Tin Men

Who would be dumb enough to fall for this crap. Barack is going back to his sizable donor list looking for more money!

It seems that in addition to his 6/10ths of a billion dollars to move into the White House, the Democratic National Committee spent way more than the $100 million in cash it had raised.

In fact, it took out "substantial loans."

Substantial loans? The DNC has debt to retire? How come they could get credit?

Well, it turns out now, the DNC's debts are far worse than originally imagined. Today, Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe sent another urgent e-mail to supporters seeking at least another $30.

Most people would slam the door on anyone knocking with this sort of pitch.

"We'll get to work transforming this country. But first, we need to take care of the DNC."

Did we hear that right? Now that Obama's the president-elect, the top priority is the Democratic National Committee?

To drive home the point elsewhere in the same e-mail Plouffe adds: "Before we do anything else, we need to pay for this winning strategy."

Cheap lines, tin man style lines, if you ask me.

Don't worry, you still get the Victory T-shirt for this $30. But it sounds like pretty much everything else is on hold. This change stuff is looking to be an expensive process, even before it gets started.

Bake Sale

The Money Machine never rests.

The election is hardly finished, and the fundraising has begun anew.The Obama campaign, which raised more than $600 million for the election of the junior senator from Illinois as the next president of the United States, is selling celebratory T-shirts.

Thirty bucks.

Obama T-shirts.jpg

The proceeds are going to the Democratic National Committee, which appearently has put itself in some debt with the massive organization it helped finance for the Obama campaign. President-elect Barack Obama and his vice president, Joe Biden, have their work cut out for them, a campaign e-mail explains, "But before we take the next step, we need to get our house in order.

Rothschild Rejects Barack as Elitist

How funny.

Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter and member of the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee, will endorse John McCain for president on Wednesday, her spokesman tells CNN.

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The Rothschilds didn't get rich, apparently, by being dumb.

She also said she still has serious reservations about Mr. Obama’s principles and experience and thinks the questions raised during the primaries about his unsavory associations with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko remain appropriate issues.

“That’s not Swift-boating,” she said.

A woman of integrity, Rothschild won't ignore the Obamafia just to see her side win!

“This is a hard decision for me personally because frankly I don't like him,” she said of Obama in an interview with CNN’s Joe Johns. “I feel like he is an elitist. I feel like he has not given me reason to trust him.”

She also said she still has serious reservations about Mr. Obama’s principles and experience and thinks the questions raised during the primaries about his unsavory associations with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko remain appropriate issues.

“That’s not Swift-boating,” she said.

Democrats try to pretend that elitism requires wealth in order to prove that Barack can't be an elitist because he grew up with a wacky single mother who left him to be raised by his grandparents - but Forester proves that theory for the silliness that it is.

Forester is the CEO of EL Rothschild, a holding company with businesses around the world. She is married to international banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. Forester is a member of the DNC’s Democrats Abroad chapter and splits her time living in London and New York.

Barack's New Record

Barack Obama raised wild amounts of money in August, even as the wheels were coming off of his campaign.

Senator Barack Obama raised $66 million last month, aides said Sunday, the most prolific fund-raising month of his presidential candidacy but still just a baseline for what the Illinois Democrat has to raise every month to meet his campaign’s goals in an exceptionally close and hard-fought race.

Barack's going to need the money as he tries to reclaim the change mantle, hijacked by John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin, and to try to calm the frenzy of excitement that has shifted away from him and onto the GOP ticket. By the way, the GOP isn't doing too bad financially, either.

DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney says the party raised more than $17 million and has $17.5 million on hand, having spent more than $28 million last month, largely on the Democrats' ground game.

That cash figure is a fraction of the $110 million a Republican official says it has, which includes transfers of money McCain is no longer allowed to spend and money from state fundraising vehicles.

As the first candidate to ever opt out of the federal campaign finance system, Barack forfits $86 million in tax dollars and gets to spend as much as he can raise.

The disparity shows the Republicans' continued edge with the wealthy donors who can give in five-figure chunks.

More money does not necessarily matter, however, as Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia advises.

“Some of the biggest spenders in American politics have lost to candidates spending much less. But every campaign would rather be the one with more money. The cash buys not just the TV ads but the large on-the-ground staff operations that can add a point or two to your turnout on Election Day.”

Work to Swoon

My friend Kevin Whalen, proprietor of the blog Pundit Review, is all bent out of shape over Barack's work-to-swoon program in Denver.

Want see Barack Obama’s big speech in Denver? For the privilege, his campaign is asking for six hours of volunteer work…to even be considered for admission. And then and only then, just maybe, they’ll let you in to see the Savior.

Six hours of forced labor for the opportunity to see Obama in the flesh? That’s change Stalin could believe in.

It just strikes me as further confirmation that we are, in fact, a nation of whiners.

"My whole reason why I'm so mad about it is because Democrats need to act like Democrats," said Heather Kreider, a working mother from Centennial.

"Democrats work for a living, and they have to work and take care of their families. And they say these are open to those in the community, so they shouldn't ask people to drop everything in their lives for this," Kreider said Tuesday.

"It's not fair. It's elitist. And they need to practice what they're preaching," she added.

Kevin and Heather both seem to be missing the point. First, Kevin, no one over the age of 21 will be attending Barack's pep rally. Anyone having dealings with college students knows that they'd best be worn down a bit before packing 70,000 of them into quarters tighter than a dorm room, so six hours of volunteer work isn't a bad idea for a campaign wishing to put off post-speech news coverage of street fights, public urination and sidewalk sex until November 4, at least.

Second, Heather has to realize that Barack is an elitist. Now that she can see it for herself it might be a good idea for her to move on to a candidate who is a better match for her tastes.

People asked to volunteer are those in line for "all star" tickets that will put them closer to the stage and are being contacted first, said Stephanie Mueller, campaign spokeswoman.

She also has to remember that if she's a woman of color, she won't be allowed to sit close enough to Obama to see him lest she wind up inconveniently in "the shot," so she might as well stay home and watch her own big screen in the comfort of her own home.

Doing the volunteer work only makes someone eligible for a ticket and doesn't guarantee one, according to the phone message from the campaign.

Supporters should be proud of this, as it demonstrates Barack's brilliance at branding. After all, he is the candidate of the bait and switch.

Matt Chandler, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, said the only people who were asked to volunteer were those who said on their applications that they were willing to do the work... But Kreider said she is certain she didn't hit the "volunteer" box on the online application.

What's one more trick played on the ideologues who, after having been conned into giving him the nomination because he was the anti-war candidate, got an Iraq enema courtesy of Barack. Now, they can sweep some floors and then grovel in awe as The Messiah gives them a broom stick chaser. Think of it as "health care for all," Obama style.

Still, Kreider got a message telling her that she had to do six hours of volunteer work by Friday if she wanted a chance at a ticket. Kreider said she will not do the work.

"Absolutely not," she said. "Now it's pure principal. I was a Hillary Clinton supporter, and this is literally my first touch with the Obama campaign. And it's just disappointing."

Principal? Now Heather, that's not a good thing to bring along to a party hosted by Barack Obama. Or the Democratic National Committee for that matter.