Political Funding

Here they talk about funding and how much candidates are spending as well as funding from outside groups.

Campaigning in a Caucus State

This video talks about the money put into to campaigning and winning certain states. Caucus states will cost a lot so candidates need to weigh out which state they can win. 

Presidential Finance Fund

This video talks about the presidential candidates raising a lot of their money for TV time.  It also explains how their is a check off on the tax form where tax payers can choose to direct their money to the campaign.

Obama Goes West

Wanting to gain back the trust of the Democratic loyalists, President Barack Obama went to the west coast to raise money for his campaign. He spoke with words of encouragement as well as attacks on the Republican Party. Obama spoke at a brunch fundraiser where the guests were paying $35,800 per couple to hear him speak at the first of seven fundraisers he had from Seattle to LA to San Diego. This fundraising event will end in Denver on Tuesday. These give Obama the opportunity to restore confidence to his most liberal supporters.

As I had mentioned above, Obama has been criticizing many republicans and calling them out by name. The president has condemned them as obstructionists while demanding their help in passing his $447 billion jobs bill. This new approach to campaigning has definitely satisfied many Democratic activists who were getting tired of the president's surrendering attitude to the Republicans on tax cuts as well as other issues while unemployment is still above 9% and the economy has slowed down.

This 2012 election will definitely be a difficult one with the country seeming so discouraged and not trusting of the government. However, Obama has said he is determined, for so much is at stake. In response to the GOP alternative Obama said it is  "an approach to government that will fundamentally cripple America in meeting the challenges of the 21st century. And that's not the kind of society that I want to leave to Malia and Sasha."

Obama had a welcoming response at his first stop on his west coast endeavor but in other places liberal activists were making plans of criticizing his policies and reminding him they want him to do more. Kathy Cummings the communications director for the Washington State Labor Council, whom were organizing a demonstration in Seattle outside Obama’s fundraiser, said, "We want to see Obama stand up as strongly as he can to fight for the people of this country who are working out there to make ends meet." Obama as well as the Republican presidential candidates have been working hard to raise campaign money before September 30^th. This is the reporting deadline that will give the candidates an idea of their financial situation. The expected amount to be raised from the seven fundraisers Obama is holding is $4 million or more.

One of the things Obama has been pushing is his job proposal. This consists of tax cuts, unemployment benefits, and public works spending. This bill is not receiving the best reception especially from those on Capitol Hill.  Many Republicans oppose this because Obama wants to pay for it with tax increases. If Obama can’t get this bill passed he wants everyone to know who is standing in the way, congress.

I think its Obama standing in the way. He wants to spend more money while America is still in so much debt but many Democratic supporters are in favor of the jobs plan and Obama's insistence that Congress must raise taxes to pay for it.

Florida Straw Poll

The straw poll this weekend in Florida was definitely not boring. They demonstrated once again what an unpredictable and important political battleground it is. This is one state that definitely matters.

Republican Presidential candidate, Herman Cain, received 37 percent of the more than 2,600 votes cast, making him the winner of the Florida straw poll, defeating second-placer Rick Perry. Cain more than doubled Perry’s total (the GOP presidential frontrunner) as well as Mitt Romney, who came in a close third. Senator Rick Santorum finished with 11 percent, Ron Paul finished with 10.5 percent, Newt Gingrich finished with 8.5 percent, the former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman finished with 2 percent, and Michele Bachmann finished off last with a mere 1 percent. Cain had been on the right track with Florida. He had the victory with his exciting speech on Friday afternoon where he received a standing ovation from the crowd. While thanking the Republican voters, Cain said, “This is a sign of our growing momentum and my candidacy that cannot be ignored. I will continue to share my message of ‘common-sense solutions’ across this country and look forward to spending more time in Florida, a critical state for both the nomination and the general election.” While Cain thought Florida to be a critical state for the election, people questioned Perry for skipping the straw poll. Perry even felt this was a slip-up saying, "I think that's a big mistake. I think it's very important." He had stayed through Saturday morning where he hosted the breakfast for conference delegates. This was a good move for he had been receiving much criticism from the Thursday night debate. In the past straw polls have predicted the GOP nominee. Ronald Reagan won in 1979, George H.W. Bush in 1987 and Senator Bob Dole in 1995.

The former Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney is another candidate who may not have paid as much attention to Florida as he should have. All of the candidates spoke to a crowd of Floridian Republicans who had met up there for the Faith and Freedom Coalition and Conservative Political Action Conference meetings. However, Romney left Florida early Friday for events in Indiana and Michigan. This was essentially saying that his campaign did not place that much weight on the result in Florida. Perry actually took a hit at Romney after congratulating Cain. “Floridians and voters nationally want a candidate who is clear on the issues and talks honestly about the future, not someone who takes multiple sides of an issue and changes views every election season,” said Perry. He then continued saying,  “today’s vote demonstrates that Floridians are energized and ready to help get America working again.”

