races. DeMint created the SCF as an answer for contributors who wanted an option apart from the NRSC that focused on conservative policy and commitment to such. Today, they have announced their first endorsement — Bob Schaffer of Colorado, running for the retiring Wayne Allard seat:The SCF post has an extensive report on Schaffer’s positions as well as his key votes in Congress. Schaffer, as it turns out, was even more conservative than DeMint himself in his last session in Congress,...

The skeleton in Obama’s money closet By Judi McLeod Robert Wolf, CEO of UBS Americas, who has bundled more than $370,850 for Barack Obama so far this year, is one of the most embarrassing skeletons in BO’s money closet, now that the financial institution Wolf heads up in America has been outed in The Nation’s Attack of the Global Pirate Bankers. Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, and Glenn Beck.

Gores to host Obama fundraiser Nashville | July 24, 2008 12:01:13 AM IST Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is preparing to host a Nashville fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, say officials. A spokeswoman for Gore, has confirmed that Al and Tipper Gore have agreed to the event although a date and location have not been set, nor even whether Obama himself would attend, The Tennessean, a Nashville newspaper, reported Wednesday. Wade Munday, a spokesman for the Tennessee Democratic Party, said we would certainly welcome the senator with open arms should he arrive in Nashville before the October...

Of the 311 fundraisers who bundled more than $100,000 in donations for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, only eight are on the list of contributors to Barack Obama’s campaign in June. Their total for the month: just $19,250. “The fact that fewer than 3 percent of Clinton’s donors have donated any money directly to Obama in his first month as presumptive nominee is likely to raise the eyebrows of some leaders in the Democratic Party who are hoping to see signs of unity,” the Huffington Post observed. The Washington Post reported that a total of 2,200 individual Clinton donors — as...

The very first fact every American must reconcile with is the fact that “lobbying” elected representatives, like other forms of prostitution, is as old as the constitutional republic itself. Ever since the moment that our founding colonies ratified these words, “Governments instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” and established that we the people were endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, namely “freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances,” Americans have been using...

John and I, in continuing to pour over these documents in the old fashion way, tedious line by tedious line, have found dozens, literally dozens of instances in which people have clearly made contributions over the applicable $2300 per individual limit, without consequence or direction to the Obama campaign to disgorge such illegally gotten funds, when the documentation is on adjacent lines right before the F.E.C. staff. The F.E.C. has simply been trampled by the Obama campaign. Link to Atlas

There’s an old saying that the only thing wrong with tainted money is that there “taint” enough of it. That might work for universities and other institutions that grace their halls with the names of robber barons, but it’s trouble for political campaigns. The McCain camp recognized that fact of life anew this week. The Washington Post reports that the campaign was stung by its ties to Oregon venture capitalist and political donor Craig Berkman, who was sued by former investors in a fraud case and ordered to pay $28 million in civil damages. Berkman and his wife, the Post...

When launched last fall, the Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America (FSPA) was labeled an evil," "soft-money" group; it was no surprise its activities would immediately be denounced by Sen. John McCain. After all, for years Mr. McCain has been a vocal opponent of soft-money groups operating independently of federal campaigns. Unfortunately, it is McCain-Feingold "campaign finance reform" that reconfigured the playing field and created these groups. And, what is even more unfortunate for the GOP is that the vast majority of funds are being amassed by liberal groups such as Moveon.org to help Sen. Barack Obama. Reports indicate...

Republican Sen. John McCain will take his presidential bid to the symbolic heart of liberal America next Monday, making a stop in San Francisco's swank Fairmont Hotel for a fundraiser. The ticket? Up to $100,000 per person. The event is at least McCain's third fundraising pit stop in the city. Back on the last day in January - only days before the state's presidential primary, which he won resoundingly - McCain hosted a fundraiser at the Four Seasons hotel.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain left Buffalo Monday with no new hope of carrying New York in November but still got what he came for — lots of campaign cash. The Arizona senator established a Western New York political fundraising record at two separate events — raking in more than $1 million — all in the course of about three hours.

