Clinton Gives Donor List To CNN Polling Company - Poll Rigged?

National Public Radio has provided what seems to be the "smoking gun" evidence of possible early campaign "poll-rigging" on the part of the Hillary Clinton for President campaign. Last year, 2007, in this blog post, here:

http://zennie2005.blogspot.com/2007/07/cnn-polling-linked-to-clinton-donor.html

I argued that CNN -- the Cable News Network -- should not be using polls that came from a company linked to Vinod Gupta, a major Clinton Donor. Gupta owns Info USA and the Opinion Research Corporation (OPC). It's the OPC that makes the polls that are reported by CNN, and those same polls early in the 2008 Democratic Presidential race gave consistently enormously high leads for Senator Clinton. Polls by the OPC were consistently high for months, even as other organizations like Gallup USA began to show Obama closing on Clinton.

Now, it's revealed in this NPR article that the Clinton campaign sold -- or rented -- their donor list (which contains 38,000 names) to Info USA and the OPC, but NPR's article does not make the extra step of explaining why InfoUSA / OPC would even need such a list. That's what this video is about. The list was rented for just $8,225, and not the six-figures it's valued to be, and the Clinton campaign did not collect the money until 11-months after the list was delivered.

Why? My assertion is that the campaign knew the payments would show up in their finance reports and thus wanted to delay this possible discovery for as long as possible. Clinton's campaign received the money on December 3rd of 2007. Does this violate any law? At first blush it does not but it's unethical nonetheless and should not be allowed. If Opinion Research Corporation calls just 1,500 of the 38,000 Clinton donor names, ORC can claim that they used a "representative sample of most likely voters" and have an outcome favorable to Clinton. However, I don't deal with the legal aspects of this problem here, that's for the next blog and video.

Meanwhile Gupta himself is in some trouble , as his activities of lending the Clintons the use of his private jet, and hiring President Bill Clinton for $3 million a year have ignited a shareholder lawsuit against Gupta. as Gupta's corporate operatives want to know what value, if any, Gupta's free-spending ways on Clinton have gained InfoUSA.

In may ways, this story is much like that of Peter Paul and Clinton , where Mr. Paul tried to hire Bill Clinton as a "rainmaker" for Stan Lee Media, and in the process never secured the employment of Clinton, while spending $2 milllion to hold a lavish gala for Hillary Clinton's Senate run.

What does this say about the Clintons and donors? Be careful not to get used; while Gupta's in trouble, Hillary campaign for President. Can Gupta count on the Clinton's to get him out of this jam? It depends.

If Gupta had a good contract with Clinton such that Bill had to submit performance reports with each invoice, then Gupta would be able to show shareholders what they got for their money; but if Gupta just gave Bill Clinton money for being Bill Clinton then Gupta's not going to make his shareholders happy at all.

Stay tuned.

"Feeling Down" Sexist? What A Bunch Of Bullshit! - Clinton Supporters Need To Chill

My letter to "BigTentDemocrat" who had the never to post a really silly blog on Barack Obama's use of the term "Feeling down"

Hello,

How in hell can you come up with such a ridiculous and stupid and silly assertion as to even THINK that stating "feeling down" is
sexist? I don't care that Andrea Mitchell -- who's a Clinton backer upset that Barack's gotten this far -- has pointed to this.

I'm a guy who's a member of TWO women's professional groups and THEY have never heard of such B.S. If you're interesting in helping Hillary, this is not going to work. It's -- actually -- the most laughable approach. But it also points to a constant attempt by Clinton supporters to focus on the worst fears and anxieties of people, and it stinks.

It also smells that you would play into it. Please stop it.

Clinton supporters have the annoying habit of playing to America's worst fears. First they use racism. Then they play the "female voter harmed" angle, while Obama does not do this. It's not helping Clinton at all, and it's a sure bet it will continue to fail.

Tavis Smiley Snubs Michelle Obama - Will Not Allow Her To Speak At "State"

Man, this really burns me. Tavis Smiley has totally gone off the deep end. He's not king, and seems to simply be sorry that Senator Obama's really making a trail to be the next President of The United States. According to the Washington Post , Senator Obama declined to speak at Smiley's event, "The State Of The Black Union" because he's campaining and in a fierce battle with Clinton for those states remaining.

Tavis -- bowing to his own ego -- elected to publicly damn Obama for the decision.

Obama offered to have his wife Michelle speak, but Smiley declined! That's ego run-amok! Tavis should go and appologize to Obama. Smiley must understand that he can't stand in the way of Obama doing the work that has gotten him this far. But Tavis claims he's a journalist asking the hard questions -- that's bullshit, as he's just asking about his event! He's just getting into a pissing match because he doens't know better. Time to be educated, Tavis.

I agree with Melissa Harris-Lacewell over at The Root, Tavis may be acting like the crab in the barrel. I wish he'd start acting like a person interested in Barack's succes.

Houston Chronicle Endorses Barack Obama - Dallas and Houston Papers Back Him

While Barack Obama continues to barnstorm Wisconsin, the impact of his candidacy and message has hit Houston. The Houston Chronicle has endorsed Barack Obama , giving Barack two major Texas backings, from the Dallas Morning News and now the Houston paper.

Wall Street Journal Backs Obama's Heath Care Plan Over Clinton's

The Wall Street Journal's editorial staff took a good look at both Senator Obama's health plan and Senator Clinton's, and liked Obama's for the same reason I do: an efort to reduce costs and without using penalties like calling for wage garnishment.

Look, I don't care what anyone says, that threat in the Clinton plan is a deal-killer.

Illinois Shooting - Loss Of Anti-Anxiety Medication No Excuse For Killing

The story going around is that the reason the gunman decided to walk onto a stage at Northern Illinois University and open fire on students was a lack of his Anti-Anxiety medication. I think that's bull. I don't know what the reason is, but it's not that one and there's still no explaination for having four school shootings in ONE WEEK.

The simple fact that's not an outrage is depressing.

I also don't think gun control's going to solve the problem. If a person wants to get or make a weapon, they will do it. What we need to focus on is why they do it.

Shooting At Northern Illinois University - Gunman Dead

This is terrible and it seems like each day, I've heard about someone opening fire with a gun at a school. I don't know what the heck is going on, but it must be adressed now.

Multiple Victims In N. Illinois Univ. Shooting
Suspect Shot And Killed Himself

LIVE CBS 2 Special Report: NIU Shooting
DE KALB, Ill (CBS) ― Several people have been shot on the Northern Illinois University campus. The suspect killed himself and officials say the danger has passed.

Officials confirmed that several people were shot at Cole Hall, a large lecture hall on campus, shortly after 3 p.m. and the campus was immediately placed on lockdown.

Kishwaukee Hospital reported that up to 15 people were being brought to the hospital and that three to four of those victims had suffered head wounds.

Student journalists at the school's Northern Television Center reported that there were 18 victims, two of them fatalities, including the gunman.

Lt. Gary Spangler of the DeKalb Police Department told the school newspaper, the Northern Star, that "The gunman is deceased," adding that the "majority of the incident happened in Cole Hall."

Officials said the immediate danger has passed.

More here....