DISQUS

desmoinesdem · 1 year ago

what happens to the $100,000 that Chet Culver donated from his campaign fund to the IDP's coordinated campaign?

http://www.iowapolit...

Anonymous · 1 year ago

That goes to the Canvass That's going to help make up for the lack of money coming in from the Obama campaign, and it might even help pay to extend the canvass through November.  At least that's what I've heard.

desmoinesdem · 1 year ago

I sure hope so Because of Obama decides that he's solid in Iowa, he could easily move most of his GOTV resources from here to other states in October.

I don't want us to lose several close House races because the Obama campaign had its own priorities on turnout.

Saw the Light · 1 year ago

Obama Strikes Again I saw this coming, albeit not in precisely this manner, the moment I heard Obama had forsaken public financing.  Sure Obama has lots of money, but that doesn't mean other candidates throughout Iowa have money, name recognition, or paid staff.  Look at the elected officials in Iowa supporting Obama and see how many of them have been fighting for an Iowa Voter-owned election.  Campaign finance reform is not about getting one single person elected, it is about opening up our electoral process so many people have the opportunity to run for office, and thereby truly creating a diversified elected body.

As for moving aside the forces already deployed, is this how Obama is going to work across the aisle in Washington? Whose money is he going to use to buy his way inside the beltway? Are we going to see an Obama Haliburton equivalent? I just saw a Chris Mathews show where David Brooks, who started 2007 singing Obama's listening ability, saying he kept hearing from Republcian Senators and staff that Obama never bothers to work them. Brooks said he wasn't willing, yet, to accept the Senatorial comments, but one of the reporters on the show said she, too, had been hearing from Washington staff that Obama doesn't work well with others.

Woman Dem · 1 year ago

50 State Strategy Obama has a 50 state strategy, meaning what is happening in IA is happening in 49 other states. Also IA is going to be a key battleground state that Obama is going to fight for (and win hopefully), this coming straight from someone high up in the Obama heirarchy. He will not forsake us and will not be neglecting the local races or local GOTV efforts.

campskunk · 1 year ago

umm... ...how is taking money and personnel resources away from Democrats running downticket and givign it to Obama "not neglecting the local races or GOTV efforts"?

Obama is utterly cynical, as evidenced by the "Democrat for a Day" program his campaign ran during the primaries to get Republicans to change their party affiliation to give him support during the primaries. He knew those people would vote Republican in November. They knew it too, and would much rather run against Obama than Hillary. She'd kick McCain's ass. Obama ran for the nomination in a manner guaranteed to lose the general election.

Lindy · 1 year ago

The Clanging in the Closet The clanking you hear in Barak Obama's closet is Larry Sinclair. Rattle, rattle, toil and battle. Conscionably, innocently, Larry Sinclair wanted Barak Obama to fess up, "own up" as we say in the west, to crack cocaine use back in 1999. Asking people to vote for you to be President of the United States when you are a crack cocaine user just wasn't something Larry Sinclair thought was right.  He felt so strongly about the issue, that he advised the Obama Campaign that he thought Obama should tell the truth about his drug use!  The nerve of the Guy!

So what does Obama do to stop Larry Sinclair from telling the truth about the crack cocaine use? Not what you would expect. Rather than addressing the issue himself, Obama uses a messenger in the form of Donald Young, a gay Choir Director from Trinity Church in Chicago, to call Larry Sinclair.  Donald Young comes right out and asks Larry Sinclair why he did not mention the sexual relationship that Obama and Sinclair shared? Now, see, Larry Sinclair didn't even want that known. That was a non-issue. The crack cocaine use was the important thing to Larry Sinclair.  "Just tell people you use crack cocaine more recently than you claim, Mr. Obama." That is all Larry Sinclair wanted. But that wasn't what he got.

Gosh! Those were the good 'ol days!  A very short time ago, life was simple for the Sinclair family, wasn't it?  Donald Young, the messenger,  was still alive.  You do know, he has been murdered. Harassing emails weren't a  problem for Larry, back then. The person who threatened Larry Sinclair's life and his Mother's life wasn't even in the picture, much less the FBI who refused charges filed against same. Back then you would had to have laughed out loud to think  Larry Sinclair, with all his faults, could be important enough for the Attorney General of Delaware to take action in a trumped up case, use taxpayer expense money to travel to Washington, D.C.. and file charges for,  what was that?.... say that again!.....Unknown Charges?  And then he had the case sealed? Unbelievable!

Whew!  Time went by fast. What has happened since is classic textbook coverup. Obama's paid crew have issued a battery of allegations of criminal acts  to discredit  Larry Sinclair.  The campaign has used positions in government to attempt to render him penniless and helpless to defend himself, and there are threats of physical violence against him and his supporters. There is a tome of harassing emails from the paid Obama smear crew spewing filthy language that is not fit to be in print.  It is all there, folks.  What Not To Do If Someone Knows Something About You - 101.