Tom Abrahams has a great post up over at his blog at TheVote.abc13.com. He’s found some interesting tidbits in the campaign finance data pertaining to Texas, as well as noting that John McCain has only about one-third of the cash on hand that Barack Obama has.Regarding Houston, he found this: The 770– zip codes in Houston are the most generous in the state for both candidates. McCain has pulled in $1,650,521 million. Obama’s received a little more than $2 million.What’s even more amazing about those numbers is that the 770 zip codes have given more to all presidential candidates ($9,315,056)...

Senator Barack Obama raised $52 million in June, his campaign announced on Thursday morning, more than twice the amount he raised one month earlier before claiming the Democratic presidential nomination. “We have some big news we want to share with you,” campaign manager David Plouffe said in a message to supporters. “Because of your generosity and commitment, we’re reporting to the press today that this campaign is in a very strong financial position.” The average contribution to the campaign, he said, was $68.

Excerpt- Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton lent her campaign another $1 million at the end of June, underscoring the difficulty she was having staying ahead of creditors and retiring a mountain of campaign debt, filings with the Federal Election Commission show. ~ snip ~

Link only.

I don't know if this has received Freeperization yet, but Atlas Shrugged has an interesting post about Obama's evidently very-rich-yet-unemployed donors. Surely this will be followed up on by the MSM?

Sunday JULY 20, 2008 Murtha outraised in most recent quarter By MICHELLE GANASSI Daily American Staff Writer In April, William Russell's name didn't even appear on the ballot because of a challenge to signatures on his nominating petition. Three months later, Russell has outraised Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown, by $511,000 in the most recent fundraising quarter. The quarter ended on June 30. While the veteran congressmen still has more than $1.6 million in the bank compared to $918,000 for the Army lieutenant colonel, the money is a much needed boost for the political newcomer's campaign. “The average American is saying...

Rudy Giuliani is launching a new fund-raising committee to dole out cash to New York GOP candidates - a move that could help him collect political chits as he weighs a run for governor, The Post has learned. It's the first major political move by the former mayor since his run for president flamed out in January. The Giuliani camp is expected to announce the creation of the committee as early as Monday. The same day, he'll hold a small fund-raiser at the Grand Havana Room on Fifth Avenue for his existing federal political action committee, Solutions America. Sources close...

Money dries up as scandals spread; campaign begs for $5 contributions to keep campaign afloat Can you make a donation of $5 now to strengthen our movement for change? So reads the latest pathetic appeal from Obama campaign manager David Plouffe. Even though Obama’s Internet presence and network are far more sophisticated than John McCain’s–remember that it played a central role in Hillary Clinton’s defeat–Plouffe’s E-mail shows that it is no longer raising the kind of money the campaign needs. It is quite likely that Barack Obama’s own supporters are closing their checkbooks, wallets, and purses in response to the...

OBAMA DONATION PAGE Since he won't do it, John McCain needs to have surrogates raise hell about the issue of Obama and foreign money online. A fake column, purportedly written by Maureen Dowd, has been discredited. What is interesting is that the column has been discredited, but the information has not. Who is verifying the info from the foreign servers? Although she was probably getting a boatload of money from illegal sources, at least Hillary made the appearance of trying not to take illegal money online. On her website, those not in the U.S. could only donate by mail...

An independent conservative group that worked on behalf of President Bush in 2004 is planning to begin broadcasting nationally next week a commercial that attacks Senator Barack Obama as a flip-flopper. The non-profit advocacy group, Let Freedom Ring, is planning to spend several hundred thousand dollars to broadcast the commercial over several days beginning Tuesday, according to Colin Hanna, president of the organization. The group has already obtained clearance to broadcast the advertisement on CNN and MSNBC and is seeking approval from several networks to make a national advertising purchase, Mr. Hanna said. But it is unclear how many spots...

Former Gov. Mitt Romney, who's increasingly visible on the campaign trail on behalf of the man who beat him for the Republican presidential nomination, Sen. John McCain, is about to forgive the $45 million he loaned himself for the primary struggles. The legal move of filing papers with the Federal Election Commission re-declaring Romney's loans as contributions is imminent, according to a report by Michael Kranish on the Boston Globe website. It would clear the legal deck for Romney to become a candidate again as, oh, say, the vice presidential Republican running mate of McCain. Republican presidential nominee to be...

