CSPAN - Campaign Finance - Outside Organization

Sheila Krumholz, Executive Director at the Center for responsive politics, is interviewed about the power of wealthy individuals and institutions when donating to presidential candidates, particularly 2012.  George Soros and the Koch Brothers have estimated their total contributions to be $120,000,000, excluding lobbying expenditures.  The Koch Brothers donate to various organizations such as Citizens for a Sound Economy, Citizens for the Environment, and Americans for Prosperity.  Krumholz believes the campaign financing system has morphed and has moved the power outside of the party structure and into outside organizations.

CSPAN - Campaign Finance - Public Funding for Campaigns

Meredith McGehee, Policy Director at the Campaign Legal Center is interviewed about the pros and cons of the Public funding of presidential candidates, and what can be improved.  The limits for candidates who take public financing are limited to up  $200,000 in each state, can use a maximum of $50,000 of personal funds, must raise more than $5,000 in 20 states, only individual contributions are matched, may accept up to $2,500 per person, only the first $250 dollars of each contribution are matched by the government.  Meredith believes public funding is more important than ever because of the growing need for campaign financing and the need for candidates to appeal to the people, and not outside influence.

CSPAN - Campaign Finance - Disclosure

Allison Hayward of the Center for Competitive politics speaks during the National Association for Attorneys spring meeting.  She raises an argument in regards to campaign finance disclosure and explains the different types of contribution intentions and whether or not they should be disclosed in certain circumstances.  She explains that in some circumstances, when an entity pays another to perform a specific duty in regards to campaigning, disclosure is appropriate.  (i.e. paying you to make a commercial bashing a candidate.)  In other circumstances, such as general fund raising, disclosure is inappropriate because the intent of those people donating was not specific, and in some cases those who donated may not entirely agree with the outcome of their funds, and therefore should not be subject to disclosure.

Campaign Finance - 2012 Money Race

I found an interesting chart online which ranks the 2012 Presidential Candidates in campaign financing order (link to article: http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-finance). Coming in first, the incumbent President Barack Obama has raised a total of $46,323,209, with $32 Million of that in individual contributions (I guess corporations didn't feel the need to bail him out). The top-ranking earner for the GOP, and 2nd place in financing (behind Obama) is Mitt Romney with $18,383,257. In studying the geographical contributions, Both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney raised big money in the Northeast. 49% of Obama's donations were under $200, whereas Romney's under $200 were merely 6%. The $2,500 maximum contribution made up for only 26% of Obama's financing, while Romney shows dependence on large contributions at 70%. This charts final entry was made on June 26th, which explains why Rick Perry is listed as N/A. One thing worth noting, surprisingly, 3rd place is taken by Ron Paul. Ron Paul seems to lack media attention during the presidential race, but shows signs of gaining support through various other means at $4.5 million in campaign donations. In a September 24th NY Times article, Obama's diminishing small-donors support is caused by frustration and disillusionment which have hurt the Presidents approval rating (link to article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/us/politics/small-donors-slow-to-return-to-obama-fold.html?_r=1&ref=politics). Speaking on behalf of the many disappointed Obama supporters: "“When I was pro-Obama in 2008, I was thinking of him as a leader who could face the challenges that we were tackling,” said Adnan Alasadi, who works in behavioral health in Mesa, Ariz. Mr. Alasadi contributed repeatedly to Mr. Obama during his first campaign but says he will not give the president — or anyone else — any more money. “Now I am seeing him as just an opportunistic politician,” Mr. Alasadi said (quoted from NY Time article).

Campaign Finance - Buddy Roemer

Charles Elson "Buddy" Roemer III was born on October 4th, 1943 in Shreveport, Louisiana. He was valedictorian of his high school and later went on to graduate from Harvard College, and then pursued an MBA from Harvard Business School. (For more information, following the link to his wikipedia page :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Roemer). Buddy Roemer served in the US House of Representatives from 1981 to 1988, where he was originally elected as a democrat and later switched to the Republican party. After his tenure in the House, he went on to become the 52nd governor of Louisiana. His past experiences involves serving as the Chairman of the Board at The Sterling Group, Inc along with fellow long-time friend Joe Traigle. More recently, Roemer has served as the founder and CEO of Business First Bank, a small business community bank with $650 Million in assets. Roemer's bank proudly declined bailout money from the US government. Interestingly enough, Buddy Roemer has a unique stipulation to his campaign finance criteria; he will not accept any more than $100 from any institution or person (The Daily Show : http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/tue-september-6-2011-buddy-roemer) Roemer is the only presidential candidate to self-impose the donation cap. Roemer's goal is to get one in every 100 Americans to donate, totaling a $300 Million campaign, stating "That's more than Mitt Romney spent three years ago to try to buy the presidency."

CSPAN - Electoral College

This video features Thomas Mann, senior fellow at the Brookings institute.  He explains that the electoral college system was set up because the founding fathers were concerned with a candidate gaining too much power, or in a large desperate republic voters would not have adequate information to make the right choice, and therefore could rely on the electoral college to be well-informed and make the right choice.   Southern states were opposed to the popular vote system because slaves were not permitted to vote (3/5's compromise).  He continues to explain that another 2000 election would have to occur in order to gain momentum for electoral reform.  He reminds the interviewer that the people really were not unsettled by the 2000 election.

