Quietly, Obama Campaign Calls In The Cavalry(527's)

[RamboLiberal]

There's been a spurt of 527 activity on behalf of Sen. John McCain, but Barack Obama campaign has suddenly gone silent on the subject.

That's because, after of year of telling donors not to contribute to 527 groups, of encouraging strategists not to form them and of suggesting that outside messaging efforts would not be welcome in Obama's Democratic Party, Obama's strategists have changed their approach.

An Obama adviser privy to the campaign's internal thinking on the matter says that,with less than two months before the election and with the realization that Republicans have achieved financial parity with Democrats, they hope that Democratic allies -- what another campaign aide termed "the cavalry" -- with come to Obama's aid.

The Obama campaign can't ask donors to form outside groups; it can only communicate, through the public and the media, with body language, tells and hints.

The upshot: Obama's campaign will no longer object to independent efforts that hammer John McCain, just as, in their mind, the McCain campaign has not objected to those efforts targeted at Obama. "I assume with their 527s stirring, some ones will as well," another senior campaign official said.

The money is there. The top two 527s -- the Service Employees International Union and America Votes -- are liberal in orientation. The SEIU fund has contributed to other 527 efforts, and America Votes has earmarked most of its money for what it calls the "largest grassroots voter mobilization" in history. The third largest 527 -- American Solutions Winning the Future -- belongs to Newt Gingrich, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The AFL-CIO has budgeted more than $53 million for messaging and turnout efforts and has run a limited flight of ads featuring veterans criticizing McCain. But they've shied away from larger-scale campaigns in part because they believe -- or believed -- that the Obama campaign did not want them mounted.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/09/quietly_obama_campaign_flashes.php

We need to get something up. I've been pissed by the lack of Obama ads compared to a number of McCain ads in my battleground state of Pennsylvania (I'm in Pittsburgh) area. I've seen a total of 1 Obama ad last 5 days compared to at least a dozen McCain ads. And McCain is all over the radio with zilch Obama ads.

[rockymountaindem]

1. Thank God

Telling them not to get involved was a huge mistake. I guess now that they see the election slipping away they've changed their tune.

[flamingdem]

2. Good. We need this help right now for TV ads, hooray. nt

[budkin]

3. ABOUT DAMN TIME!

Keith was asking him about this last night.

[RoadRage]

4. Fine.. but I really think these should be banned in future elections.

It's tough to control these groups.. and they do nothing but muddy the waters. But, I agree - if the Repugs are using them, we need to as well. I just wish it was illegal for both parties to use them, and that political ads had to come from campaigns running for election only. JMO

[nc4bo]

5. Screw the knives, unholster the bazookas. The timing of the ads

will be crucial though. Smart ad placement and timing.

Damn, I just did a turn about hehe.

[On the Road]

6. Good News, Good News

So Obama's reversing course. The price he will pay for that is minimal compared to the damage from continuous unanswered attacks.

[barack the house]

7. Right now we're getting serious. He now knows his opponents let's go.

[alsame]

8. Yes, yes, yes! Although I really wish our political process

didn't have to resort to this kind of thing, if the Repubs are going to play dirty, we have to also. After what was done to Gore and especially Kerry, I hope our 527s have no mercy on them.

[trueblue2007]

10. I agree......LET LOOSE THE DOGS OF WAR!!!

I TOTALLY AGREE: if the Repubs are going to play dirty, we have to also. After what was done to Gore and especially Kerry, I hope our 527s have no mercy on them.


Let the American people know that McSame and "Pain in the Rear" Palin are liars.





No Way, No How, No McCain!

[AndyTiedye]

9. ABOUT TIME!!

[NashVegas]

11. I Got An Email From Eugene Hedlund (sp?)

Some of you who were Dean supporters in 2004 may remember him ... just sayin'

[greyghost]

12. Long over due! It's time that they wake up and smell the coffee!

Obama can't win by channeling the John Kerry campaign. The American people ARE STUPID! How else does one explain George W. Bush in the WH!

[Sensitivity]

13. It was UNWISE to interfere with 527s. ATTACKS are MOST EFFECTIVE coming from 3rd Parties

That was one of the few truly strategic blunders of Axelrod et. al.

[1776Forever]

14. Here is one I hope will contribute - Defenders of Wildlife Fund! Check this out!

http://www.defendersactionfund.org/newsroom/sarah_palin.html

Sarah Palin and the Environment

Governor Sarah Palin has an extreme anti-conservation record on issues ranging from global warming, energy and drilling to wildlife and habitat protection.
Aerial hunting of wolves and bears

Governor Palin is an active promoter of Alaska's aerial hunting program whereby wolves and bears are shot from the air or chased by airplanes to the point of exhaustion before the pilot lands the plane and a gunner shoots the animals point blank.

*

Palin offered a $150 bounty for wolves to entice hunters to kill more wolves in certain parts of the state, with hunters having to present a wolf's foreleg to collect the bounty.
*

She actively opposed a ballot measure campaign seeking to end the aerial hunting of wolves by private hunters and approved a $400,000 state-funded campaign aimed at swaying people's votes on the issue.
*

Clean Water and Pebble Mine

Governor Palin actively campaigned against a state ballot measure this summer aimed at protecting Alaska's Bristol Bay. The mining industry seeks to develop a gold and copper mine in the area that would pollute the Bay's headwaters and threaten the spawning grounds for the largest remaining wild salmon run. The initiative would have prevented large-scale mining operations from dumping waste materials into salmon watersheds.

