Fundraising Deadline

As the quarterly fundraising deadline approaches (its midnight March 31), the Obama campaign is increasing its e-mails encouraging donation support. (I get ALL of their e-mails, so I know). They said they're more concerned with reaching their goal of 75,000 donors than the dollar amount. Let's be honest, no campaign is concerned more with people donating than with the amount donated, but that's a good spin in encouraging more people. It seems they surpassed their goal, as here's part of the e-mail I received today.

The 75,000th person who decided to own a piece of this campaign did it with just $5.
It happened late last night, as we hit our goal of 75,000 people donating to the campaign more than two full days in advance of the March 31st quarterly reporting deadline.

His name is Rashed. He's a Navy veteran and this was his first donation ever to a political campaign. We gave him a call from headquarters here in Chicago last night to thank him, and he told us that the reason he decided to give had a lot to do with his young daughter, Yasemin:

"Being an African American male, to have that positive role model in Senator Obama, it's given me so much hope. To be able to look at my daughter one day and tell her, 'You can be anything you want in the world" ... In the past I might have said, 'You could be anything you want to be. But president? No' ... But now, he's given me that light. Now, I can tell her, 'You really can be anything you want in the world.'"

Campaign Endorsement

Jesse Jackson formally announced today who he's endorsing for president- Barack Obama. This comes as no surprise, as he's known for his liberal views, his son is a Chicago politican and he has long been a supporter of black rights. If it were anyone else, then I would've been surprised.

Jackson sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, winning 13 primaries and caucuses in 1988. His son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois, has already endorsed Obama.

Jackson represents a different era of black politician, battle-tested by the civil rights struggles of the 1960s with Martin Luther King Jr.

In a statement responding to Jackson's support, Obama said, "This campaign has been about giving hope since Day One and I am proud to have the support of my friend Jesse Jackson. It is because people like Jesse ran that I have this opportunity to run for president today."

Watch This!

What a great video produced by a fellow blogger, News Snob

Poll Standings

Proving yet again that Americans don't vote on candidates for the right reason, John Edwards has gone up five percent in the polls since the announcement last week of Elizabeth Edwards' cancer. Don't get me wrong, I feel for the family, who has already had their share of tragedy, but it's no reason to now throw my support to John Edwards. Edwards is now at 14 percent, but is still third in the standings.

In the same poll, Barack Obama is holding steady at 22 percent, still second to Hillary Clinton, who has 35 percent.

Barack Event

On March 31, Barack Obama will be campaigning live in living rooms throughout the U.S. Demonstrating yet again how his campaign is different in more ways than one, he will hold a live Webcast from the living room of an Iowa family that can be viewed live online. Obama's campaign is encouraging supporters and opposers alike to hold small parties to watch the Webcast and then hold open discussions.

For those who register their event with the Barack Obama campaign, they will receive a kit of materials, including a DVD on Obama's campaign. This is unique to campaigning. As a registered supporter, I received both a phone call and e-mail from his campaign office yesterday urging me to hold an event. I live in a small apartment, so that's not really an option. But on his Web site are a list of registered events by zip code, and many invite other people to attend their event. I plan to attend an area event to view the Web cast and see what it's all about.

The Webcast will be held at 3 p.m. on March 31. Click on the title of this blog for the info about this posted on Obama's Web site.

Clinton: Meet 1984

A mysterious 1984 spin with Clinton has hit YouTube and taken off. Obama says he had never seen it before it was released and had no part of it, and I truly believe that. An unofficial AOL poll asked if people thought Obama knew about it before it aired, and 39,122 people responded. Of these respondents, 44 percent said no, 32 percent said yes and 23 said it was hard to say. AOL also polled as to whether the video would affect Obama campaign, and 38,713 people responded. Fifty percent said no, 39 percent it would affect his campaign negatively and 12 percent said it would affect his campaign positively.

The mystery creator of the Orwellian YouTube ad against Hillary Rodham Clinton is a Democratic operative who worked for a digital consulting firm with ties to rival Sen. Barack Obama.

Philip de Vellis, a strategist with Blue State Digital, acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press that he was the creator of the video, which portrayed Clinton as a Big Brother figure and urged support for Obama's presidential campaign.

De Vellis said he resigned from the firm on Wednesday after he learned that he was about to be unmasked by the HuffingtonPost.com., a liberal news and opinion Internet site.

