Economic Downturn Sidelines Donors to '527' Groups

Source: Washinton Post

Expected to be a force in the final weeks of the presidential race, outside groups and the pointed advertising they brought to the airwaves in recent campaigns are barely evident this year. Political operatives say the fact that many wealthy potential donors have shied away from investing in efforts such as the infamous Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is that they are simply too busy trying to salvage their own financial portfolios.

. . .

Four years ago, groups operating outside the party structure invested more than $130 million in television commercials, often carrying the kind of negative messages that the candidates themselves wished to avoid. This year, total spending by such groups is at about $17 million so far. . . One of the groups expected to emerge as a major player, the conservative Freedom's Watch, hinted that it could spend as much as $200 million on congressional races around the country.

Freedom's Watch launched with a splash, announcing an advisory board that included figures such as billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and former Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. A year ago, the group launched the first round of what it said would become a steadily escalating barrage of ads with a $15 million campaign supporting President Bush's Iraq war strategy. "We're forming a never-ending campaign," Bradley Blakeman, a former White House aide who was among the founders, said at the time. "We're taking on generational issues that are not decided at the ballot box."

An early infusion of donations fueled $30 million in expenditures, including ads seeking to influence several congressional special elections. But as November approached, several of the moguls who had been supporting the group became distracted by their own financial distress.

Perhaps most notable among them was Adelson. As his company, Las Vegas Sands, struggled through steep September declines, Adelson saw $4 billion of his personal fortune evaporate as a result of the slumping national economy, and that was before the slow-motion stock market crash. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that between Aug. 29 and Oct. 1, Adelson suffered the steepest drop among those who lost $1 billion or more during the credit crisis.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/18/AR2008101801687_pf.html

purposeful for something!

We don't have to rely on a just a few folks with super deep pockets. I bet even some of those swiftboat asses are supporting Obama because he's a better bet for the economy, which is where most of them live.

You saying the swift boat types will have to vote for Obama to foster good economic policies, so they won't be plunged into bankruptcy?

There is a saying, that "To live like a Republican, you must vote for Democrats."
Amazing how Repubs, rich and poor time after time vote against their own self interest.

Unfortunately, I can't help this party to win and keep the economy strong. Why? Because this party has bankrupted me the last time it kept the economy strong. So sorry.

5 Billion loss from Adelson.

Somehow I think that a bunch of pitchforks and torches with a guillotine, noose or at least a public stockade in his future would be the only true and proper dispatchment of class warfare.

How many teeny-tiny violins can you buy with a billion dollars? :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

and skimming operations provided by Jack Abramoff, Tom "the Bugman" Delay and others. Yep, I say the big money operations for the Republican Party were effectively shutdown by some very smart Dems. They knew that all the major dollars that the republicans were receiving were generally through ill gotten gains. So they went after that money and shut them down knowing it would be their downfall.

"A Texas grand jury on Wednesday indicted Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates on charges of conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, forcing the House majority leader to temporarily relinquish his post. A defiant DeLay insisted he was innocent and called the prosecutor a “partisan fanatic.”" Associated Press article


Republicans tried to change the House ethics rules for Tom DeLay that say "you can not remain Majority Leader if you've been indicted", but were shamed into backing off pushing for the rules change once the press gota holdd of it.

Jack Abramoff is sentenced to 4 years in prison
The onetime Republican lobbyist, who is already doing time on a separate conviction, tearfully admits to the judge that he 'happily and arrogantly' engaged in a corrupt lifestyle.
By Richard B. Schmitt, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 5, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Jack Abramoff, the once-powerful Republican lobbyist, was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison for his leading role in a wide-ranging corruption scandal that rocked Congress and the Bush administration.


The Vice President's former company, of which he still has financial ties to, raking in BILLIONS in hand-delivered no-bid contracts that last for years


Enron - During the 2000 Presidential campaign, Presidential Candidate Governor George W. Bush flew around the country on the personal private jet of family friend Ken "Kenny-Boy" Lay, CEO of Houston-based Enron. Candidate Bush even floated the possibility of appointing Lay to the job of "Energy Secretary". Following the scandalous fall of Lay's company Enron and the loss of hundreds of millions of pension dollars owed to employees, only two people (CFO Andrew Fastow and his wife) have yet to be convicted of any crime.

:toast:

:hi:

:hi:

While the repuke 527s get knocked down, Obama's individuals contribute like mad to the point where the campaign announced $150,000,000 raised for the month of September... and that was in addition to Obama starting September with $77,000,000 cash on hand.

No sense throwing money down the McCain rathole, they need to use it to buy gas for their SUVs.

:evilgrin: