Vote '08

Slate’s Brendan Koerner takes a look.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Barack Obama’s campaign says the Democratic presidential candidate raised $66 million in August, making for another record fundraising month. That tops the record $55 million Obama raised last February.
Campaign spokesman Bill Burton also said Sunday that Obama reached the $66 million mark with help from contributions from 500,000 new donors.
More details are expected later this week, when the campaigns file their monthly financial reports with the Federal Election Commission.
Obama decided not to accept public financing for the rest of his campaign, opting to spend as much as he can raise.
Republican candidate John McCain has accepted public financing, which limits his direct spending to about $84 million.

66 million is quite a number. Other statistics associated with it:

-Iran has about 66 million people.

-The world contains about 66 million Lutherans.

-66 million Americans have arthritis.

-In 1948, there were about 66 million radios in the United States.

-Today, there are about 66 million cell phone users.

-Consumers have bought 66 million units of the “RockStar” video game.

-Each year, there are about 66 million unintended pregnancies around the world.

-There are 66 million dogs in the United States.

-Here’s a look at some of the animals that were roaming what is now Montana 66 million years ago.

-If you laid 66 million $1 bills end-to-end, you’d be a very rich person with a lot of time on your hands.

No, I’m not trying to tie Obama into any of these numbers. But you’re absolutely welcome to try.

What do you think?

We’re not going to name names - we’d be bound by journalistic ethics to list all local contributors, which we don’t have time for - but the names are available in the public record, & this site has them.

Total contributions to John Edwards’ presidential campaign in 2008 from Chattanooga residents in 2007/2008: $8221

Here are the 11 donors who gave over $200:

Photographer, Olan Mills - $4600

Trial Lawyer - $1000

Self-employed Development Consultant - $500

Retired Male - $305

Chickamauga Lock Operator - $300

Retired Female - $300

Unemployed Male - $250

Agrifos Fertilizer Inc. VP - $250

IT Guy at Unum Group - $250

Retired Female - $230

Retired Male - $216

This purpose of this post is not to ridicule the donors; regardless of your party, these folks deserve your sympathy. They believed in a man who turned out to have feet of clay.

By the way, 1175 voters in Hamilton County chose Edwards in the February presidential primary. 

American corporations have every right to be involved in the political process. Trouble is that sometimes their involvement is not widely advertised. Let’s enlighten you on that involvement with two examples in the news today.

Which candidate gets the most money from oil companies? Do you really have to ask?

It’s John McCain. But that love has been expressed in the form of campaign contributions only recently.

Check out this chart:

This is from a new report from the nonpartisan CampaignMoney.org.

As you can see, oil companies haven’t really been McCain fans. The money started gushing only after McCain reversed his position on offshore drilling earlier this summer.

Is this wrong? No, not at all, as long as these companies adhere to the law. This is part of the American electoral process. But so is your duty to be an informed voter. Now you know.

Our 2nd story comes from the world’s largest retailer. Check out this story from today’s Wall Street Journal:

“Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they’ll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies — including Wal-Mart.

In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside for workers if stores were to be unionized.

According to about a dozen Wal-Mart employees who attended such meetings in seven states, Wal-Mart executives claim that employees at unionized stores would have to pay hefty union dues while getting nothing in return, and may have to go on strike without compensation. Also, unionization could mean fewer jobs as labor costs rise.

…

The Wal-Mart human-resources managers who run the meetings don’t specifically tell attendees how to vote in November’s election, but make it clear that voting for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama would be tantamount to inviting unions in, according to Wal-Mart employees who attended gatherings in Maryland, Missouri and other states.

“The meeting leader said, ‘I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won’t have a vote on whether you want a union,’” said a Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri. “I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote,” she said.”

Is this legal? Yes, because it’s not like the company is threatening anyone with their job if they vote “the wrong way.” (hard for the company to verify that anyway).

But is it ethical? Sure doesn’t smell like it.

UPDATE: The group “Wal-Mart Watch” has more details about what was said & shown at the meetings, including a slide that said “Obama = Union.”

What do you think?

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama raised $32 million in the single month of January, matching his best three-month period last year, aides said Thursday.

The money positions Obama for the sweeping Feb. 5 primary contests, when 22 states will be in play for the Democratic nomination. Aides also announced that with their money they can now advertise in states beyond the Super Tuesday contest next week.

Obama is advertising in all but two of the Feb. 5 states and plans to begin advertising in states with upcoming contests, including Louisiana, Washington, Nebraska, Maine, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. [*VOTE08 note: He's purchased some airtime on NewsChannel9 for this weekend as well.]

Campaign manager David Plouffe said the campaign attracted 170,000 new donors for a total of 650,000 donors overall.

“We think that the strength of our financial position and the number of donors does speak to financial sustainability if it ends up going through March and April,” Plouffe said of the race. “We think we will have the financial resources to conduct vigorous campaigns in the states to come.”