Obama Campaign To Step Up Super PAC Fundraising
06-02-2012 11:02 PM
Obama Campaign To Step Up Super PAC Fundraising
The Obama campaign announced on Monday night that it will launch a new fundraising campaign for unlimited money Super PACs supporting Democrats, concluding that despite the president's opposition to the Supreme Court decision that sprang them into existence, they can't afford to avoid them.
With Republican Super PACs, including Karl Rove's Crossroads, Mitt Romney's Restore Our Future, and Newt Gingrichs Winning Our Future, raising tens of millions of dollars -- one donor alone, Sheldon Adelson, donated more than $10 million to the pro-Gingrich group -- the campaign told supporters in an e-mail that they had to act.
"With so much at stake, we can't allow for two sets of rules in this election whereby the Republican nominee is the beneficiary of unlimited spending and Democrats unilaterally disarm," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina wrote.
"Therefore, the campaign has decided to do what we can, consistent with the law, to support Priorities USA in its effort to counter the weight of the GOP Super PACs. We will do so only in the knowledge and with the expectation that all of its donations will be fully disclosed as required by law to the Federal Election Commission."
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/obama-campaign-to-step-up-super-pac-fundraising?ref=fpblg
elleng
(130,763 posts)We decided to do this because we can't afford for the work you're doing in your communities, and the grassroots donations you give to support it, to be destroyed by hundreds of millions of dollars in negative ads.
It's a real risk.
In 2011, the Super PAC supporting Mitt Romney raised $30 million from fewer than 200 contributors. Ninety-six percent of what they've spent so far, more than $18 million, has been on attack ads. The main engine of Romney's campaign has an average contribution of roughly $150,000.
That's why it's up to us -- the grassroots organization -- to win this election where we have the real advantage, and that's on the ground. More than 1.3 million Americans have already donated. Our average donation is $55, and 98 percent are $250 or less.
The stakes are too important to play by two different sets of rules. If we fail to act, we concede this election to a small group of powerful people intent on removing the President at any cost. . .
If you can volunteer, please sign up now:
http://my.barackobama.com/Volunteer-for-2012
If you can give, please give now:
https://donate.barackobama.com/Donate-for-2012
truthisfreedom
(23,140 posts)Anyone who utters the phrase "Democrat Party" is automatically censured and required to sit in the cloak room for half an hour.
Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)I do not disagree - you have to play by the rules set out, but this is really getting out of control when a campaign can "launch a new fundraising campaign" for a Super PAC that is "supposed" to be arms length.
msongs
(67,366 posts)Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)Liberal Veteran
(22,239 posts)That made me laugh.
cliffordu
(30,994 posts)jaxx
(9,236 posts)From Messina's statement:
<..> What this change means practically: Senior campaign officials as well as some White House and Cabinet officials will attend and speak at Priorities USA fundraising events. While campaign officials may be appearing at events to amplify our message, these folks won't be soliciting contributions for Priorities USA. I should also note that the President, Vice President, and First Lady will not be a part of this effort; their political activity will remain focused on the President's campaign.
http://www.barackobama.com/news/entry/we-will-not-play-by-two-sets-of-rules
We need the money to push back against the lies by the pubs. It's time to do this, even though these donors will be named unlike the pubs do.
Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)but promoting fundraising for Super PACs seems to me to be crossing a line (assuming there are any lines left after Colbert and Stewart destroyed them).
I hope Alito gets plenty of sleep this year. He will be the face of this when there is nothing but scorched earth left of this nation this season.
jaxx
(9,236 posts)Sad it comes to this, but it has.
Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)I can't even imagine what this election season is going to look like!
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)thought I'd mention that.
Liberal Veteran
(22,239 posts)Citizens United is a case that deserves a place beside Dred Scott and a host of other shitty judgments.
Pirate Smile
(27,617 posts)Hate the Game, Don't Hate the Playa...as the saying goes
Don't bring a knife to a gun fight.....there's another one.
It is truly staggering the damage the five RW Conservative Justices on the US Supreme Court did. I had started thinking of it mainly as millionaires and billionairs like Adelson and the Koch brothers. I had forgotten that it is also straight up Corporations. Ugh
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)So I think your statement is a bit of an exaggeration.
Liberal Veteran
(22,239 posts)It doesn't follow that my support for the ACLU means marching in lockstep with them.
It was horrible, horrible decision with terrible consequences.
From their mission statement, I can logically understand their position as an abstract with regards to Citizens United, but in practice it is a terrible judgment.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Until the SC's decision can be overturned by Congress, the game will just have to be played by their filthy new rules.
SG
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)I wrote something for our blog about our decision to support Priorities USA, the Super PAC that can help neutralize the avalanche of special-interest spending to defeat President Obama. Every supporter should read it; it's pasted below.
I just want to add something for you specifically about your role in all of this.
We decided to do this because we can't afford for the work you're doing in your communities, and the grassroots donations you give to support it, to be destroyed by hundreds of millions of dollars in negative ads.
It's a real risk.
In 2011, the Super PAC supporting Mitt Romney raised $30 million from fewer than 200 contributors. Ninety-six percent of what they've spent so far, more than $18 million, has been on attack ads. The main engine of Romney's campaign has an average contribution of roughly $150,000.
