Obama's Bundlers

While I am waiting for the fun on the House floor to get rolling, I thought I would link up something for all of you Obama supporters out there. It appears that the Messiah is not as independent of big money as he has claimed to be.

In an effort to cast himself as independent of the influence of money on politics, Senator Barack Obama often highlights the campaign contributions of $200 or less that have amounted to fully half of the $340 million he has collected so far.

But records show that a third of his record-breaking haul has come from donations of $1,000 or more - a total of $112 million, more than the total of contributions in that category taken in by either Senator John McCain, his Republican rival, or Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, his opponent in the Democratic primaries.

Even better is where that money has come from...

Behind those large donations is a phalanx of more than 500 Obama "bundlers," fund-raisers who have each collected contributions totaling $50,000 or more. Many of the bundlers come from industries with critical interests in Washington. Nearly three dozen of the bundlers have raised more than $500,000, including more than a half-dozen who have passed the $1 million mark and one or two who have exceeded $2 million, according to interviews with fund-raisers.

Oh snap - that is going to upset the apostles at the New York Times.

I've said this before - Barack Obama is nothing more than a very savvy Chicago politician. Not that it necessarily a bad thing, but it is reality!

He tapped into well-connected people in Chicago before the 2004 Senate race, and, once elected, set out across the country starting in 2005 to cultivate some of his party's most influential money collectors.

He courted them with the savvy of a veteran politician, through phone calls, meals and one-on-one meetings; he wrote thank-you cards and remembered birthdays; he sent them autographed copies of his book and doted on their children.

The fruit of his efforts has put Obama's major donors on a pace that almost rivals the $147 million that President George W. Bush's Pioneer and Ranger network raised in $1,000-and-larger contributions in 2004 during the primary season.

Well we can certainly see why he broke his promise to take public financing now, can't we?

While this information is not new or stunning to someone who cut their political teeth in Chicago and it should not be new or stunning to any Democrat as this has been the stock in trade of the Chicago "Democratic" Party since long before I was born.

This is not necessarily a condemnation of Senator Obama - he is doing what politicians do. You can't really fault him for that. However, it is very telling that the only place you are seeing this reported is in the overseas newspapers. Could it be that the American media - those people who scream their ethics and objectivity from the rooftops - have a vested interest in Senator Obama's campaign?