While the Obama campaign presses its complaint about the union-backed American Leadership Project, Mr. Obama continues to receive more far support in the form of independent expenditures from unions and other groups than Mrs. Clinton. Since the primary began, outside groups have made $10 million in independent expenditures on behalf of Mr. Obama, compared with $5 million on behalf of Mrs. Clinton.
One union alone, the Service Employees International Union has spent nearly $9 million on Mr. Obama"s behalf, with ads on his behalf in key primary states, including Indiana, according to federal records. In addition, the union also has $25 million raised in its political action committee that can be used to promote his candidacy.
A new S.E.I.U. ad planned for Indiana says that Mr. Obama opposed the Iraq war from the beginning and says that money spent in Iraq could be used instead on American infrastructure. It ends with "Barack Obama puts America First."
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/obama-campaign-files-complaint-against-pro-clinton-group/#more-4982
Pro-Clinton Group Swiftboating Obama In Indiana
This piece originally appeared at RawStory
UPDATE: The Obama campaign has filed an F.E.C. complaint against the American Leadership Project, the group behind the attack featured in this story.
The gritty black and white ad soon to be unleashed in Indiana by the pro-Clinton American Leadership Project is tough:
"Our economy is in trouble, rising prices, unemployment, foreclosures, so what's Barack Obama's plan?...The Associated Press reported that Obama's proposals to cleanup financial markets had no specifics and the Washington Post wrote that what Obama would actually do remains a mystery in too many areas. Call Barack Obama and tell him to give Hoosiers a real plan to fix our economy."
Indiana's 84 delegates are up for grabs, with the candidates running neck and neck in the state, according to polls. Both Democratic contenders and The American Leadership Project (ALP), a pro-Clinton stealth non-profit operating outside the campaign finance laws, are planning on airing competing ads in the Hoosier state, but it's the ALP ad and the organization's $700,000 buy that has the Obama campaign scurrying to reporters in an effort to blunt the attack.
In a press phone call conference, Heather Higginbottom, the Obama Campaign National Policy Director said, "The substance of the ALP attack ad is baseless. Senator Obama has set out a plan with specific policies. He [Senator Obama] has a 48-page economy policy paper to strengthen the economy and it is posted on our website."
Obama supporter, State Representative Ryan Dvorak from Indiana said, "What we got is a lot of Hoosiers excited by a candidate that would bridge the political divide and then we saw Ohio and Pennsylvania inserting a lot of negativity. The ALP is just one of Hillary Clinton's pal groups, run by one of Mark Penn's employees. What I get from my district is that my people want to see a positive outlook."
Continue reading at RawStory.
The video is from American Leadership Project, broadcast April 29, 2008.
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Danielle2,
I do not believe a word of your post. Anyone who watches the cable news stations(except fox because that is not news but propaganda) knows that Hillary and her ilk will misrepresent, lie and mislead if it will get her votes. Obama, is a stand up Politian and does not campaign dirty like Hillary.
Obama is the Road Runner and Hillary is Wyle E Cayote. BEEP BEEP!
And just when it looks like the coyote might catch the road runner, a train runs him over.
Perfect cut-and-paste of a comment on the other ALP thread -- and this isn't a union issue. Each candidate has the support of about half the major unions. The biggest donors to the ALP are individuals cutting $10,000 and $20,000 checks -- not union people. This is about a candidate ducking the campaign finance laws, and the other one calling her on it. Anything else is a red herring.
Indiana went 60/40 for Bush in 2004. The state is not in play to Democrats in November. All of the important contests have been run and Obama is the winner.
Why are the Obama maniacs such crybabies? They're always crying "victim" when anyone has the audacity to question his policies or lack thereof. If the ridiculous author of this puff-piece thinks that Obama is being "swiftboated", he's got a date with reality when the republicans start really going after Obama.
You need to read the comments a little further to get why this is actually very intelligent strategy by Obama; I'm getting tired of retyping it. Not everything he does is "crying" -- unless, of course, you've blinded yourself to the possibility that he might be ahead by all measures because he's actually really, really talented at what he does.
Clearly this add is NOT like the lies that were spewed at John Kerry. Quit whining! And quit using that term as a verb. It shows a lack of imagination.
This ad is a day at the beach,an oil painting, a walk in the park compared to what's coming for either candidate. Kucinich supporter here. undecided, researching every candidate. I've seen alot of negative Clinton links here, but saw a dontvoteforobama.net link . If 10% of what I saw there is true or put in ads (and it is out there for all to see), you'd better watch for some serious ads that will go way beyond swift boating. Be prepared, I do NOT want to see another Bush term
Understand that the issue here isn't whether the ad is mean-spirited or dishonest or too tough -- it's that 527s operate outside legal limits on individual contributions, corporate contributions, donor identity disclosure, etc. Because they're outside the law, 527s aren't allowed to campaign for/against particular candidates -- otherwise they'd just be extensions of the campaigns themselves.