She also introduced legislation to make it easier to kill wolves and bears and which would have also removed the aerial hunting initiative from the ballot and block the ability of citizens to vote on the issue.
*

The Board of Game, which she appoints, has approved the killing of black bear sows with cubs as part of the program and expanded the aerial control programs.
*

The media is currently looking into reports that state officials implementing one of the aerial wolf killing programs illegally killed five-week old wolf pups just outside their dens.

[Cha]

15. And, there's this news about big sources of money!

"Barack Obama fundraising attracts big names, big bucks"

FUND-RAISING | Celebs from Yo-Yo Ma to Bon Jovi help Obama rake it in
Recommend (5) Comments

September 6, 2008

BY LYNN SWEET blogs.suntimes.com/sweet

BARTLETT, N.H. -- Under pressure to raise millions of dollars in the coming weeks, Barack Obama's campaign is raising the bar for entree into his elite fund-raising world while heavily scheduling big political names and celebrities to help him raise campaign cash fast.

Membership on Obama's privileged National Finance Committee was once open to those who raised a minimum of $250,000; now it's $300,000. The "asks" for joint Obama/Democratic National Committee high-roller events are getting higher.

You could have brunch in Connecticut with Caroline Kennedy later this month for as little as $1,000.
(AP)
On Wednesday in Los Angeles, VIP receptions with Michelle Obama went for $25,000. On Friday in New Jersey, rocker Jon Bon Jovi and his wife, Dorothea, hosted a dinner where the tab was $30,800 a person. Today, classical music greats Leon Fleisher, Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman perform at a Maryland fund-raiser for Obama.

On Sept. 20 in Connecticut, brunch with Caroline Kennedy and Meryl Streep is a "tiered" event, with tickets from $10,000 down to $1,000. Kennedy, who co-chaired Obama's vice presidential task force, is making a series of fund-raising stops for Obama in the coming weeks. Former Vice President Al Gore and Paul Tewes, Obama's man at the Democratic National Committee, will headline a Sept. 25, $28,500-a-person event in London.

<more>
http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/1148685,CST-NWS-sweet_07.article

[terrya]

16. At this point, I think that's excellent.

Hell, hit Hollywood for as much as possible. Pull out the stops.

[Cha]

18. Totally! I've given till I

hurt..I imagine people with big bucks wanna get in on the sacrifice too! :bounce:

[terrya]

19. I'll give some more this week.

I have a little over $100 in my checking account this week. I SHOULD get paid again on Saturday. :-)

I'm going to see if I can donate a little every week until the election.

However, it will be nice to see people like Barbra Streisand and Ben Affleck kick in some serious bucks. :-)

[Cha]

21. And they're so creative with fundraising..

..more snips from the article..

"Meanwhile, Illinois high-end fund-raisers have been asked to raise at least $1 million a week for the next eight weeks as the November election looms and early voting starts in many states in October. Vice presidential nominee Joe Biden is in Chicago for a $5,000-per-person dinner Tuesday. Hillary Rodham Clinton hits Chicago next Sunday.

In order to squeeze money out of donors, Obama's marketeers have created different kinds of events for niche contributors, including packaging together Obama foreign policy advisers Susan Rice, Richard Danzig and Greg Craig for briefings.

An Obama "policy lecture series" -- a way to stroke donors is to make them feel they are real insiders -- features Obama top adviser Valerie Jarrett on Monday in New York. She will give what is billed as an "insider's view" of the campaign. The series is $10,000; one event goes for $2,500."

:toast: :patriot: :patriot: With the Big Bucks:bounce:

[Cha]

23. I want to thank you, terrya, for

donating too! :toast: :patriot: ..to all of us~

[nc4bo]

17. I don't smell desperation - I smell a BLITZ a'comin'!!! nt

[Cha]

20. That's right..Obama Team

always has a plan and it's been to win and they knew it wouldn't be easy going up against pathological liars funded by Big OIL and supported by the corporatemedia.

[weezie1317]

22. I can't believe I'm saying this, but that Barbara Streisand concert may be a good thing.

[Cha]

25. Barbra Streisand is a true patriot! I remember her calling

in on c-span against the War On Iraq and telling us all to please vote for Kerry and before that she was all about getting out the vote for Gore! Love her!

[justinrr1]

24. Anyone hear of any new 527s to contribute to

We should all post any new ones that set up or recommendations to contribute to certain ones. We may not like 527s but they are a necessary evil.

[backscatter712]

28. MoveOn.org

[BumRushDaShow]

26. In Philly, it has been the opposite regarding ads.

Obama has been saturating the airwaves (TV and radio) with ads, and jumped it up a few notches beginning that Friday after the repuke convention concluded. The anti-choice ad was playing on the top Arbitron radio stations here literally every hour on the hour. He's also played the TV ads - "Don't Know Much" and "No Change", and most recently, the "The Same" ad. Am waiting to see the "No Maverick" one (can't wait!).

Because the Philly market is the 4th largest for Nielsen/Arbitron and covers SE PA, South Jersey, and DE, I figure they did this to also cover some of the other 2 states.

[backscatter712]

27. Time to donate to MoveOn!!!

RIP 'EM TO SHREDS!!!

[Democat]

29. Let's hope our 527s are as tough as theirs

There are going to be some brutal attacks on Obama from the right wing 527 groups. Let's hope the left leaning groups will come at McCain twice as hard.

[AtomicKitten]

30. He hinted at this last month.

which I posted here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=6623344