Friday, June 20, 2008
Running (Olympic) Rings Around McCain
Ah, the things that all those private litle donations can ultimately be spent upon:
As several people have said, Obama would have been a fool to walk away from so much money by accepting public financing. And how many Democrats would not vote for him over this issue (some Hillary supporters? Maybe, but they would have grievances going well beyond public financing. And Republicans might just vote for Obama just to get back at McCain for all the headaches his campaign finance stuff has caused them over the years.
Meanwhile, the line of the week on the public financing issue comes from a reader whose name I can't share: "You realize this is the first time in history that a black person is getting attacked for NOT going on welfare?"
That's a keeper.
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Though the Obama campaign is keeping mum about whether it will definitely run spots, it has asked NBC Universal about Olympics advertising including $500,000, $2 million and $4 million packages of ads. (NBC presented those along with a $10 million package.) It's not only a sign that the Obama camp has faith it can continue its stellar fundraising achievements but a signal that a widening field of battleground states has the candidate contemplating national broadcast buys. An Olympics buy could also allow Mr. Obama to reach out to a large swath of women.So, he's considering advertising in what is usually a way-too-expensive environment for the usual presidential campaign. And this info is leaked out just as a Newsweek poll give Obama his first double-digit nationwide lead. This could get ugly fast.
As several people have said, Obama would have been a fool to walk away from so much money by accepting public financing. And how many Democrats would not vote for him over this issue (some Hillary supporters? Maybe, but they would have grievances going well beyond public financing. And Republicans might just vote for Obama just to get back at McCain for all the headaches his campaign finance stuff has caused them over the years.
Meanwhile, the line of the week on the public financing issue comes from a reader whose name I can't share: "You realize this is the first time in history that a black person is getting attacked for NOT going on welfare?"
That's a keeper.
Labels: Barack Obama, campaign finance reform, public financing
