Yes, I know polls are increasingly irrelevant and that the Republicans have rigged the election anyways. Nonetheless, the return to these numbers have eased the knot in my stomach.
Gallup reports that Obama is back up in national polling:
Now, as I turn to the economy, the knot is returning. Doubtlessly, the economic turmoil centered in the US will play a serious role in the presidential outcome. Democrats are well-poised to attack the apologist corporatism on the red side. Camp Obama very quickly put these ads together on September 15th:
McCain’s statements this week blaming all the unrest on “Wall St. fat cats” and greed in Washington and New York were disturbingly ignorant and have been widely panned. These folks compose the substance of his campaign’s financial backing. The Sunlight Foundation at OpenSecrets.org chronicles this in detail.
Less discussed, however, is that Obama and the Democrats are increasingly financed by these sectors. University’s mark a notable bulk of Obama’s contributions, (reinforcing his position as an “elitist”) and he’s been increasingly critical of the government’s acquiescence to the economic crisis. Will that differ once he’s in office?
Campaign finance reporting notes that $311 million has gone from the finance, insurance and real estate sectorto the entire 2008 election cycle. Of that, $22.5m has gone to Obama and $19.5m to McCain. (They also wasted $13m on Romney and Giuliani each.) [Note that this includes PACs and contributions from family members and employees].
The Economist blog noted earlier today that campaign contributions from corporations’ political action committees are roughly balanced at $107m per government party. This marks a very serious turn from tradition, where three-quarters of corporate money would go to Republicans:
The new trend is not simply important for the war-chests of Democratic candidates. It also suggests that corporations are betting on a Democratic victory in November. The trend of giving to Democrats accelerated, and giving to Republicans declined, as soon as the Democrats won control of Congress in 2006. This year Democrats expect their congressional majorities to swell, and corporations may be positioning themselves for a long Democratic ascendancy.
But many corporations may also think that a Democrat will win the presidency, which could explain why corporate donations to the Democrats have risen so much. Darrell West, a vice-president of the Brookings Institution, a think-tank, says that because many corporations anticipate a victory for Mr Obama, they consider their gifts to Democrats an investment in their company’s future. Among the top contributors are sectors with special interests, including banks, telecoms companies and the health-care industry.
With all this money supporting the Congressional and Presidential races, what’s a few hundreds of millions — pardon, hundreds of billions — between friends?
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