Blue State designed Obama's Web site and one of the firm's founding members, Joe Rospars, took a leave from the company to work as Obama's director of new media.

"It's true ... yeah, it's me," de Vellis said Wednesday evening.
He said he produced the ad outside of work and that neither Blue State nor the Obama campaign was aware of his role in the ad.

"But it raises some eyebrows, so I thought it best that I resign and not put them in that position."

In a statement released Wednesday evening, the Obama campaign said:

"The Obama campaign and its employees had no knowledge and had nothing to do with the creation of the ad. We were notified this evening by a vendor of ours, Blue State Digital, that an employee of the company had been involved in the making of this ad. Blue State Digital has separated ties with this individual and we have been assured he did no work on our campaign's account."

The Clinton campaign had no immediate comment.

The connection to the Obama camp, however, poses a public relations problem for the campaign. Obama has argued that he is a different type of presidential candidate who rejects negative politics.

The ad was guerrilla politics at its cleverest and had become the boffo hit of the YouTube Web site.

The 74-second clip, a copy of a 1984 Apple ad for its Macintosh computer, has recorded nearly 1.5 million views, with an enormous surge in the past two days. The video's final image reads "BarackObama.com."

De Vellis remained hidden for weeks, protected by the anonymity afforded by YouTube and the absence of federal regulations governing most Internet political speech.

The ad portrayed Clinton on a huge television screen addressing robotic humans in a stark, futuristic hall. A female athlete tosses a hammer at the screen, destroying Clinton's image with an explosive flash. Then this text: "On January 14th the Democratic primary will begin. And you will see why 2008 isn't going to be like '1984.'"

De Vellis said he used footage of an updated Apple ad that portrayed the female athlete wearing an iPod. He said he used standard Apple equipment to modify the video and edit Clinton's image into the clip.

Obama, appearing on CNN's "Larry King Live" Monday night, said his campaign knew nothing about the origins of the anti-Clinton ad.

"Frankly, given what it looks like, we don't have the technical capacity to create something like this," he said. "It's pretty extraordinary."

Four Years Later

Four years later, and we're still in Iraq. Mission Accomplished? No. Here's what was posted on BarackObama.com on the fourth anniversary.

Too many have seen friends and family killed or wounded, and all of us have seen the damage to our national security and good standing that will take years to undo.

This strategic blunder will have consequences for a generation of Americans and beyond.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/m/vim5sq0gjsg/9iO3Ag

Speaking out against this administration's reckless rush to war in Iraq wasn't easy four years ago. Washington didn't go easy on those brave enough to voice their opposition.

The same pattern continues today. From questioning someone's patriotism to accusations of aiding the enemy, almost no smear tactic is out-of-bounds when it comes to attacking those who speak out against this tragic war.

But from the beginning -- before George Bush announced the invasion of Iraq four years ago today -- Barack Obama consistently opposed this war.

Today he's got a plan to end it. His plan to begin a phased withdrawal of our troops by May 1st is the foundation around which Democrats of all stripes have united.

Now it's your time to lead.

From our resource and action center, you can write a letter to the editor, support Barack's plan to bring the troops home, and even upload your own video about why you want to end this war. Take action on Iraq now:

http://action.barackobama.com/iraqaction

On this page, you can also find a link to various ways you can assist troops in the field, veterans who’ve returned home, and the families of those whose service we honor. And so as we work to get them out of harm’s way in Iraq, please take a moment to do something for those who have sacrificed most.

All of us need to act now, because the administration still hasn't gotten the message about this war.

Just this morning, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demonstrated the Bush administration's head-in-the-sand approach to Iraq.

Asked to name the biggest mistake over the last four years, she couldn't name one. She said, "I don't know. When we look back over time we will know the answer to that question."

The time to fix our course in Iraq is now. We can't wait for the Bush administration to act -- it's up to you.

Rock Picks Barack

Funny comments from Chris Rock on March 17's Saturday Night Live as to whether the country is ready for a black president. The funniest and best line is at the very end of this clip!

Shift to Obama

There has been a recent noticeable shift in sentiment among African American voters, who little more than a month ago heavily supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton but now favor the candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama.

Clinton continues to lead Obama and other rivals in the Democratic contest, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. But her once-sizable margin over the freshman senator from Illinois was sliced in half during the past month largely because of Obama's growing support among black voters.

