Posts tagged barack obama
Holding Politicians Accountable
31 Plays
NPR: Obama’s Record On Political Money One Of Ambivalence
“Tuesday’s State of the Union address marks the third anniversary of President Obama public criticism of the Supreme Court for its Citizens United ruling. It’s also just over one year since he reversed course and embraced a superPAC for his own reelection. The Obama record on political money is one of ambivalence and flip-flops.
Obama Plans Fund-Raising Trips to Aid Senate and House Candidates
“President Obama may have run his last political campaign, but that does not relieve him of his obligations to the Democratic Party.
“The president, who has a vested interest in Democrats retaining their Senate majority and trying to narrow Republican control of the House, is already making plans to return to the campaign trail. He has agreed to hold at least 14 separate fund-raising events this year, a Democratic official familiar with the plans told The New York Times, characterizing it as an ‘aggressive schedule.’”
“It’s official. President Barack Obama has raised $1 billion for his 2012 reelection campaign. That money includes funds raised for the official campaign committee (Obama for America), the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and the Obama Victory Fund and Swing State Victory Fund, both of which have transferred millions to state parties to man the campaign’s efforts to bring out voters.
“The only catch to this historic milestone: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is on track to also raise $1 billion in funds for his campaign committee, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and his joint fundraising committee, Romney Victory.”
1,014,484: That’s how many times television ads from President Barack Obama, Republican nominee Mitt Romney and other groups involved in the Nov. 6 election have aired during the general election campaign, according to Kantar Media’s CMAG.
The totals include spots that ran on national network, national cable and local broadcast stations between April 10, when Romney effectively became the Republican nominee, and Oct. 22, the most recent date for which CMAG data are available. The CMAG data don’t include ads that ran on local cable.
The WonkBlog over at the Washington Post lists the five topics missing from this year’s debates. We’d have to agree with this one:
5) One of the biggest forces shaping our elections. This is the first election where both campaigns have refused public campaign financing, freeing them from the spending limits that come with them. The Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United also paved the way for individuals, corporations, and unions to make unlimited independent expenditures. Such changes have effectively dismantled key campaign finance reforms and given the richest individuals and organizations more leeway to shape the political landscape. But since both candidates benefit from the issue, neither was inclined to talk about it, and no moderator asked about it.
And when I went to Israel as a candidate, I didn’t take donors, I didn’t attend fundraisers, I went to Yad Vashem, the — the Holocaust museum there, to remind myself the — the nature of evil and why our bond with Israel will be unbreakable.
It’s the $1 billion campaign vs. the $1 billion campaign — and neither side has a clear edge in the money race headed down the home stretch.
Both President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney’s campaign, party committees and super PAC allies are all-but assured of raising $1 billion on each side of the campaign ledger by Election Day.
Center for Public Integrity: Gwen Stefani, Madeleine Albright among top Obama fundraisers
President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign added 120 new fundraising “bundlers” during the third quarter who have brought in at least $17.5 million, including a former secretary of state and a platinum blonde pop star who has sold more than 40 million albums.
According to a newly released list from the Obama campaign, a total of 758 bundlers have raised at least $180 million for the president’s re-election efforts, including scores of well-connected individuals from California, New York and Obama’s home state of Illinois.
“It’s good to be in Florida. It’s good to be in Miami,” Pres Obama says as he appears at his 220th and last fundraiser of his campaign.
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) October 11, 2012
Last night, President Obama attended his last fundraising event of the 2012 cycle. It was the 220th such event since announcing his re-election in Spring 2011.
Wall Street Journal: Goldman Turns Tables on Obama Campaign
“Prompted by what they call regulatory attacks on their business and personal attacks on their character, executives and employees of Goldman Sachs have largely abandoned Mr. Obama and are now the top sources of money to presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the Republican Party.
“In the four decades since Congress created the campaign-finance system, no company’s employees have switched sides so abruptly, moving from top supporters of one camp to the top of its rival, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of campaign-finance data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.”
