Obama. Lobbyists?

Obama has been running ads lately boasting that he's the only candidate who doesn't take money from "lobbyists." Is that true? Not really. There's a small group of people categorized as "federal lobbyists" who appear to be generic lobbyists-for-hire in Washington (not attached to any particular company or industry). They and their close associates have given $800,000 to Clinton, $400,000 to McCain, and $86,000 to Obama, and Obama's campaign says it rejects these contributions when it notices them. That's peanuts. Obama's campaign is perfectly willing to accept lobbyists as campaign advisors (Broderick Johnson) or fund-raising "bundlers" (Frank Clark), and to accept money from lobbyists outside this group (he accepted $100,000 from a law firm called Sidley Austin LLP which lobbies in Washington to the tune of $4.5 million a year).

More data here from the Clinton campaign. This is going to bite Obama, even though the other candidates also accept lobbyist money, because he's the one trying to make it part of his primary message. You can't hide facts in the Internet age. :)

~B.C.

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"The presentation or 'gift' of the Holy Ghost simply confers upon a man the right to receive at any time, when he is worthy of it and desires it, the power and light of truth of the Holy Ghost, although he may often be left to his own spirit and judgment." --Joseph F. Smith (manual, p. 69)

Be pretty if you are,
Be witty if you can,
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