Campaign Finance

With the $600 million Obama extorted--excuse me, raised--you'd think he'd have had enough money to pay his "volunteers."

Miracles Never Cease

Howard Fineman gives several reasons why Obama is having such difficulty. I especially like this take on Obama's declining to take public financing, a truly insane move and contrary to Democratic Party principles:

Declining to take federal financing for the general election
This mistake is two-pronged. Obama stands accused of flip-flopping on the matter, saying in 2007 that he’d accept those funds and the cash limits that come along with it. In relying solely on private money, Obama appears to have ceded some higher ground to McCain, who, with his public funding, appears slightly more immune to interest groups. On a more practical level, Obama will have to leave the campaign trail more often to headline fundraising events. He’ll likely spend more time than he should in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles and less than he needs in Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Detroit.

You can blame Kos and his ilk for this shit. This will cost Obama dearly.

Unlike Fineman, I believe it is far too late for Obama to reverse course.

Along those same lines, Obama is coming under increased criticism over how he's approaching John McCain:

The Democratic presidential candidate's slump in the polls has sparked pointed private criticism that he is squandering a once-in-a-generation chance to win back the White House.
Party elders also believe the Obama camp is in denial about warnings from Democratic pollsters that his true standing is four to six points lower than that in published polls because of hidden racism from voters - something that would put him a long way behind Mr McCain.
The Sunday Telegraph has learned that senators, governors and union leaders who have experience of winning hard-fought races in swing states have been bombarding Obamas campaign headquarters with telephone calls offering advice. But many of those calls have not been returned.
A senior Democratic strategist, who has played a prominent role in two presidential campaigns, told The Sunday Telegraph: "These guys are on the verge of blowing the greatest gimme in the history of American politics. They're the most arrogant bunch Ive ever seen. They won't accept that they are losing and they won't listen."

No kidding. But he shouldn't have been the nominee in the first place.

Peggy Noonan nails it with her observation:

Peggy Noonan, the former Reagan speechwriter, blamed the defection of women voters from Mr Obama on the atom bomb of ritual abuse by left-wing bloggers and Democratic officials, painting Mrs Palin as a bad mother and religious weirdo.
Ms Noonan wrote: "The snobbery of it, the meanness of it, reminded the entire country, for the first time in a decade, what it is they don't like about the Left."

It is the arrogance, stupid.

It's Either Idiocy

or something far more sinister driving the move by Obama not coordinating with state parties in coordinating campaigns.

He just doesn't give a shit.

If he isn't a tool of the Republicans, he sure is acting like one.

It's going on in Iowa as well as Colorado, and probably all over the country.

This is absolutely insane.

Campaign Follies.

People should demand the Mouth step down. The move by the Obama people to relocate the DNC to Chicago is not only unbelievably audacious, given the fact he hasn't technically been nominated, it is also risky in the extreme, given the likelihood Obama will be destroyed in November.

It will leave the Democratic Party, already hurting for money, in shambles.

Why in the HELL would a party leave itself open to GOP charges of Chicago-style corruption?

I can't believe the whole goddamned thing.

Campaign Notes.

The Obama campaign is diligently trying to get support from Clinton donors, but more than a few of them, like many of her less-wealthy supporters, are angry enough with the way Hillary Clinton was treated this primary season to say "no deal" to any such overtures.

A priority at this point for Democrats, however, is replenishing the coffers of the Democratic National Committee, which has suffered from the extended primary campaign. Traditionally in election years, most of the party’s cash, which can be used on behalf of the presidential candidate, comes in after a nominee is chosen. As of the end of May, the Republican National Committee had nearly $54 million in the bank compared with the $4 million the Democrats had on hand.

But several Clinton fund-raisers said they harbored too much ire for Mr. Dean to raise money for the party, even if they said they were willing to support Mr. Obama.

“Howard Dean and the D.N.C. will not get one penny from me or any of my friends,” Mr. Davis said.

If Obama loses in a landslide, as I believe he will if Democrats actually nominate him, the DNC chair will likely be sacked.

He should be regardless. It's been a travesty.


It's not just donors who are shying away from supporting Obama, either. A few elected officials are worried about their re-election chances if they are lumped together with a loser like Obama.

That's another reason I oppose his candidacy: he hurts Democrats in down-ballot races. He has no coattails whatsoever; if anything, he has negative coattails.
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Ron Paul is quitting his campaign tonight.