A bit more on those dueling NYT and WSJ estimates of outside group spending and what to make of them: The Journal‘s figures include state and local spending, which in the case of a public employee union like AFSCME, would account for quite a lot of political activity. That’s one reason why the NYT‘s number, which does not appear to …
You may have noticed that the front pages of today’s New York Times and Wall Street Journal seem to paint rather different portraits of who’s spending what in the midterm election campaign. According to the Journal, the giant public-employee union AFSCME (or “the bureaucrats union,” as an email just in from a conservative group puts it) …
The New York Times provides some new details into the sources of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s money:
These records show that while the chamber boasts of representing more than three million businesses, and having approximately 300,000 members, nearly half of its $149 million in contributions in 2008 came from just 45 donors. Many of
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Considering what may be the toughest foreign policy quandary of Barack Obama’s presidency, Andrew Exum of the Center for a New American Security reminds us of a famous credo:
“We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.”
Exum continues:
George Bush said that on 11 September
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I missed this yesterday, but according to new campaign finance reports the Houston-based housing mogul Bob Perry, best known in politics for his support of the 2004 anti-John Kerry Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, has donated at least $11 million this year to independent Republican campaign groups operating under section 527 of the tax …
Joe, I agree that David Brooks wrote a thought-provoking column which forces us to step back and challenge our assumptions. I’d add another small critique to your list : Brooks argues that advertising from independent groups gets lost in the crush of ads by the candidates and parties themselves. But my sense is that the outside groups on …
Two links this morning for people still trying to make sense of that massive political pinata, the $787 billion stimulus plan. One is a Times article focused on something I’ve posted about before, which is the fact that precious few Americans understand that the stimulus contained plenty of tax cuts (about 40 percent overall, including …
Who would have guessed that, in the midterm election home stretch, the White House would spend more than a week talking about television commercials? And yet it’s been nearly impossible of late to hear an Obama administration official speak without getting a quick primer in the way independent conservative groups are running hundreds …
Kevin Drum touches on something that I heard from a Democratic operative this week: That the White House offensive against the Chamber of Commerce is as much about shaping the campaign-funding debate ahead of the 2012 presidential election as it is about the 2010 midterms. Part of that may be about drumming up support for some kind of …
I have a story online today (and in the print edition, where it looks prettier!) about what’s behind Obama’s showdown with the Chamber of Commerce. Most Swampland readers will know that the recent public fight between Obama and the Chamber–which is running $75 million in political ads this year, the vast majority of them supporting …
Christine O’Donnell cites a rationale for staying in Afghanistan which appears to be influencing both the policy and politics around the debate over that war. As O’Donnell put it in last night’s debate:
A random withdrawal, that [Democratic nominee Chris Coons] has said he supports, will simply embolden the terrorists to come after us
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Las Vegas Sun political guru Jon Ralston is taken aback by a press release from Republican Sharon Angle’s campaign bragging about her astounding $14 million third-quarter fundraising haul. From the Angle release:
This is a testament to the hatred of Harry Reid, the nation’s disapproval of President Obama, and the unprecedented
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