This morning the papers were overloaded with positive stories proclaiming that Barack Obama was back on his A-Game and raising money like there was no tomorrow. Unfortunately the MSM once again failed to look at the actual numbers that should be of concern for the Obama campaign. It is true that the Obama campaign did raise $52 million in June, along with DNC fundraising that added another $22 million to their coffers. That's a total haul of $74 million for the Democrat party in the month of June. But...

What’s up with Barack Obama’s fundraising? We’re more than halfway through July, and Obama has not yet released information on how much he raised in June. John McCain made public his figure — $22 million — quite a while ago. But no word from Obama. It would seem that the last thing Obama has to worry about is money. But his fundraising has, in fact, been on a downward trend since the early primaries. February, when Obama took in $55 million, was his biggest month ever. In March, he raised $40 million. In April, he raised $31 million. In May,...

Senator Barack Obama raised $52 million in June, his campaign announced Thursday, recording his second-best fund-raising month of the year through an aggressive mix of small and large contributions that produced more than twice the amount raised by Senator John McCain. After becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee last month, Mr. Obama also helped the Democratic National Committee markedly increase its fund-raising to $22.4 million in June. Together, the Obama campaign and the party have about $92.3 million in the bank, which is slightly less than Republicans, who began July with about $95 million.

Both Presidential contenders have released a list of their top Texan Contributors on their respective websites... While McCain released the donors occupation and employer, Barry withheld that information. Granted that information is public record that can be located on the Federal Election Commission website, my question is why did the Obama campaign go out of there way to conceal that information on the site? Because honestly ladies and gentleman, would could Barry possibly have to hide? ::coughs:: Special Interests::coughs::

Internet lotteries, misuse of tax exempt church resources, and campaign-sanctioned hate speech cut into Obama fundraising Two or three months ago, Republicans’ biggest fear was that Obama’s sophisticated Internet network would raise enough money to overwhelm McCain with limitless funds for advertising. Barack Obama believed this as well, as shown by his decision to reject Federal funding (and spending limits) for his campaign. The following E-mail from David Plouffe now reports, however, that McCain’s admittedly more primitive fundraising system is outperforming Obama’s system. It also suggests that disgruntled Obama supporters are closing their wallets and purses to further solicitations. Potential...

ASHLAND, Neb. - Presidential candidate John McCain may have differences with Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, but he made it clear Wednesday that he respects his fellow Republican's views on the Iraq war. McCain said that Hagel's criticism of the war, unlike Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's, amounts to an "informed decision" because of the time Hagel has spent in Iraq and studying the issue, McCain said. This was McCain's first campaign trip to Nebraska. The Arizona senator, here to raise money for his presidential bid, praised Hagel and declined to talk about speculation that his Republican colleague and fellow Vietnam...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR INFORMATION: Peg Luksik, Campaign Manager | 814.244.8948 Grassroots Contributions Challenge Murtha War chest in PA’s 12th RussellBrigade.com Launches JOHNSTOWN [07.16.08]: The campaign of Johnstown resident and Republican nominee for Congress Lt. Colonel Bill Russell outpaced incumbent Congressman John Murtha in the second fundraising quarter of 2008. According to campaign manager, Peg Luksik, William Russell for Congress reported raising $637,137 to Murtha’s $113,155 to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC). The combined totals from the first and second quarters of 2008 exceed $900,000. “The incredible story about Bill’s campaign is that the $15 and $25 contributions are coming...

ALBANY — Two payments to the Mayflower Hotel in Washington were included in former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s campaign filings, which were released on Tuesday afternoon. The two payments, $411.06 apiece, were recorded on Jan. 14, 2008, although it is unclear what nights were covered, or whether Mr. Spitzer stayed at the hotel. A person with knowledge of the evidence developed in the federal investigation of Mr. Spitzer said the former governor had two encounters with prostitutes in Washington in early 2008. Whether Mr. Spitzer might have misused campaign money to finance dealings with prostitutes has been one of the significant...

