Barack Obama's Secret Weapon Seeks Cash

Related post: Howard Dean - Barack Obama's Secret Weapon

During the week of May 19, I received something called the "2008 Presidential Campaign Survey" in the mail. At first, I had high hopes that this survey was sent out to get a feel for a fair solution to the FL and MI democratic primaries debacle. However, I soon discovered that this was merely a sneaky way for Howard Dean and the Democratic National Committee to ask for contributions. To make matters worse, the questions asked in the survey had nothing to do with the fates of FL and MI. The cherry on top of the whipped cream is the URL (www.democrats.org/survey) at the bottom of the last page of the survey. As you can see, it gives you the impression that you could actually take the survey online. However, when you plug that address into your favorite browser, you are sent directly to a "contributions" page! No survey found at that link or anywhere else on the www.democrats.org site --an official Democratic Party site.

Aside from a return postage-paid envelope and the survey, you can also find a message from Howard Dean as well as a message from Hillary Clinton in the envelope. The message from Howard Dean is no more than spam begging for money. On the other hand, the message from Hillary was more meaningful. Honestly, I don't remember whether or not she asked for contributions. I just remember being more impressed with her letter. Alas, I threw everything away except the survey and the return envelope.

For those who did not receive the survey and are curious, here are all of the questions (along with my personal answers):

1) Age: [] 18-30 [x] 31-40 [] 41-50 [] 51-64 [] 65 and over

2) How often do you vote for Democratic candidates? [] Always [x] Most of the time [] Rarely [] Never

3) How likely are you to vote in the 2008 election? [x] Very Likely [] Somewhat Likely [] Not Likely

4) Have you participated in any of the following campaign activities? [] Volunteering time at a local campaign or Party headquarters. [] Making phone calls from a phone bank. [] Organizing an event or fundraiser in my home or community. [] Going door-to-door in my neighborhood. [x] Actively blog about the election.*

*I wrote in this option

5) How closely have you been following the 2008 presidential campaign? [x] Very closely [] Closely [] Somewhat Closely [] Not at all

6) How optimistic are you that a Democrat will win the White House in 2008? [x] Very optimistic [] Optimistic [] Not very optimistic [] Pessimistic

7) Do you believe that John McCain's pledge to keep troops in Iraq for another 100 years will be a liability in the General Election? [x] Yes [] No [] Unsure

8) Which issues would you like the Democratic presidential nominee to focus on in the campaign? Please rank the following issues from 1-14 based on their importance to you, with "1" being the most important.

NOTE: I am listing these in the order of importance that I chose.

Jobs/Economy, Health Care, Education, Iraq, Energy Policy, Homeland Security, Ethics In Government, Immigration, Social Security, Environment, Civil Rights/Liberties, Stem Cell Research, Reproductive Rights, Taxes.

9) Thinking about our Party's plan for the 2008 campaigns, which of the following strategies do you think is the key to electing more Democrats in November?
[x] Investing in grassroots efforts like canvassing and get-out-the-vote drives.
[] Devoting more resources to radio and television ads that reach the most voters.
[] Ensuring a fair election process so that every vote counts.
[] Democrats need to invest in all of the above strategies to win in November.

Note: This was a tough one because the 3rd option is important too.

10) With our 50 State Strategy, the DNC has been strengthening our Party in states that have traditionally been GOP strongholds. What is your opinion of this strategy?
[x] I support it. Our Party needs to compete in every part of the country and make the Republicans spend campaign money in states they have taken for granted.
[] I oppose it. Our Party should focus its resources in those states where we have the best chance to win, and not waste money in solidly Republican states.

11) How likely do you think it is that John McCain and his Republican allies will launch a "Swift Boat" style smear campaign against our presidential nominee? [] Very likely [x] Somewhat likely [] Not likely

12) How concerned are you that Republican voter suppression schemes will disenfranchise Democrats and impact the outcome of the presidential race? [] Very concerned [] Somewhat concerned [x] Not concerned

13) What is your main source of news and information about the presidential campaign and the 2008 elections? [] Television [] Newspapers [] Talk radio [x] Internet/blogs [] News magazines [] Other

14) Do you think mainstream news organizations are biased in favor of Democrats, biased in favor of Republicans, or do you think news organizations have been fair in the way they have covered the presidential election? [x] Biased in favor of Democrats [] Biased in favor of Republicans [] No bias in favor of either party [] No opinion/Not sure

NOTE: The real answer here is that the media is, perhaps unjustly, biased toward Barack Obama.

15) If you could offer one piece of advice to the Democratic presidential nominee, what would it be? Please use the space below to write your comments.

First, I have a message for Howard Dean. You need to quickly and fairly resolve the FL/MI primaries issue. I suggest that you either let the vote stand as is or force a re-vote in both states. Either way people will be unhappy, but these are the most fair choices.

Finally, a message to Hillary. Stay focused. Run a strong, positive campaign that focuses on the issues. Let McCain bury himself. You don't need to do it for him. Let his comments and insults fall on deaf ears.

