Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Making Money Cash


Hundreds of millions of dollars are flowing from special interests to candidates, for what are usually pretty obvious reasons. Why would the coal industry support Rand Paul for the Senate in Kentucky? Why would Paul want their money? No mystery there. But there are a few gifts that raised my eyebrows.

BP, one might think, would be a pretty toxic political donor along the Gulf Coast. But that didn't prevent Democratic Senate candidate Charlie Melancon from accepting $1,000 from his state's public enemy number one. Nor was Alabama Republican Richard Shelby shy about taking BP's cash.

Even odder are the giving patterns of GM's newly reactivated PAC. Let's begin with the obvious fact that GM, as a company that is still more than half owned by the federal government, shouldn't be making PAC contributions at all, a point that has been repeatedly made.  But clearly the Obama administration has been serious about being hands off in its management of the company and hasn't prevented this stunning violation of any reasonable standard of ethics.

What's weird though is to whom GM has chosen to give money. Yes, of course, $5,000 to Congressman John Dingell -- his wife, after all, works for GM, and he has been a stalwart supporter of the company in good times and bad. But $5,000 (the maximum allowed) to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who routinely lambasts the federal government's decision to keep GM alive? McConnell said last year that it was wrong to "ask the American taxpayer to subsidize failure." And this isn't just GM being evenhanded -- no similar gift shows up for Majority Leader Harry Reid. Or look at Roy Blunt, who said of the GM rescue, "None of this is in line with my own free market principles" -- but took $5,000 from the GM PAC anyway.


Dan Coats is another candidate to whom the GM PAC maxed out. Coats supported the GM bailout as a lobbyist in D.C., but he has campaigned against it in Indiana.

So leaving aside the ethical absurdity of a federally-owned company reactivating its political action committee, you have to wonder whether the GM executives who decided to give money to McConnell, Blunt, and Coats were thinking of the company's future interests at all. Or were they, as GM executives have long been accustomed to do, simply using the company's resources to express their own personal ideological drift? It's interesting to look at the individual donations from GM execs. Their contributions are almost exclusively to Republicans, and many are to the same anti-GM-rescue Republicans that the PAC backed. You have to wonder whether Bush's former chief-of-staff, Andrew Card, who came to the White House from GM and then went back -- is still perhaps calling the shots. Card's one personal gift was to Rob Portman, the final GM PAC maxed-out Republican Senate candidate.













The third quarter fundraising numbers are in, so it's time to declare some winners and losers.



In the Senate contests the big winners were Republicans, most of whom outraised their Democratic counterparts.



WINNERS:

Dino Rossi (R), who outraised Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), $4.4M to $3.3M, and has a $3.5M to $1.2M cash on hand advantage in the Washington Senate race. Rossi's fundraising puts this race squarely back on the map after recent polling showed Murray opening up a lead.



Christine O'Donnell's (R-DE) $3.8M haul is impressive. She has a $2.6M to $1.3M cash on hand advantage over Democrat Chris Coons, who raised $1.5M. The money will help O'Donnell, but she's still a long shot.



Rep. Mark Kirk (R), who raised $3.1M to Alexi Giannoulias' (D) $2.3M. More importantly, Kirk has $4.4M in his warchest to Giannoulias' $1.1M. Giannoulias will be helped here, though, this race will be one where the DSCC's money advantage will definitely play a role.



In Wisconsin, Sen. Russ Feingold (D) raised $4.2M and reported $3.5M cash on hand. That's significantly more than businessman Ron Johnson's (R) $3.3M raised and $2M cash on hand. Feingold has been buoyed by fundraising from progressive groups like MoveOn.org. He may find, however, that his fundraising advantage gets wiped out quickly if Johnson decides to dip further into his personal fortune.



Other winners we've known for a while. Sharron Angle's (R-NV) $14M raised is still jaw-dropping, and Marco Rubio (R-FL) looks well-positioned with his $5M raised and $5.5M cash on hand.



LOSERS:

Rep. Paul Hodes (D-NH) raised $811K, and that just won't cut it. He only has $547K in the bank, significantly less than Kelly Ayotte (R), who raised $1.3M and has $1.1M in her warchest.



Lee Fisher's (D-OH) dismal $1M raised, $376K in the bank pretty much means the Senate can starting making nameplates for Rob Portman (R), who raised $2.8M and has $6M in his bank account.



The same can be said for the Indiana Senate race. Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D) only raised $494K - less than in some of his House campaigns -- to former Sen. Dan Coats's (R) $2M. Ellsworth reported $835K cash on hand while Coats has $1.3M in his bank account.



DRAW:

Rep. Joe Sestak (D) raised less than Pat Toomey (R) in Pennsylvania -- $3.2M to $3.8M -- but the Democrat has more cash in the bank. Sestak will $2.7M in his warchest to Toomey's $2.3M. The numbers are yet another indication that this is turning into a top race for both parties in these last two weeks.



Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina's (R) $5.8M haul trailed Sen. Barbara Boxer's $6.2M, but it showed that she is still viable. She'll need plenty of help to fight Boxer's $6.5M to $1.8M cash on hand advantage. Fortunately for her, the NRSC has pledged nearly $5M to her campaign.