Unlike Kerry, Obama Covets Soros' SupportRobert B. Bluey, CNSNews.comWednesday, July 28, 2004BOSTON – Without a formidable Republican opponent in his U.S. Senate race, Barack Obama has little reason not to take money from billionaire liberal financier George Soros, a man other Democrats keep at a distance. When Obama took the stage Tuesday night for a prime-time address at the Democratic National Convention, the candidate for Senate in Illinois was introduced to a wider audience ... [snip!] Democrats expect him to pass any test he faces. They view Obama as a rising star within their party, touting his good looks and...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Both of the major candidates in this year’s U.S. Senate race in Louisiana report raising more than $1.5 million in the last three months, although the incumbent has a big advantage right now in cash on hand. Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s campaign reports cash on hand of $5.5 million. State Treasurer John Kennedy, a Republican, has $2.7 million for his campaign to unseat Landrieu. The figures are from press releases distributed by the campaigns. The campaigns’ reports were due with the Federal Elections Commission Tuesday but had not been posted on the FEC Web site as...

Reed’s war chest continues to expand PROVIDENCE — While the national media swirls with speculation concerning Sen. Jack Reed’s chances of being Barack Obama’s running mate, Reed continues to pile up the campaign contributions for his reelection run against Republican Bob Tingle.Federal campaign reports for the 90-day period ending June 30 show that Reed harvested another $450,000 in campaign cash to bring his total war chest to $3.8 million.Reed, running for his third term in the Senate, faces a rematch with Republican Bob Tingle of Westerly. Reed crushed Tingle in 2002. Reed is considered by Washington, D.C.-based campaign experts...

WASHINGTON – Republican Tom McClintock is atop the money chase in one of California's most expensive congressional races, but his Democratic challenger has more than five times as much cash in the bank, according to new campaign spending reports. While Democrat Charlie Brown had virtually no opposition for the Democratic nomination, McClintock won the right to advance by clubbing former Republican Rep. Doug Ose in the June primary. But McClintock's victory cost him: He raised nearly $1.6 million in his bid to replace Republican Rep. John Doolittle in the state's 4th Congressional District, and he finished the quarter with but...

<p>Just six weeks after reluctantly surrendering to Barack Obama in the brutal 2008 Democratic primary race, Sen. Hillary Clinton has begun raising money for what she says is her 2012 New York Senate re-election campaign.</p> <p>Clinton still faces some $20 million in debts from her unsuccessful presidential effort this year. As part of a so-called "unity drive," Obama has appealed to his supporters in recent weeks to give to Clinton to cover the costs she incurred while raking him over the coals in a bareknuckled bid to return to the White House. Some Obama backers have balked.</p>

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - When Republican leaders recruited Dr. Steve Sauerberg to unseat U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, their goal was not so much to win as it was to keep the Democrats busy and on the defensive. Sauerberg's latest campaign filing shows he has little money to take his campaign on the offensive. And he may not be able to raise significant cash or put more of his own money into the effort, though a campaign spokesman says Sauerberg will spend what it takes to win. As of July 1, Sauerberg had $1.07 million, about $1,500 less in his campaign...

Hillary Clinton's campaign is sending out letters to donors asking permission to roll a $2,300 contribution to Clinton's 2008 general election coffers to her 2012 senate election fund instead of offering a refund. The letter, read to me by one recipient, includes a photocopy of a handwritten note from Clinton that says, "Dear friend, your commitment has meant so much to me over the course of my presidential campaign. You were there for me when I needed you the most and I'll never forget it. I hope you'll help me continue to fight for the issues and causes we believe...

Hillary Clinton's campaign is sending out letters to donors asking permission to roll a $2,300 contribution to Clinton's 2008 general election coffers to her 2012 senate election fund instead of offering a refund. The letter, read to me by one recipient, includes a photocopy of a handwritten note from Clinton that says, "Dear friend, your commitment has meant so much to me over the course of my presidential campaign. You were there for me when I needed you the most and I'll never forget it. I hope you'll help me continue to fight for the issues and causes we believe...