Obama's average donor has given less than $100, so he can go back for more small contributions. Clinton's big-money donors already have maxed out at $2,300, so they're trying to get around the campaign finance laws by giving $10,000 and $20,000 chunks to this 527, which then slams Obama (and also asks viewers to call his campaign phone number, wasting his staffers' time and jamming up the phones -- a more sophisticated version of what the Republicans did in '04).
Obama's fighting back, and sending a message to the Republicans as well, by calling her on it and making the ALP's donors suddenly worried about adverse publicity and fines.
It's wise strategy on Obama's part, and good for the Dem party overall, because he's laying the groundwork to shut down the really nasty Swiftboating the Republicans have in store. If the Republicans can't use 527s to attack him, then McCain will have to stick to normal campaign financing -- where Obama will beat him hands down.
Definitely shows Obama as a smart, tough campaigner. The folks below who say he's "whining" (the word du jour) have no clue how this really works!
She truly is a Republican. I don't even know what else to say about the Clinton's anymore. They disgust me.
so fox news is propaganda.....yes i just read that here...so
what do you libnuts calll CNN and PMSNBC???
fair and balanced???????????????
I can't imagine that the white house staff, under Clinton, were not mandated to sign some confidentiality statement assuring they would not write books, give interviews etc. I wonder if the Arkansas State police also had to sign a similar statement. If they have not or if their is someone reliable who has not signed a pledge of silence. they should get together and swift boat MRS Clinton. I read somewhere that the White house staff were not to look directly at her and not speak unless spoken to. the military in the White House were forbidden to wear their uniforms for a time and her treatment of the state police in Arkansas was reprehensible. The hypocrisy of a first lady and senator trying to pass as joan Q citizen of the blue collar variety may be all she has left but who besides her base is stupid enough to buy it?
Why doesn't Hillary just run as a Republican? She has been endorsed by a right-wing newspaper in Pittsburgh, she is being interviewed by FOX News, her friend Ed Rendell praises FOX for its fair coverage. Once a Goldwater Girl always a Goldwater Girl. Hillary is playing the not-so-subtle race card in appealing to blue-collar Democrats, as the Republicans did, and she condescendends to a certain segment of the African American electorate like Washington regulars Shelia Jackson Lee and Stephanie Tubbs Jones. Hillary is a throwback. Yes, the Goldwater Girl has returned to her roots. Hillary, after all, was a Goldwater Republican during the mid-Sixties when Goldwater opposed the Civil Rights movement and Civil Right Bill. Also, just as she is doing today--she attacked the only African American Senator, Edward Brooks, when he spoke at Wellesley at her commencement. Today, she is courting the far right--if she were to win the nomination, she would move to the right of McCain and court the cultural conservatives. She will abandon her liberal-to-moderate base in a nonosecond if it helps her to win. Democrats beware! There are two Republicans running right now and only one Democrat. Just in case you missed my point: Hillary and McCain are both Republicans and will have us at war in Iran before Inauguration Day--unless we are wise enough to defeat them.
Oh, you're nuts. If she were a Republican, she would have done things like vote for the Iraq War, vote for the Kyl-Lieberman amendment labelling Iran a state sponsor of terror to give the Bush administration an excuse if they want to attack them, sponsor anti-flag-burning legislation, attend Fox News' anniversary party, let Fox News throw her a campaign fundraiser, and...
oh, wait. She's done all those things. Sorry.
Thank you for reminding us Bellows! I get furious each and every time I think how we are about to be duped! Maybe, just maybe, we can recognize true leadership in Obama.
Hillary really is..........Tracy Flick!
oh,poor little obama lovers don't like the truth--what can we do? vote Hillary and feel like winners again, you left wing duds!!
Holy shit I just saw the ad it's softball what a crybaby this wuss is Charlie Black and Karl Rove will eat him alive if he thinks this is swift boating he hasn't seen anything yet. GET READY FOLKS TO SING HAIL TO THE CHIEF TO A SENILE OLD MAN
Don't you get it? She's using a 527 illegally to let her big-money donors exceed campaign finance limits. He's FIGHTING (not whining) both to shut down Clinton's game and to send a strong message to Republicans planning the same thing. He's not a crybaby any more than a linebacker is a crybaby for seeing an end run starting and blitzing to break it up before it starts. Who's whining are all the Clinton backers who just can't stand it when Obama fights back.