Rand Paul (R) may have outraised Jack Conway in Kentucky by $1M, but he only has a $1.4M to $1M cash on hand advantage.



Some numbers still haven't been reported. We're looking at you, Linda McMahon (R-CT), Charlie Crist (I-FL) and John Raese (R-WV).




Turning to the House side, don't miss House Race Hotline Editor Tim Sahd's breakdown of the third quarter fundraising winners and losers.



And here are some handy House fundraising charts:

Endangered Veterans

Freshman

Open Seats





Poll Has More of the Same Bad <b>News</b> for Democrats, Worse <b>News</b> for Obama

Congressional Democrats hold their own reasonably well against their GOP counterparts when voters are asked who would better handle key issues. By contrast, they trust Republicans more than Obama on most of those issues.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/26 - Arrowhead Pride

Good morning! We have a full day of Kansas City Chiefs news. O-line love and praise for the running game and a shout out to DJ are ahead. There are also a few articles on the Buffalo offense and how productive they've been recently.

Timothy Karr: Fox <b>News</b> Tries to Foreclose on Sesame Street

Every time PBS and NPR have come under attack, the American public has risen up in protest to defend -- not defund -- it. Whatever the rationale, Fox News' ongoing witch hunt tactic is a proven loser.


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bench craft company complaints

cashgiftingproof by j91romero


Poll Has More of the Same Bad <b>News</b> for Democrats, Worse <b>News</b> for Obama

Congressional Democrats hold their own reasonably well against their GOP counterparts when voters are asked who would better handle key issues. By contrast, they trust Republicans more than Obama on most of those issues.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/26 - Arrowhead Pride

Good morning! We have a full day of Kansas City Chiefs news. O-line love and praise for the running game and a shout out to DJ are ahead. There are also a few articles on the Buffalo offense and how productive they've been recently.

Timothy Karr: Fox <b>News</b> Tries to Foreclose on Sesame Street

Every time PBS and NPR have come under attack, the American public has risen up in protest to defend -- not defund -- it. Whatever the rationale, Fox News' ongoing witch hunt tactic is a proven loser.


bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Hundreds of millions of dollars are flowing from special interests to candidates, for what are usually pretty obvious reasons. Why would the coal industry support Rand Paul for the Senate in Kentucky? Why would Paul want their money? No mystery there. But there are a few gifts that raised my eyebrows.

BP, one might think, would be a pretty toxic political donor along the Gulf Coast. But that didn't prevent Democratic Senate candidate Charlie Melancon from accepting $1,000 from his state's public enemy number one. Nor was Alabama Republican Richard Shelby shy about taking BP's cash.

Even odder are the giving patterns of GM's newly reactivated PAC. Let's begin with the obvious fact that GM, as a company that is still more than half owned by the federal government, shouldn't be making PAC contributions at all, a point that has been repeatedly made.  But clearly the Obama administration has been serious about being hands off in its management of the company and hasn't prevented this stunning violation of any reasonable standard of ethics.

What's weird though is to whom GM has chosen to give money. Yes, of course, $5,000 to Congressman John Dingell -- his wife, after all, works for GM, and he has been a stalwart supporter of the company in good times and bad. But $5,000 (the maximum allowed) to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who routinely lambasts the federal government's decision to keep GM alive? McConnell said last year that it was wrong to "ask the American taxpayer to subsidize failure." And this isn't just GM being evenhanded -- no similar gift shows up for Majority Leader Harry Reid. Or look at Roy Blunt, who said of the GM rescue, "None of this is in line with my own free market principles" -- but took $5,000 from the GM PAC anyway.


Dan Coats is another candidate to whom the GM PAC maxed out. Coats supported the GM bailout as a lobbyist in D.C., but he has campaigned against it in Indiana.

So leaving aside the ethical absurdity of a federally-owned company reactivating its political action committee, you have to wonder whether the GM executives who decided to give money to McConnell, Blunt, and Coats were thinking of the company's future interests at all. Or were they, as GM executives have long been accustomed to do, simply using the company's resources to express their own personal ideological drift? It's interesting to look at the individual donations from GM execs. Their contributions are almost exclusively to Republicans, and many are to the same anti-GM-rescue Republicans that the PAC backed. You have to wonder whether Bush's former chief-of-staff, Andrew Card, who came to the White House from GM and then went back -- is still perhaps calling the shots. Card's one personal gift was to Rob Portman, the final GM PAC maxed-out Republican Senate candidate.













The third quarter fundraising numbers are in, so it's time to declare some winners and losers.



In the Senate contests the big winners were Republicans, most of whom outraised their Democratic counterparts.



WINNERS:

Dino Rossi (R), who outraised Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), $4.4M to $3.3M, and has a $3.5M to $1.2M cash on hand advantage in the Washington Senate race. Rossi's fundraising puts this race squarely back on the map after recent polling showed Murray opening up a lead.



Christine O'Donnell's (R-DE) $3.8M haul is impressive. She has a $2.6M to $1.3M cash on hand advantage over Democrat Chris Coons, who raised $1.5M. The money will help O'Donnell, but she's still a long shot.