That's why it's up to us -- the grassroots organization -- to win this election where we have the real advantage, and that's on the ground. More than 1.3 million Americans have already donated. Our average donation is $55, and 98 percent are $250 or less.
The stakes are too important to play by two different sets of rules. If we fail to act, we concede this election to a small group of powerful people intent on removing the President at any cost.
If you can volunteer, please sign up now:
http://my.barackobama.com/Volunteer-for-2012
If you can give, please give now:
https://donate.barackobama.com/Donate-for-2012
Thank you,
Messina
Jim Messina
Campaign Manager
Obama for America
------
We will not play by two sets of rules
By Jim Messina
In 2010, the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case opened the door to a new wave of so-called Super PACs -- non-candidate political committees that can receive and spend unlimited money from special interests. For the first time, these committees could accept money from corporations, not just wealthy individuals.
The decision has accelerated a dangerous trend toward a political system increasingly dominated by big-money interests with disproportionate power to spend freely to influence our elections and our government.
It's a trend the President has fought against, coming into office with a mission to limit special-interest influence in Washington. He put in place the most sweeping ethics reforms in history to close the revolving door between government and lobbyists. And he's overseen the most open administration ever -- reversing Bush-era policies designed to limit Freedom of Information Act requests and disclosing White House visitor records so that Americans can see how their government works.
The President opposed the Citizens United decision. He understood that with the dramatic growth in opportunities to raise and spend unlimited special-interest money, we would see new strategies to hide it from public view. He continues to support a law to force full disclosure of all funding intended to influence our elections, a reform that was blocked in 2010 by a unanimous Republican filibuster in the U.S. Senate. And the President favors action -- by constitutional amendment, if necessary -- to place reasonable limits on all such spending.
But this cycle, our campaign has to face the reality of the law as it currently stands.
Over the last few months, Super PACs affiliated with Republican presidential candidates have spent more than $40 million on television and radio, almost all of it for negative ads.
Last week, filings showed that the Super PAC affiliated with Mitt Romney's campaign raised $30 million in 2011 from fewer than 200 contributors, most of them from the financial sector. Governor Romney personally helped raise money for this group, which is run by some of his closest allies.
Meanwhile, other Super PACs established for the sole purpose of defeating the President -- along with "nonprofits" that also aren't required to disclose the sources of their funding -- have raised more than $50 million. In the aggregate, these groups are expected to spend half a billion dollars, above and beyond what the Republican nominee and party are expected to commit to try to defeat the President.
With so much at stake, we can't allow for two sets of rules in this election whereby the Republican nominee is the beneficiary of unlimited spending and Democrats unilaterally disarm.
Therefore, the campaign has decided to do what we can, consistent with the law, to support Priorities USA in its effort to counter the weight of the GOP Super PACs. We will do so only in the knowledge and with the expectation that all of its donations will be fully disclosed as required by law to the Federal Election Commission.
What this change means practically: Senior campaign officials as well as some White House and Cabinet officials will attend and speak at Priorities USA fundraising events. While campaign officials may be appearing at events to amplify our message, these folks won't be soliciting contributions for Priorities USA. I should also note that the President, Vice President, and First Lady will not be a part of this effort; their political activity will remain focused on the President's campaign.
But here's what this doesn't change: the fact that ordinary people stepping up to take control of the political process is essential to our strategy.
This decision will help fill a hole on our side. But it's only one part of the overall effort.
Supporting Priorities USA means that our side will not concede the battles on the air in the months to come, but we continue to believe that this election will be won on the ground. Super PACs haven't opened offices. They haven't hired organizers. They haven't registered voters. They haven't knocked on doors or made the kind of personal contact with voters that we know is the single most effective way to persuade people and turn them out on Election Day.
And this is where we have the advantage. It will be up to us -- the grassroots organization, funded by an average donation of $55 -- to win this election.
It's a point of pride that 98 percent of all our donations are $250 or less. Mitt Romney won't reveal that number about his own campaign, but filings show that just 9 percent of the Romney campaign's money in the fourth quarter of last year came from people giving less than $200.
Americans across the country are supporting the most extensive neighbor-to-neighbor, grassroots organization in history.
It's my hope that by making this decision and doing what we can to neutralize the onslaught of special-interest money, we can ensure that the decisive factor in this election won't be an unprecedented flood of special-interest spending, and the outcome will be back in the hands of ordinary Americans.
Obama3_16
(157 posts)SpankMe
(2,957 posts)But, this will still be played as a major flip-flop by the right. I just wish the president hadn't berated super PACs so badly in the beginning. I wish he'd criticized them roundly, but used wording that left him open to using them should it become necessary.
Messina's (or whomever's) statement that both parties can't play by separate rules is sadly true. The Republicans, through their super PACs, will have over a billion dollars to spend on this campaign. And, a majority of it will go to negative attack ads like the Hoekstra anti-China ad. Those ads - as racist, inflammatory, wrong, tasteless and inappropriate as they are - are still effective and will drive sheeple to vote with righty.
We are doomed if we don't hit back hard using the adversary's same weapon type.
I just hope the Dems will create ads that are hard hitting, brutally truth-telling and really made the Repubs look like the neanderthals they really are.