The Main Stream Media has taken a huge shopping spree, buying up everything offered in the Obama Cover-up Store! They have bought into the  lies and smears, lock, stock and barrell, without looking into the facts, without asking a single question, or showing a modicum of respect to an American, Larry Sinclair, who bravely asked that the truth be told. The Main Stream Media is as guilty as Obama when it comes to the cover-up of this story! Shame on them!

Over the 4th of July, I saw a program on an Italian fireworks master and how those displays were created. I saw the Boston barge loaded with the show, ready for the celebration. It is amazing stuff. Couldn't help thinking about the explosion that is going to happen when a decent Investigative Reporter takes all the information that Larry Sinclair has made available and writes, really writes, this story.

Loyal Democrat · 1 year ago

Setting the record straight Let's get this straight. This article is fairly accurate, with the exception of Tom Henderson's clueless comment. How do I know? I am the parent of one of those staffers cast aside. The ex-Hillary people who were IDP staffers are certainly "not happy" about this move. They understood that they needed to use their contacts with the voters of Iowa, especially those Hillary loyalists, to elect Democrats from the top of the ticket to the bottom. They have been slighted because they were not Obama people, even though they had loyalty to the Iowa Democratic Party and all the down ticket candidates. Those staffers were offered jobs, but not as meaningful as the jobs they had held with the Coordinated Campaign. As a result of this move by Obama's campaign, much local and institutional knowledge and many contacts have been lost. Some of those staffers who were swept aside either gotten out of politics, or have gone elsewhere in the country to work on congressional, senatorial, or gubernatorial campaigns.

It is really interesting that the state that launched Obama on his quest for the nomination now gets short shrift. Iowa's down tickets candidates get the shaft. The state candidates who supported Obama now have to fend for themselves. If he is going to fulfill all that he has promised us, and he has promised much, he will need those down ticket candidates to support him in the legislatures. How is he going to do that if he throws them under the proverbial bus? I wonder if that is really what some of the down ticket candidates had in mind when they endorsed Obama. He and his campaign are as calculating and self-interested as any other political candidate. I guess his new kind of politics is the politics of "ME". So much for "Yes, WE can". Maybe he should have said "Yes, YOU can... without my help!"

Anonymous · 1 year ago

You prefer to believe a common criminal? I suppose that's your business...but wow.

Anonymous · 1 year ago

I don't see the negative here... The sole goal of Obama's campaign this summer is voter registration and outreach. Tens of thousands of new voters have been registered in LA and NV so far - not to mention that several hundred thousand that were registered in PA prior to the primary there. Thousands of new voters here in Iowa will not only help Obama, but they will help all of the downticket races as well.

Now, it does seem to me that the communication on this could have been a better, but I don't believe that will lose us votes in November.

Obama views Iowa as a swing state - I'm sure he will be here doing what he can for those downticket races - as well as his own campaign, of course.

Loyal Democrat · 1 year ago

Here's the negative "The sole goal of Obama's campaign this summer is voter registration and outreach"

Wrong... The sole purpose, as evidenced by this move, is to get HIM elected, and the rest of the candidates be damned.

There is no "WE" in this campaign.

Anonymous · 1 year ago

So...the voters he registers as Democrats won't be voting for other Dems down ticket??

That isn't quite how it works.

Registering new Democrats doesn't just create votes for Obama.

Honestly, it seems to me like you're just grasping at straws because you have something against Obama.

Anyone who has ever volunteered or worked on a campaign knows that voter reg and outreach is incredibly important at the beginning...and helps with GOTV at the end.

Anonymous · 1 year ago

And honestly - we're wondering why?? I can tell you why and I don't even know where the offices are...

By mid-June the Obama campaign had deployed its own staff to Iowa to lead its general election campaign here, a move that is typical for a presidential nominee. But Obama's campaign began to assign organizers to parts of the state where the coordinated campaign already had a presence, and insiders began to wonder why.

Uh...gee - that's shocking! They'd have offices in the same target areas? I can't imagine why!! Perhaps because these are THE target areas?

In the end, there's no way these folks would have been absorbed into the Obama campaign unless Harkin gave the okay.

We wanted a 50 state strategy...we're getting it. And frankly, I couldn't be MORE pleased - and I know every Democrat will benefit from this in November.

Loyal Democrat · 1 year ago

Clueless Coolaide Drinkers I always find it so refreshing when those who have not spent years in the trenches know all the answers ...but are clueless about the basic mechanics of Iowa politics.

My guess is that you even have a good excuse on the FISA votes today. Hillary +2 Obama -2