Pat Quinn: The Man Who Would Replace Blagojevich - TIME

Pat Quinn: The Man Who Would Replace Blagojevich - TIME: “In a state so plagued by cronyism and shady self-dealing that the head of the FBI here didn't hesitate to call Illinois one of the — if not the — most corrupt states in the nation, Lieut. Governor Pat Quinn is considered something of a Goody Two-Shoes. Responsible for slashing the size of the state legislature, he has been booed by legislators on the capitol floor. He keeps a minimal staff and is said to charge $75 a ticket for fundraisers — at a time when entry to most is well into the hundreds if not thousands of dollar”

-- Lets hope Quinn lives up to his billing.

AN OBAMA MINUTE - 10/6 @ Noon

Check it out.  This is the power of grassroots organizing at its best.  A group of people from across the country have come together to bring back the Obama Minute.  Here is it's fundamental message:

Come join us and kick off the the last month of this campaign with a bang!  

Imagine all of the things you can do in a minute - nearly boil an egg, lie about weapons of mass destruction, make out on a first date, ignore a national travesty (Katrina), break a leg, minute rice, change a bulb, read someone's mind, lose $700 Billion, RAISE $1 MILLION  and support Barack Obama in an Obama Minute.  Oh and get those clowns out of office!

The first Obama Minute, in April, raised over $250,000 from 5000 people.  This time 4300 address books and more are being leveraged. 

It is about One Moment and One Strong Voice.

Patriotism Gives President Bush A Bellyache!

I guess even President Bush gets a stomach ache from the Iraq War he started. In this photo, he's holding his hand down on his belly rather than on his heart. Now, if he just ended the War In Iraq, he'd feel a lot better.

Barack Obama Hits Over $2 Million On Way To $2.1 Million Goal

Angered by the knoweldge that a difference of just $2.1 million between his third quarter fundraising tallies and those of his challenger Senator Hillary Clinton was made up of lobbyist's money, Senator Barack Obama embarked on a fund-raising campaign that consisted of a series of emails to supporters. That started on Monday evening.

Now, on Friday, as of this writing, the campaign has raised $2,044,009 and is well on its way toward meeting that $2.1 million objective.

Women For Obama - San Francisco Fundraising Event For Barack Obama

On Friday September 7th San Francisco played host to an event called "Women For Obama." Some newspapers described the event as "Senator Obama's attempt at courting the Women vote." Well, first, for all who were there, it was more than an attempt - it really hit the mark. Second, it drew over 3,000 people, some -- like myself -- paying from $25 to as much as $2,300 to see hear, and greet the Senator. Third, like every Obama event, it was more than a political speech, it was part happening, part teach-in, part love fest, and part convention, with the Senator as ringleader.

One has to attend an event like this to really tangibly understand the impact he has on people. Senator Obama is the best example of how individuals and the human sprit that rests in all of us matter. When some of the mainstream media asks "Is America ready for.." I automatically know the person asking the question is either inhuman, blind to the human sprit, or some combination of both.

The event itself was put together by a vast combination of people, lead by San Francisco District Attorney Kamela Harris, and a group of people called "Women For Obama," and of which my friend Rosa Cabrera (who started another group called "Rise Up For Obama) was part of -- and gave a good speech. But the most impressive aspect of the event to me was the number of college-age young women who were there -- at least a thousand of the 3,000 people. Moreover, many adults brought their kids to see him, so the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium had a vast combination of little ones running around.

Obama's speech started off almost pro-forma, but then he got rolling. He talked about familar themes like ending the Iraq War, but attacked the idea of his "lack of experience" by explaining that at times having too much experience -- in Washington -- causes one to make mistakes, like the Iraq war. Obama also emotively talked about his mother's battle with ovarian cancer and how she was more worried about her medical bills than her own health, thus fueling his desire to have Universal Health Care for all Americans.

But the real star of the event, other than the Senator himself, were the thousands of people, many representing online groups formed on BarackObama.com, which came together to form a successful event. When the story of this campaign is written, it will be of how everything from event planning to fundraising was driven from a great website system that's frankly without peer. It's the Obama campaign's secret weapon, and it's only secret because many in politics still don't understand how to use the Internet -- but they do and they're getting better at it each month.

Upper-Income African-American Donors back Obama Over Clinton

This is a little-reported story I found at the USA Today.