The question is now whether others who have typically supported either Clinton will also shift their support...

More Name Calling

The Obama name comparison and bad taste of newscasters continues…

Fox's Roger Ailes made a remark last week about the similarities between the Illinois senator's name and al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden.

At a Radio & Television News Directors Association Foundation event in Washington on Thursday, Ailes said, "And it is true that Barack Obama is on the move. I don't know if it's true that President Bush called (Pakistani President Pervez) Musharraf and said, 'Why can't we catch this guy?"' according to a transcript provided by Fox.
Ailes went too far, the state's Democratic Party chairman, Tom Collins, and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., wrote Fox News. "We cannot, as good Democrats, put our party in a position to defend such comments."

Nevada Democrats already were under criticism by MoveOn.org Civic Action, a network of liberal activists, for the partnership with Fox, which the group called "a mouthpiece for the Republican party."

In response, Fox News vice president David Rhodes said, "News organizations will want to think twice before getting involved in the Nevada Democratic caucus which appears to be controlled by radical, fringe, out-of-state interest groups."
"I didn't take great offense at the joke," Obama said in an Associated Press interview while campaigning in Iowa. "I have been called worse."

What can Obama really say that won’t continue to enlarge this topic in the news? It’s best for him, and everyone, if it just goes away. Instead of focusing on his name, why don’t we focus on what he stands for?!

Name Calling

In response to a reader’s comment left on my blog several days ago, I felt compelled to research whether the majority of Americans are still confusing Barack Obama with Osama bin Laden. I truly hope they are not after this length of time and extensive media coverage Obama has been getting.

In an early February Gallop/USA Today poll, most Americans were unsure about who Barack Obama was:

49% - Terrorist leader who organized 9/11
27% - The statue in Iraq the Marines pulled down on TV
11% - Kick return specialist that played for Notre Dame in the early 90's
11% - Kick return specialist that played for the Toronto Argo's in the mid-90's
2% - That black Senator who might actually be president

A month ago a Washington Post editorial noted a trend among conservatives to use Obama’s name in full: Barack Hussein Obama. "This would be merely juvenile if it weren't so contemptible," the paper declared.

Several major news organizations reported on Obama’s name similarity when he was still considering running for president. And several news organizations made the mistake (intentional?) of calling him Osama. Fox ranks at the top of the list of news organizations to commit this HUGE mistake. Fox even connected Obama to the axis of evil.


Even CNN got it wrong, proving the sad state of journalism today.



I cannot say whether most Americans are still confused, as I could not find any more recent polls. If people are still confused, they have either been living in a hole, or, I hate to say it, they’re just that naive.

Character Debate

Obama comes in second to Clinton on character, according to a new poll. However, voters choose him over Clinton for his experience. Ironic.

A new Associated Press-Ipsos poll says 55 percent of those surveyed consider honesty, integrity and other values of character the most important qualities they look for in a presidential candidate.

Just one-third look first to candidates' stances on issues; even fewer focus foremost on leadership traits, experience or intelligence.

The AP-Ipsos poll of 1,001 adults, conducted Monday through Wednesday, found honesty was by far the most popular single trait -- volunteered by 41 percent of voters in open-ended questioning.

Among Republican and GOP -leaning voters, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani leads Arizona Sen. John McCain 35 percent to 22 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 11 percent, followed in the single digits by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas.

Giuliani leads the pack among voters who look first to a candidate's character, issues and leadership qualities. The only area when McCain pulls even to Giuliani is among voters who cite experience as the most important quality or characteristic in a president.

Among Democrats, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York leads with 38 percent, followed by Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois at 21 percent. Former Vice President Al Gore is at 14 percent and 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards is at 10 percent. The rest of the field is in single digits.

More Tough Questions

Since my post on March 7, I've done some more digging on Obama's stock portfolio. Was I too hard on my "boy" the other day? Some of my readers thought so.

Obama disclosed documentation on one of the two stocks, but it is the other stock that still raises some questions. The news has covered the fact that he actually lost $13,000 by selling SkyTerra stock when he realized the conflict, but it's the AVI stock for a company developing a vaccine for the avian flu that still is a bit suspicious. What most news organizations have left out of their reports is that he gained 28 percent from that stock.