Things you never thought you’d see: Obama’s campaign manager begs for money posted at 1:46 pm on July 14, 2008 by Allahpundit I saw and duly dismissed as wishful thinking Karl’s and Patrick Ruffini’s posts last week speculating that St. Barack hadn’t released his June fundraising numbers yet because his money machine had finally broken down. After watching this, I wonder if they’re right. The obvious spin is that the sluggish contributions are simply an artifact of summer doldrums, but (per Ruffini) Kerry took in $30 million in June 2004, which would be slightly better than what Obama’s rumored to...

I saw and duly dismissed as wishful thinking Karl’s and Patrick Ruffini’s posts last week speculating that St. Barack hadn’t released his June fundraising numbers yet because his money machine had finally broken down. After watching this, I wonder if they’re right. The obvious spin is that the sluggish contributions are simply an artifact of summer doldrums, but (per Ruffini) Kerry took in $30 million in June 2004, which would be slightly better than what Obama’s rumored to have pulled last month. You’d expect even a weak stretch for Team Barry to improve significantly on what the Dems were doing...

This shirt won a contest on Hillary's site. They received 5,000 submissions and 125,000 people voted for their favorite. Hillary says. While the primary race may be over, I think the winning t-shirt -- and it won by a landslide -- still makes a wonderful statement about everything you and I accomplished in this historic race and our determination to keep fighting for what we believe in. Hmmm. Fighting John McCain? I think she may be reminding us Obama is only the presumptive nominee. The Country Music design, here, wasn't among the finalists. Go figure.

Denver Last January, a "confidential" memo from a Democratic political consultant outlined an ambitious scheme for spending $11.7 million in Colorado this year to crush Republicans. The money would come from rich liberal donors in the state and would be spent primarily on defeating Senate candidate Bob Schaffer ($5.1 million) and Representative Marilyn Musgrave ($2.6 million), who are loathed by liberals for sponsoring a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. The overarching aim: Lock in Democratic control of Colorado for years to come. Leaked memos have a way of revealing who's on top and who's not in politics and...

The spectacle of the coming Republican National Convention will be brought to you by Minnesota's major corporations, even more than planned. Virtually every major Twin Cities company has given money to the convention's local host committee, donated free services or both. The surprise has been the ratio of local donors to national money. "They originally thought it would be a 50-50 split, and it's looking more like 60 percent local and 40 percent national," said Teresa McFarland, spokeswoman for the host committee, which is charged with raising $58 million.

The US Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, is attracting millions more dollars in funding than expected, which could allow him to match the much-vaunted Barack Obama donation machine. He is on course to raise $400m (£201m) for the November election, which he said would put him roughly level with Obama. McCain surprised US political pundits by raising $22m in June, his best showing since he launched his bid for the White House early last year.

Vets for Freedom 'Four Months to Victory' Campaign On July 9, 2008, Vets for Freedom (VFF) kicked off a nationwide campaign entitled “Four Months For Victory.� This grassroots effort, combined with a $1.5 million media buy, will remind Virginians of the importance of success in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the War on Terror as a whole. VFF was founded two years ago by combat veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Today, our organization carries membership of 25,000 in all fifty states. The Virginia organization has 350 registered members, as well as countless supporters. We represent the courage, conviction and commitment...

On June 25th, The Center For Responsive Politics in conjunction with 7 other campaign finance watchdog groups sent a joint letter to both Senator Obama and Senator McCain’s campaign requesting further disclosure of ...

The real story of this year's money race? It's much more competitive than anyone expected. As always, Obama's army of 1.7 million donors provided his campaign with a larger individual pot than McCain's: $30 million for Chicago (according to the Wall Street Journal)* vs. $22 million for Crystal City. But thanks to those higher caps on party contributions, the vast majority of McCain's money--that is, another $26 million--went to the RNC. All told, the Republicans now boast a combined cash-on-hand total of $102.6 million, according to McCain campaign manager Rick Davis--$27 million from McCain and the remaining $75.6 million from...

Will Bower: We don't need Barack Obama. We raised approximately $10 million dollars over the 4th of July weekend. The debt is less then $5 million dollars away from being paid off. PUMA is aiming to have all of this paid off by THIS FRIDAY. Compare this to Barack Obama's top fundraisers who only raised $100,000.