Last time we went with the supposedly "electable" candidate instead of the one we actually believed in, we ran John Kerry against Bush and got whupped. Voting for Hillary may make you feel like a winner for now, but we'd all be losers in November.
Ok let's elect Hillary Strangelove. The last 20 years has been bad politics lets go for some more.
Beverly, you have posted a false and misleading lede to this story. In NO WAY does this ad even approach the level of a "swiftboat" hit piece. It's a tough ad, yes, but I don't remember the ads run against John Kerry suggesting voters contact his campaign to get the facts about his record, do you?
The ad says nothing about calling to ask for "facts", but to campaign. It's a slightly more nuanced version of phonebanking, designed to disrupt Obama's campaign right before the election by flooding it with calls. And the "Swiftboat" reference is shorthand for 527s.
how does she have the right to ask anyone for facts ? her campaign slogan should read who do you believe me or your lying eyes? what an ass
Sorry -- meant that the ad tells viewers to call Obama's campaign office to COMPLAIN. That's what makes it a Swiftboat.
O.k. I like this so the HRC wants to play hard ball, then lets do it,it's time Sen. Obama supporters take off all the gloves,sense we have to fight 23 fight at once, let's wake up the sleeping gaints the Obama supporters, 1). We know Sen. McxCain has PTDS from the war and it is getting worse(he call his wife a c--t in public. 2). We know he's 72 yrs old 3). We can see sign of first stage of Alzheimer(repeatly forgetting the same facts over and over,short burst of angry for no reason, having to have people around to correct this after thoughts. Now on to HRC1). She said she would have left the REV. Wright church after 20 years, but after 39 years with Bill who have cheated numerous time she is still there being an enabler.2). She talking about nukeing millions of innocent women and children3).Her husband said she has senior moments(is this too the first sgin of Alzheimer. Do we need these two people, both who has talked about killing millions of innocent women and children with nuke, just a code away from a mushroom cloud.
Bill is the father of her child, not her pastor. See a difference? If she had divorced him, all the "family values" idiots would have come down on her about that. She did what she thought was the best for her family. I'm sure many other women have made that same decision. There's nothing this woman can do to get in your good graces. Stop trying to compare her husband to someone else's pastor!
Hillary allowing supporters to use illegal tactics to get her elected? No way! LOL!
Obama 2008
To all the Clinton supporters...
See, this is exactly what we have been saying. Yea, it's a sorta "not quite so swift boat" attack, but the POINT is she is using it against a FELLOW DEM. This is NOT the kind of politics that OUR PARTY NEEDS. This kind of campaign is going to LOSE THE ELECTION for the Dems in Nov. This is the kind of thing we expect from the repubes, they lie like dogs. They are so used to dirty tricks campaigning it's in their blood. They don't do it against their OWN PARTY though... that's what makes this so disgusting. Yep, sure a great way to "unite the party". Good job Clintonistas.
You folks are living in Dream land if you think that this CRYBABY is going to win The Steel worker had it right yesterday she is the one with the Balls in this race not Obama it's going to take balls to defeat the Repuk slime machine and the iron lady has them not the Wuss.
Off the subject for a moment I noticed yesterday that when obama's wife was asked to denounce pastor Wright's remarks she failed to do so and changed the subject so it appears that she still agrees with his Hate America bullshit. Charlie Black and Karl Rove take note
You mean when Michelle told a reporter that Obama had already put it eloquently and the press should move on?
C'mon. You aren't going to vote Democrat no matter who wins.
Holy Crap, I forgot... 527's are only for uses against Republicans.
Should they be used at all?
And at least, Dems should be able to agree to keep them out of the mix in the primary.
Obama should immediately follow this with a positive ad which points out his plan is 48 pages and has been up on his website for the last several months. Hopefully these two ads would run back to back.
VOTE FOR SOMEONE ELSE IF THIS GUY GETS THE NOMINATION OF DEMOCRAT PARTY
1_ Has no gut to commit something: Always stay in the HAFT WAY WHY because this Guy is so CHICKEN!!!, did not dare to blame Wright the reason : Wright is retired now!!! BS
2_ No clue to HANDLE problem: Wright's Sermons, How can this GUY handles a more complicated problems????
3_ No experience ( What did he do at Senate any bills? )
4_ White people won't vote for this Guy because they think this Guy will be the President of the Black community WHY 98% black people vote for him
5_ How about AYER ....
just a few
Posted April 29, 2008 | 05:14 PM (EST)