Obama to start looking the other way on 527s.

Source: Obama To Start Looking The Other Way On 527s
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/11/source-obama-to-start-loo_n_118240.html

August 11, 2008 03:53 PM

Senator Barack Obama will start looking the other way when it comes to the role 527s and other independent groups play in the election, a source close to his campaign told the Huffington Post.

The implicit acknowledgment that outside organizations have a role to play signifies a marked contrast from Obama's longstanding policy that electoral efforts be funneled through his campaign. A spokesman for Obama, Bill Burton, denied that any policy vis-à-vis 527s -- political organizations that can raise unlimited soft money -- and other outside groups had changed.

"Whoever is saying that has no idea what is going on inside our campaign," he said. "Senator Obama has said consistently that if folks want to help this effort, they should do so through our campaign."

But on Monday two reports surfaced suggesting that a softening of Obama's stance may already be taking place. Earlier in the day, Politico's Ben Smith wrote that PowerPAC, a 501c4 that was initiating voter registration efforts primarily in the South and West, was planning to spend $10 million during the election. In the afternoon, FireDogLake's Jane Hamsher reported that "a source close to the Obama campaign," acknowledged their position on independent expenditures was changing.

"Despite actively discouraging donors from giving to groups like Progressive Media at one point, they are now taking the position that it's nothing they have any control over," Hamsher wrote.