The above were the "legit" questions. The DNC then has the audacity to ask:

16) To help our Party win the White House and score victories up and down the ballot in 2008, will you join the DNC as a contributing member today? [] Yes - go to the next question [x] No

17) If you answered "Yes" to question 16, please indicate the membership level at which you will join the DNC today. [] $25 [] $35 [] $50 [] $100 [] Other: $______

As you can see, none of the questions are very meaningful except, perhaps, #8 and #15. I am quite disappointed with the DNC for not asking more important questions. Furthermore, the fact this is really a document asking for contributions makes me angry. Being that the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee made a very undemocratic decision on May 31, I am definitely happy that I didn't give money to them. I have already donated to Hillary's campaign. She is the one that deserves the contributions.

Moveon.org Questions Hillary Clinton's Wealthy Campaign Financers

Moveon.org, a very questionable organization, has the audacity to accuse some of Clinton's wealthier supporters of bullying elected leaders. Well, here is what Moveon.org calls bullying:

"Twenty of Clinton's major donors sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Wednesday that suggested they might rethink their support for the party's congressional efforts this cycle if Pelosi did not alter her publicly stated view that superdelegates should support the party's pledged delegate leader -- a position that would be fatal to Clinton's presidential bid."

Meanwhile . . .

"Her [Hillary Clinton's] supporters have recently argued with their checkbooks that superdelegates should vote their conscience at the Democratic National Convention in August."

Personally, I agree with Hillary's supporters. I think that the superdelegates should vote their conscience. That's what normal citizens of the U.S. do. Why should superdelegates vote for one candidate just because he/she has more votes than the other? They should vote for whomever they think is the best candidate. Moveon.rog claims, "It's the worst kind of insider politics -- billionaires bullying our elected leaders into ignoring the will of the voters." No, they're not bullying them. They're simply bribing the elected leaders to do the right thing because they wouldn't necessarily do it otherwise. That's the way I see it. Otherwise, superdelegates might just jump on the "Obama's ahead" bandwagon and take the position that they might was well vote for him. This completely disregards one's conscience because they're being swayed to vote for someone just because he has a slight lead. While I'll admit that superdelegates should not have to be bribed into doing the right thing (i.e. voting their conscience), it is better to do that than allow them to feel the pressure of the Democratic Party to vote for a candidate just because he has a slight lead.

Here's what I think . . . . I think Moveon.org and other Obama supporters are creating a distraction to keep people from questioning where Barack's campaign funds are coming from. Barack is currently over $20 million ahead of Hillary in gross campaign funding. Furthermore, Barack currently has 3 times the cash on hand as Hillary. Barack wants to know where Hillary's money is coming from. I, and most likely many others, would like to know where Barack's money is coming from.

Let's take a look:

First entry here from campaign funding report for March 2008:

NO EMPLOYER WAS SUPPLIED $25,498,555.80 (anonymous donations)

Probably more than one source, but that's still a huge hunk of change! And I'm willing to bet that a lot of these "No employer was supplied" funds came from big oil, pharmaceutical companies, big tobacco, etc.

Other sizable donors include:

NOT EMPLOYED - $6,667,752.83 (anonymous donations)
UNEMPLOYED - $41,799.44 (anonymous donations)

Not employed? What? Are we talking retired billionaires?

INFORMATION REQUESTED - $467,598.67 (anonymous donations)

SELF EMPLOYED - $4,958,065.42 (more anonymous donations)

WILMER CUTLER PICKERING HALE & DORR - over $32,000
WATTS LAW FIRM - over $20,000
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - over $20,000
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON - over $30,000
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - over $20,000
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA - over $20,000
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO - over $31,000
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - over $40,000
UBS - over $25,000
SUSMAN GODFREY - over $25,000
STANFORD UNIVERSITY - over $25,000
SIDLEY & AUSTIN - over $20,000
NORTHWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY - about $20,000
NA - over $36,000 (I assume this means "not applicable"; more anonymous donations)
MORGAN STANLEY - over $37,000
MICROSOFT - over $54,000
LEHMAN BROTHERS - over $25,000
LATHAM & WATKINS - over $28,000
KIRKLAND & ELLIS - over $20,000
JONES DAY - over $22,000
IBM - over $46,000
HARVARD UNIVERSITY - over $50,000
GOOGLE - over $60,000
GOLDMAN SACHS - over $45,000
GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER - over $20,000
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY - over $25,000
GENERAL ELECTRIC - over $20,000
FREELANCE - over $23,000 (anonymous donation?)
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - over $36,000
CITIGROUP - over $30,000
AT&T - over $22,000

Although I went through the entire list and selected companies/organizations who donated at least $20,000, it's the huge anonymous donations that are my real concern. If you take the time to go here and scroll through the thousands of contributors, you will notice some small figures from pharmaceutical companies and such. However, I'm willing to bet that big oil, pharmaceutical companies, big tobacco, Fortune 500 corporations, and other companies with deep pockets made anonymous donations too.

In total, Barack received $37,692,772.16. In fairness, I'll say that Hillary received about $19,176,609.62 in anonymous donations. Nevertheless, she never professed to be running a clean campaign free of lobbyists, etc.

Why did I go through all of this trouble? I wanted to show you that Barack has received millions of dollars from unnamed sources. He claims to be running a clean campaign and not to receive funds from lobbyists, etc. If this is the case, why do his sources feel the need to hide if they are not questionable? While there might be valid reasons for some sources to hide their identity, it still seems very suspicious that Barack has received such large sums of money from these sources.