How bad are the financial irregularities at the NRCC?
Here’s a sampling:
* At year end 2006, the NRCCâs actual cash on hand was approximately $990,000 less than the amount reported to the FEC.
* The actual cash on hand as of the NRCCâs most recent FEC report for January 31, 2008 (filed on February 20, 2008) was $740,000 less than the amount reported to the FEC.
Paul Kiel has more.
Mark Penn: Pennsylvania will show that “Senator Obama really can’t win the general election.”
From NY Mag (via FP Passport):
Paterson also displayed a rather awesome sense of humor. “Just so we don’t have to go through this whole resignation thing again,” one ballsy reporter asked, “have you ever patronized a prostitute?” Paterson thought for a minute. “Only the lobbyists,” he said.
Hillary agrees to what would be the 964th debate of the 2008 campaign, in Pennsylvania.
Late Update: It gets worse. Obama has accepted and proposes yet another debate, this one in North Carolina, with Katie Couric moderating.
Eyes. Glazing. Over.
TPM Reader MO sees the writing on the wall …
I have to point this out, Josh. Personal comments about Hillary and notwithstanding the Ferraro/Race flap that has permeated throughout this campaign, this Wright fellow troubles me more than anything. Not only the fact that he is Obamaâs mentor and Obama has been going to this church for twenty years, but to make a statement such as âGod Damn Americaâ will be a brush fire that will be uncontrollable to contain. The GOP will piece that with Obamaâs different take on ways to display patriotism and they will run him into the ground in the GE. Should he distance himself and force Wright (someone that loyal) out, then Obama is ready to be Commander in Chief. If not, he has the same loyalty issues as Hillary has with Mark Penn (in my opinion, her campaignâs greatest flaw).
TPM Reader TB responds …
TPM Reader MO…Obama’s “mentor”?
Why is the Clinton Campaign is allowed to pound this argument that if she beats him in Pa., he can’t beat McCain there in the fall, when the truth is that because of her sky high negatives, she is at a
disadvantage compared to Obama in a general election, and even though she can beat him in that state, for reasons I leave you to consider, the same polls give Obama a better chance against McCain.This new media fascination with the pastor of Obama’s church is just a new section of the Orchestra playing the racial theme.
And finally TPM Reader JS …
As much as I don’t like this stuff, as an Obama supporter, he desperately needs to address this forcefully now so please press the issue in every way you can and make the Obama campaign know that even his supporters are going to lose faith in him if he doesn’t come out soon and denounce AND reject this stuff ASAP.
With almost six weeks until the next primary and with tensions already at a feverish peak, what will the Clinton and Obama campaigns focus their attentions on from now until Pennsylvania? We preview the long slog until the Keystone State in today’s ’08 Roundup edition of TPMtv …
One of the most popular reader bloggers at the new TPMCafe is FlyOnTneWall and he/she has some thoughts on the Wright matter too.
From the AP …
Antique store owners in lower Manhattan, ticket vendors at India’s Taj Mahal and Brazilian business executives heading to China all have one thing in common these days: They don’t want U.S. dollars.
Hit by a free fall with no end in sight, the once mighty U.S. dollar is no longer just crashing on currency markets and making life more expensive for American tourists and business people abroad; its clout is evaporating worldwide as foreign businesses and individuals turn to other currencies.
Experts say the bleak U.S. economic forecast means it will take years for the greenback to recover its value and prestige.
Negative dollar sentiment is growing in nations where the dollar was historically accepted as equal or better than local currency â and dollar aversion is even extending to some quarters in the United States.
Matt Cooper has a good post at Portfolio about the unfolding, ever-expanding Ferraro trainwreck. Like Cooper, it wasn’t really the first thing Ferraro said or even the second. It took till the third round before I really got a sense of what she wasn’t thinking. It became most clear in the chat show appearances where she said, I think in all seriousness, that Obama should have thanked her for saying what she said.
At a certain point I realized that for all the ancillary nonsense Ferraro is simply not capable of seeing Obama’s campaign as anything but an African-American favorite son candidacy. Once you get that everything seems to fall into place.
Here’s our show from Wednesday with some choice examples from her chat show marathon …
From the Times …
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Gov. Eliot Spitzer used campaign funds in connection with his meetings with prostitutes, including payments for hotels or ground transportation, three people with knowledge of the investigation said.
Prosecutors have asked the governorâs lawyers about the travel arrangements for three trips, including his Feb. 13 rendezvous with a prostitute at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. The United States attorneyâs office in Manhattan has also asked about the governorâs use of car services during trips to Washington.
The governorâs lawyers have begun consulting with a campaign finance expert who has long worked for Mr. Spitzerâs political organization to see whether campaign money was spent on the trips, including some as recently as last month, a person briefed on the investigation said.