CSPAN - Primaries

Thaddeus Mccotter, presidential candidate 2012, is interviewed by c-span.
Mccotter is a member of the GOP.  Mccotter is questioned on disagreeing with Mitt Romney on letting manufacturers in the US go bankrupt.  He makes an interesting argument in correlating people living on "90 foot lots, bailing out people on 90 foot yachts." He makes another interesting comment in regards to disagreeing with George Bush on some of his actions, and believes history will be kind to George Bush in some recent analysis of his performance.  Mccotter explains he has disagreed with Bush many times in the past and will continue to do so as long as his ideology is consistent.

CSPAN - Reince Priebus Interview

Reince Priebus is inteviewed on his opinion on if the GOP actually has a chance at unseating the current president, Obama.  Priebus believes Obama is taking the country "off the financial rail" and is very satisfied with the current GOP chances.  Priebus brings up a very important point about the inconsistency of rating polls and the fact that 'its not over til its over.'  Priebus states that Bush 41' was at 90+% approval, yet was beaten by Clinton.  Keep this in mind before jumping to any conclusions when you hear the next polls announced.

9/18/11 - Primaries

As it is known, Rick Perry is the current frontrunner and is now the main target of all other candidates.  Interesting fact - most people do not change their vote based upon debate performance, and few people watch debates to begin with.  The true reason why people watch debates is to cheer for their candidate.  This means debate performance is negligible and a growing support from debates just means you have a greater number of your fans tuning in - people that were already casting their vote in your favor.
Fox news goes in to further detail: http://video.foxnews.com/v/1161637156001/tea-party--the-best-bellwethers

From what it seems, the real battle is Perry V. Romney, not Perry V. Obama.  Romney's only chance of pulling ahead is to convince the GOP that Perry cannot beat Obama.  The bigger priority of Perry supporters is to have a GOP member in the whitehouse, regardless if it is their first choice.

Moving forward, there was big news this week regarding the electoral college system, particularly in Pennsylvania.

Article: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_757300.html

The new electoral college vote formula is supposed to better reflect the voter's choice, but has already drawn up controversy in that GOP candidates of PA will find it harder to get outside campaign money since the winner-take-all system is most potent.  Rather than all 20 votes going going to the sole winner, the state wants to allocate 1 vote for the winner in each of 18 districts, and the remaining two votes go to the statewide popular vote.  I think the proposed way will not make a substantial difference, but will better reflect the voters choice.  Knowing Pennsylvania, it is a combination of large urban centers such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, combined with rural and mountainous landscapes.  The clash of idealogies must be address by the 2 outstanding votes that goes to the majority popular vote winner.

9/17/11 - Primaries

This blog entry will outline a general perspective of the current GOP front-runner Rick Perry.  This blog entry is for the week of September 17th, 2011. 

Link to main article locations:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/16/political-hot-topics-friday-september-16-2011/?iref=allsearch

The current GOP front-runner, Rick Perry, is known for having a controversial background and brings a fresh breath of air to the stage.  Some of the main reasons for his lead is that Perry and conservative Americans see eye-to-eye on the big issues - the economy.  The GOP can and will continue to exploit the fact that the current Democratic administration has overseen the US slip deep into recession with little recovery on the unemployment statistics.  Perry mentions in an interview that he believes Americans are fearful and they are looking for someone they can be excited about (referring to himself, of course).  

Apparently Perry has called the Obama administration 'socialist' and has taken some heat for doing so.  In an interview response he firmly stands by his opinion and goes as far as to say the current administration proves his opinion correct daily.  "Look, when all the answers emanate from Washington D.C., one size fits all, whether it’s education policy or whether it’s healthcare policy, that is, on its face, socialism."

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2011/09/15/rick-perry-exclusive-the-gops-fiery-front-runner-on-his-rise-record-and-rhetoric/#ixzz1YGsnys4T

Hes also taken a crack at social security, calling it a "Ponzi Scheme."  He wisely defends his position once again with the fact that he sees eye-to-eye with the common American.  He admits that his politics and opinions may not be as luke-warm as the rest, but then again, he is running for the people, not the politicians.  

 

Surprising, Rick Perry has an interesting stand on allowing illegal immigrants access to in-state tuition.  He defends his position that as long as you are young and seeking an education, it will be available at the in-state cost, regardless of "what your last name sounds like."  I think this is very respectable for a GOP candidate to defend.  Regardless of your stance on the issue, and whether or not your party agrees to your opinion, it is important to stick by the choices you've made.  Consistency, more than anything, is vital in a presidential candidate.

Perry wraps up the interview, and is asked this final question; "Are you finding it difficult to satisfy the Tea Party?"  "I speak honestly and I speak plainly. The perfect candidate that everyone ever has agreed with — I’m still waiting for that man or woman to show up. I made a lot of decisions and I’ve got a substantial record. From time to time I’ll get something wrong. I’ll admit it those times when I have not been correct. But people will never have to guess where I stand on an issue."  Perry brilliantly brings it all home with yet another "I see eye-to-eye with the people" approach.  I think Perry is a strong candidate and is forming a strong following.  We will see how strong his support is in the coming weeks.

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2011/09/15/rick-perry-exclusive-the-gops-fiery-front-runner-on-his-rise-record-and-rhetoric/#ixzz1YGvWrTIj