by Nick on July 26, 2008
Failing in Civility [The Washington Post] - The Washington Post thinks McCain should heed some of his own advice.
Romney’s Value [Robert Novak, Chicago Sun-Times] - Bob Novak points out 17 reasons why McCain should pick Romney as his VP: Michigans Electoral Votes.
Romney As Swing-Voter Bait? Hmmm… [Norm Scheiber, The New Republic] - Norm Scheiber disagrees with Bob Novak.
Getting to Know You [Bob Herbert, New York Times] - Bob Herbert says the candidate that voters need to get to know is McCain, rather than Obama. And the real McCain is someone they might not like.
Lessons from Berlin [Jonathan Alter, Newsweek] - Jonathan Alter says history affects how the race (and Obama’s trip) are viewed.
McCain, Obama Rake in Megachecks - [Kenneth Vogel, The Politico] - Loopholes in the campaign finance rules allow both candidates to raise money far exceeding the limits of individual contributions.
by Nick on July 23, 2008
Posted By: Nick
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is going to circulate a letter asking for a third party group to pay for a full page ad in the NYTimes to feature the McCain Op-Ed that was rejected. Seems like a good enough plan to make sure McCain’s response to Obama gets printed, but it seems to me there is another issue here.
If McCarthy (with the blessing of the Republican leadership, as the article states) is asking directly for this to be done by a third party group, isn’t that illegal coordination between the party/McCain Campaign and a 527? Campaign Finance law states that a campaign cannot soordinate in any way with a 527 group. If anyone has more information about how this specific situation would work, let me know. But it seems to me that it’s a violation if it happens.
Here’s the part that I think is a problem:
House GOP sources suggest a Republican leadership PAC may pay for the ad if no outside group steps forward to do so, although the cost would run into the tens of thousands of dollars.
If a leadership PAC (run by an elected Congress, or whatever) runs the ad, I think that is ok; I’m not positive, but I think it is. But if it is an outside group, I’m pretty sure that’s a clear violation.
by Nick on July 17, 2008
Posted By: Nick
The Obama Campaign released it’s June fundraising numbers finally. From the email:
In the month of June, supporters like you helped raise $52 million. And together with the DNC, we now have nearly $72 million in the bank.
Great haul! But they are still behind McCain and the RNC in cash on hand (who combined have almost $100 million). That shouldn’t be too big of a problem if Obama keeps up this pace. With an average donation of only $68 for June, the Obama campaign can keep going back to it’s donors for more. The McCain campaign will have to rely on loopholes in campaign finance law to keep up.
by Nick on July 16, 2008
Posted By: Nick
JedReport put up this diary over at DailyKos today about how McCain is basically raising and spending whatever amount of money he wants through a loophole in the campaign finance laws.
Go read it. It’ll piss you off.
Note: I take no credit whatsoever for this. It is completely the work of JedReport.
