Obama: Big donors have chipped in, too
Posted: Friday, April 11, 2008 9:16 AM by Mark Murray
The Obama campaign may brag about its small donor base, but it has its share of high-dollar bundlers too. “[T]hose 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,” the Washington Post reports. “Seventy-nine ‘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. Donors who have given more than $200 account for about half of Obama's total haul, which stands at nearly $240 million.”
“Obama's success in assembling bundlers offers another perspective on a campaign that promotes itself as a grass-roots effort. While the senator from Illinois has had unprecedented success generating small donations, many made online, the work of bundlers first signaled the seriousness of his candidacy a year ago and will be crucial as he heads into the final Democratic primaries with a lead against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.).”
The Wall Street Journal editorial page, which has been getting more aggressive in its Obama criticism, hits him today for appearing to back away from his promise on taking public campaign funding in the fall.
In Indiana today, "Obama will call for swift passage of his legislation to require corporations to hold a nonbinding shareholders vote on compensation packages offered to executives. A new study produced by USA Today found that the top 50 CEOs made around $15.7 million last year – despite the fact that many of their companies have been falling behind. ‘This isn’t just about expressing outrage,’ Senator Obama said. ‘It’s about changing a system where bad behavior is rewarded – so that we can hold CEOs accountable, and make sure they’re acting in a way that’s good for their company, good for our economy, and good for America, not just good for themselves. We’ve seen what happens when CEOs are paid for doing a job no matter how bad a job they’re doing. We can’t afford to postpone reform any longer. That’s why Washington needs to act immediately to pass this legislation.’”
So will this Rev. Wright appearance get cancelled as well? Right now, he's scheduled to keynote the Detroit NAACP dinner on April 27. Does the Obama campaign really want Wright to be the face of Obama's campaign right now in a state he's not campaigned in but he HAS to carry in the fall?
Here's an interesting little pledge from Obama: Obama said he wouldn’t require his appointments to the Joint Chiefs of Staff to support gays in the military.