            It’s obvious Cain impressed the voters at the straw poll but it is not as obvious to me whether he will win the GOP nomination. However, this weekend has seemed to make Michele Bachmann irrelevant with her last place status in the poll. Republicans are definitely pumped after this weekend though. It’s unclear to me who will make the GOP nomination but republicans are definitely ready for Obama to leave office.

"Buffet Rule"

Republicans are not happy with Obama’s new Buffet Rule. They have been calling it “class Warfare.” As part of Obama’s speech on long-term deficit reduction Obama will propose a tax on millionaires. Using Warren buffet’s name (one of the richest men in the world) for a new tax law, the Buffet Rule would make any American making more than a million dollars a year pay at least the middle class tax rate. For years now Buffet has been saying the rich should pay more in taxes. Buffet says he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. This may be true but the reason is because people who make salaries pay a different tax rate than those who make their money from investing like Buffet. He has said that people like himself should be paying a lot more in taxes and that the country “should stop coddling billionaires.” The president has been taking advantage of that position to support his argument that the rich need to pay more. Apparently Buffet’s secretary who made $60,000 paid 29 percent in taxes. Buffet who made $46 million paid 17 percent in taxes, about $8 million. However if the Buffet Rule was in effect and Buffet paid the middle class tax rate of 29 percent then he would owe another $5.5 million in taxes.

Obama has also long argued for the rich to pay more taxes. Many Americans support this effort so it is no surprise that this new rule is coming up around re-election time. It seems like Obama is using this law to get sympathy from voters. Most people are not millionaires so to many people, it seems fair to tax them more. This millionaire’s tax is supposed to aid in the economy. Democrat, Senator Richard Durbin, said on CNN that he thinks the plan is a good one, and argues that the Republicans’ alternative is just “do nothing and protect the millionaires.”  However most republicans beg to differ. “Class warfare will simply divide this country more. It will attack job creators, divide people and it doesn’t grow the economy,” Rep. Paul Ryan said on FOX News Sunday. “Class warfare may make for really good politics, but it makes for rotten economics.” These people the Obama Administration wants to tax are the ones who are investing in the market and we need people to continue investing if we want the economy to get better. If the “rich” start paying more then they will be cutting back in their business, meaning people would be getting laid off. The country needs business owners and investors to create jobs. A change in the tax rate may not affect someone like Warren Buffet that much but he is a rare kind of “rich.” Not many people have money like he does. He is a billionaire not a millionaire. If he feels he doesn’t need all that money than he should feel free to give it away.

Obama's Attack Watch Campaign

President Obama’s re-election campaign team recently set up a new website called AttackWatch.com. It is designed to counter negative statements made about the President by republican presidential candidates and conservatives. The site is basically checking the facts said by people such as Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and often the republican commentator Glenn Beck. The site is used to “fight back” against attacks and set straight false statements being said with evidence. Within just twenty- four hours of the sites launch it has already caused a stir. Conservatives all over are mocking the site saying it shows how thin skinned the Obama administration is. The color Scheme of the site is black and red with thick bold letters. Many people mocking the site say it is supposed to look scary and intimidating. On the site it says things like, “Get the facts. Fight the smears.” The site offers Obama supporters an efficient way to "report an attack," and promises "when another unfounded attack surfaces, we'll arm you with the truth." The site also has a twitter account for supporters to submit “attacks” made on the President but many conservatives have just ridiculed this. The conservative bloggers that have made a mockery of it saying it makes Obama look like a “creepy authoritarian nut job.”

Attack Watch is similar to online efforts launched in the 2008 campaign, Fight The Smears. Despite all the negative response from the conservatives, 100,000 people signed up for the site in the first 24 hours, according to deputy press secretary Katie Hogan. Hogan said, “This site is a tool providing our supporters with the facts they need to fight back against lies and distortions about the President’s record.” However, it does seem that this tool for the Obama campaign has backfired becoming something for the conservatives to used against the Obama 2012 (The Video below is a parody commercial for Attack Watch).

One of the controversies of the site is many people think it shows Obama outwardly promoting people to spy on private citizens and it makes him seem paranoid. I don’t think that this is Obama’s intention but the site does seem to come off that way. With it’s red bold letters on a black background with a shaded in photo of Romney makes him seem like some kind of criminal, it just feels over the top and dishonest which is obviously not the image I think the Obama campaign wants to show.