Upper-Income African-American Donors back Obama Over Clinton
June 13, 2007

Orlan and Zina Johnson pose with Barack Obama during an April 2007 event at the Columbus Club that raised more than $400,000. Obama has received nearly double the number of contributions from zipcodes with high concentrations of wealthy African Americans than his closest Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, USA TODAY analysis shows.


"I think (Barack Obama is) the right guy at the right time. The fact that he's African-American is part of it. But at the end of the day, he's got the educational pedigree, the intelligence. He's got the skills, all the things you'd like to see in your leader."

— Democratic contributor Orlan Johnson

USA TODAY compiled this analysis using campaign contribution reports of Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton with the Federal Election Commission and from demographic data supplied by Claritas, a marketing information firm.

ZIP codes were included if they contained a larger share of black households than the national average (13%). A ZIP code also was included in the analysis if its black median household income topped the comparable national figure of $31,000. USA TODAY also studied subgroups of ZIP codes where black median household incomes topped $50,000 and $75,000.

By Fredreka Schouten and Paul Overberg, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Democrat Barack Obama is surpassing rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in campaign contributions from areas with blacks of above-average income, a USA TODAY analysis shows.
The Illinois senator has received more than double the number of campaign contributions from ZIP codes with sizable concentrations of upper-income blacks than Clinton, according to the analysis of first-quarter campaign records.

FIRST-TIME DONOR: 'He's the right guy at the right time'

Obama collected more than 2,200 donations from ZIP codes that ranked above average in both the share of black households and black household incomes, the analysis found.

Clinton received 1,000 donations from these areas. Overall, Obama raised nearly as much as the New York senator did in the first quarter from all sources.

Polls show the former first lady attracts more support from women and lower-income workers than her party rivals. Obama does better with independents and higher-income voters. The analysis is another sign that economics drives their support as much as race or gender.

Black voters are crucial to choosing a Democratic presidential nominee. In South Carolina, host of an early nominating contest, blacks account for nearly half the voters in the Jan. 29 Democratic primary. Obama is seeking to be his party's first black presidential nominee.

Obama's early success raising money from blacks is a sign of how much he has energized them and the challenge posed to Clinton, who is aggressively courting black voters.

Although blacks "can be excited about and loyal to politicians of other races … people lean toward members of their own group," said Carol Swain, a professor at Vanderbilt University. She said the donor patterns are a "reality check" for Clinton, whose husband was popular among blacks.

Minyon Moore, a senior Clinton adviser, said it was "natural" that Obama would appeal to black donors. "We're not ceding that ground," Moore said. Clinton "has a great deal of support in the African-American community."

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the campaign is "proud of the level of support we have achieved from all groups."

Obama Donations: Raises $10.3 Million Online in Second Quarter

Obama Raises $10.3 Million Online in Second Quarter
by Jonathan Singer, Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 01:20:50 PM EST

You're reading these numbers first here at MyDD.

During the second quarter, Barack Obama brought in $10.3 million dollars online, or about a third of the $32.5 million he raised overall this quarter. This ups his total online haul for the year to $17.2 million. Both of these online fundraising numbers are very large and indeed are records for this point in the campaign.

Since the beginning of the campaign 110,000 people have given online to the Obama campaign, or more than 40 percent of his donors. For year year, 90 percent of the online donations to the Obama campaign have been in amounts of $100 dollars or less, and a half of the online donations have been in amounts of $25 or less.

We'll get you the numbers for other candidates as they're released, but if you're interested in reading a comparison between online fundraising numbers this cycle versus the previous one, Jerome has a very interesting take. Quickly, Howard Dean raised about $25 million online of the $50 million or so he raised over the course of 2003, so Obama appears to be on pace to top that online fundraising record by a fairly large margin (though Obama's offline contributions make up a larger proportion of his overall fundraising than did Dean's).

Paul Begala - Barack Obama Numbers "A Really Big Deal"

Senator Barack Obama's recently annouced second quarter fundraising total of $32.5 million has raised the eyebrows of many and even caused CNN's "The Situation Room" Poltical Analyst Paul Bagala to gush "This is a really big deal. Most people don't realize how important this (his donation total for the second quater) is....Senator Obama has enough money to do what he wants to do."

And that comes from a Clinton supporter.