Rep. Mark Kirk (R), who raised $3.1M to Alexi Giannoulias' (D) $2.3M. More importantly, Kirk has $4.4M in his warchest to Giannoulias' $1.1M. Giannoulias will be helped here, though, this race will be one where the DSCC's money advantage will definitely play a role.



In Wisconsin, Sen. Russ Feingold (D) raised $4.2M and reported $3.5M cash on hand. That's significantly more than businessman Ron Johnson's (R) $3.3M raised and $2M cash on hand. Feingold has been buoyed by fundraising from progressive groups like MoveOn.org. He may find, however, that his fundraising advantage gets wiped out quickly if Johnson decides to dip further into his personal fortune.



Other winners we've known for a while. Sharron Angle's (R-NV) $14M raised is still jaw-dropping, and Marco Rubio (R-FL) looks well-positioned with his $5M raised and $5.5M cash on hand.



LOSERS:

Rep. Paul Hodes (D-NH) raised $811K, and that just won't cut it. He only has $547K in the bank, significantly less than Kelly Ayotte (R), who raised $1.3M and has $1.1M in her warchest.



Lee Fisher's (D-OH) dismal $1M raised, $376K in the bank pretty much means the Senate can starting making nameplates for Rob Portman (R), who raised $2.8M and has $6M in his bank account.



The same can be said for the Indiana Senate race. Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D) only raised $494K - less than in some of his House campaigns -- to former Sen. Dan Coats's (R) $2M. Ellsworth reported $835K cash on hand while Coats has $1.3M in his bank account.



DRAW:

Rep. Joe Sestak (D) raised less than Pat Toomey (R) in Pennsylvania -- $3.2M to $3.8M -- but the Democrat has more cash in the bank. Sestak will $2.7M in his warchest to Toomey's $2.3M. The numbers are yet another indication that this is turning into a top race for both parties in these last two weeks.



Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina's (R) $5.8M haul trailed Sen. Barbara Boxer's $6.2M, but it showed that she is still viable. She'll need plenty of help to fight Boxer's $6.5M to $1.8M cash on hand advantage. Fortunately for her, the NRSC has pledged nearly $5M to her campaign.



Rand Paul (R) may have outraised Jack Conway in Kentucky by $1M, but he only has a $1.4M to $1M cash on hand advantage.



Some numbers still haven't been reported. We're looking at you, Linda McMahon (R-CT), Charlie Crist (I-FL) and John Raese (R-WV).




Turning to the House side, don't miss House Race Hotline Editor Tim Sahd's breakdown of the third quarter fundraising winners and losers.



And here are some handy House fundraising charts:

Endangered Veterans

Freshman

Open Seats





bench craft company complaints

Poll Has More of the Same Bad <b>News</b> for Democrats, Worse <b>News</b> for Obama

Congressional Democrats hold their own reasonably well against their GOP counterparts when voters are asked who would better handle key issues. By contrast, they trust Republicans more than Obama on most of those issues.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/26 - Arrowhead Pride

Good morning! We have a full day of Kansas City Chiefs news. O-line love and praise for the running game and a shout out to DJ are ahead. There are also a few articles on the Buffalo offense and how productive they've been recently.

Timothy Karr: Fox <b>News</b> Tries to Foreclose on Sesame Street

Every time PBS and NPR have come under attack, the American public has risen up in protest to defend -- not defund -- it. Whatever the rationale, Fox News' ongoing witch hunt tactic is a proven loser.


bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Poll Has More of the Same Bad <b>News</b> for Democrats, Worse <b>News</b> for Obama

Congressional Democrats hold their own reasonably well against their GOP counterparts when voters are asked who would better handle key issues. By contrast, they trust Republicans more than Obama on most of those issues.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/26 - Arrowhead Pride

Good morning! We have a full day of Kansas City Chiefs news. O-line love and praise for the running game and a shout out to DJ are ahead. There are also a few articles on the Buffalo offense and how productive they've been recently.

Timothy Karr: Fox <b>News</b> Tries to Foreclose on Sesame Street

Every time PBS and NPR have come under attack, the American public has risen up in protest to defend -- not defund -- it. Whatever the rationale, Fox News' ongoing witch hunt tactic is a proven loser.


bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Poll Has More of the Same Bad <b>News</b> for Democrats, Worse <b>News</b> for Obama

Congressional Democrats hold their own reasonably well against their GOP counterparts when voters are asked who would better handle key issues. By contrast, they trust Republicans more than Obama on most of those issues.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/26 - Arrowhead Pride

Good morning! We have a full day of Kansas City Chiefs news. O-line love and praise for the running game and a shout out to DJ are ahead. There are also a few articles on the Buffalo offense and how productive they've been recently.

Timothy Karr: Fox <b>News</b> Tries to Foreclose on Sesame Street

Every time PBS and NPR have come under attack, the American public has risen up in protest to defend -- not defund -- it. Whatever the rationale, Fox News' ongoing witch hunt tactic is a proven loser.


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