And the "quasi-blind trust" for buying and selling stocks was signed three months after the purchase of the stocks, not before.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not jumping ship on Obama, but I do think this is a temporary set back in his campaign as the media has spent days reporting on this, and it's not going away just yet. Other politicans have done way worse, much of which probably goes unnoticed, but Obama is the poster boy for ethical reform.

I do have to question the fact that the New York Times was the first to unearth this story. Maybe Rudy's supporters fed this to the media. Who knows. Either way, it has once again deflected attention from Obama's platform to personal quandries.

Ethical Conundrum

This is the first time that I raise my eyebrows at what Obama has done. He first admitted making a "boneheaded mistake" late last year when he bought an adjacent parcel of land, and on the same day, as Democratic fundraiser Tony Rezko. Today, the New York Times reports that shortly after arriving in the Senate, Obama bought stock in two companies whose investors included several major donors to his campaign.

Obama claims he was not involved in the purchase, which was made for him by a stockbrocker, and he immediately sold the stock at a loss of $13,000 when he was made aware of the conflict in interest.

While neither are problems in themselves, possibly even combined. But running on an ethical campaign message and working with McCain on a campaign contribution limit, this could become a bigger issue if the New York Times begins to raise doubts in voter's minds as to other choices Obama may have made in the past.

Rat Race

According to a recent ABC News / Washington Post poll, a whopping 65 percent of Americans are closely following the race -- and the primaries are still nearly a year away. There is hope for a strong voter turn out. Let's hope the interest continues, yet the candidates need to start talking about the issues and stop the he said, she said.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday

Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton crossed campaign paths for the first time Sunday as they paid homage to civil rights activists who they said helped give them the chance to break barriers to the White House.

If it hasn't been for Selma, I wouldn't be here," Obama said. "This is the site of my conception. I am the fruits of your labor. I am the offspring of the movement. When people ask me whether I've been to Selma before, I tell them I'm coming home."

But the former president stole the show from the two candidates. The audience cheered loudest for him when the three took the stage at the end of the march and the crowd mobbed him as he tried to make it to his limousine, delaying his departure.

Speaking at his induction, Clinton said the 2008 campaign features "a rainbow coalition running for president."

"I'm here because somebody marched for our freedom," Obama, who would become the first black president, said from the Brown Chapel AME Church where the march began on March 7, 1965. "I'm here because you all sacrificed for me. I stand on the shoulders of giants."

The crowd in and around Obama's appearance was decidedly larger -- his audience included 15 members of Congress, compared with four who went to hear Clinton.

Watch Obama's speech at the Brown Chapel AME Church.

Black Enough?

This SNL skit portrays how truly ridiculous the continuing "Is he black enough?" debate is. I know you've heard it and seen the "experts" weighing in on the "level" of Obama's "blackness". He's been asked, and we know what he thinks. I thought this would go away, but it hasn't after three weeks of being tossed around in the news. C'mon, does it really matter how "black" he is?! It'd be nice if the media would ask him some substantial questions about important issues.

Campaign Finance Reform- For Real?

This seems like it could be a response to Hillary Clinton's demand that Obama return $1.3 million in campaign funds raised by Geffen at a Hollywood fundraiser. (See earlier post for details.) However, this has been in the works since before Clinton's demand to return the money. Now, the big question is whether Clinton will jump on this bandwagon of pledging not to exceed $85 million and returning money if necessary....This remains to be seen.

Senator John McCain joined Senator Barack Obama on Thursday in promising to accept a novel fund-raising truce if each man wins his party's presidential nomination.

In every election since Watergate, candidates have received limited sums of taxpayer money on the condition that they abstain from raising or spending any more. But this year, the leading candidates are all sidestepping the system in a competition to raise far more in private donations, more than $500 million each, according to most projections, compared with $150 million in potential public financing.

McCain said that he would take up Obama on a proposal for an accord between the two major party nominees to rely just on public financing for the general election.

Such a pact would eliminate any financial edge one candidate might have and limit each campaign to $85 million for the general election. The two candidates would have to return any private donations that they had raised for that period.

Obama laid out his proposal last month to the Federal Election Commission, seeking an opinion on its legality. The commissioners formally approved it on Thursday. Obama would "aggressively pursue an agreement" with whoever was his opponent.

McCain and Obama have backed changing campaign finances.