The Hidden Campaign
Labor Money Swings Clinton's Way
By Matthew Mosk
Outside players, especially labor unions looking to help Sen. Hillary Clinton, poured more money into the presidential contest in the past week.
The independent spending, laid out in reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, show that the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees spent more than $154,000 trying to deliver a surge of support for Clinton in Maryland. The union paid for phone calls aimed at getting Clinton supporters out to vote, and for mailers supporting her candidacy. The American Federation of Teachers also pushed Clinton's bid, with $79,800 worth of radio ads.
The other major purchase by an outside group came from the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, which spent $32,000 on radio ads airing in Virginia that attacked John McCain for his opposition to legal abortion. The ad plays a tape of McCain calling for Roe v. Wade to be overturned -- a clip that would seem to help McCain in a Republican primary where his opponent has attacked his conservative credentials.
But this ad may have been posted with the general election in mind. Here's what Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a release posted on the group's web site. "Sen. McCain believes government has the right to interfere with the most personal and often the most difficult decisions affecting a woman's health," Richards said . "Most Americans believe just the opposite and, as more voters realize Sen. McCain's ardent anti-choice position, this will be an issue for him in the general election."
Posted at 2:44 PM ET on Feb 12, 2008
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Posted by: maq1 | February 15, 2008 8:15 AM
Are labor unions not aware that Hillary has taken enormous amounts of money from lobbyists and special interests groups? Their champion, Edwards, had cast this fact against Hillary repeatedly. How can labor unions support the Clintons when Bill makes more from an hour talk to coroporations than union workers make in three or four years? The loss of manufacturing jobs in the US all began with the Clintons' infamous NAFTA bill, which Hillary now is denying she had anything to do with. She has experience as Bill's co-president but she has nothing to do with Bill when it comes to NAFTA? Come on, unions! Please vote YOUR true interests. The Clintons have sold you and the rest of us down the drain of off-shore companies.
Posted by: shirleylim | February 14, 2008 9:15 PM
Hillary has major labor unions fundraising and campaigning for her, and well respected ones like the Teacher's union. The powerful Nurses Union is also endorcing Hillary. These stories are either hidden in the back of the news or not even mentioned. Obama gets the endorsement of the Service Workers union and it's front pages news...
The bias of the media just keeps amazing me.
Posted by: badger3 | February 14, 2008 8:14 PM
Labor swings Clinton's way? Don't tell us, tell the SEIU. Their endorsement of Obama will be complete in the coming day or so.
Posted by: gmundenat | February 14, 2008 7:53 PM
onestring: Don't be so sure Obama doesn't take money from lobbyists.
Once Obama was asked how he could take money from drug companies, and Obama replied, "it wasn't money from drug companies, it was from drug company employees."
That is an old trick we have heard of before. Obama is just as much an insider than anyone else, except he is worse, he has ties to people that makes Obama a security risk to our country:
Namely, Tony Rezko and the REv. Wright, pastor of the anti-Israeli Church, The Trinity.
Handing Obama the keys to the White House and access to our national intelligence agencies, and access to our nuclear arms, while he is a member of a church that is anti-Israel and is very radical in its views. That Trinity Church teaches "in every black church, every black home, every black school, its doctrine which includes supporting and defending its "motherland, Africa," . . . ."
When Obama is finally forced to answer the hard questions, and it soaks into the general public and our country's leaders, those super delegates will be scrambling to endorse Hillary Clinton.
And, they better wait to endorse until the media or McCain finally scrutinizes Obama the way he needs to be. Obama's past is not pretty, and he is a security risk to our country.
If you don't believe me, start reading up on Obama's affiliations with Tony Rezko and the anti-Israel Rev. Wrignt.
If the people don't wake up to this "cult-like" personality, Obama, we will all be sorry. gw.
Posted by: Iowatreasures | February 13, 2008 10:28 PM
Most of you know next to nothing about Barack Hussein Obama! Hillary hasn't lost yet!
Posted by: alabamian18 | February 13, 2008 4:45 PM
Why unions support Hillary when she was a corporate lawyer on the board of Walmart I will never know.
Posted by: goldie2 | February 13, 2008 4:11 PM
Eveybody, if individuals or organizations, who continue to support Clinton's campain, do misservice to democratic party, all its members, including Mrs. Clinton-herself. She is finished, even any blind, deaf and mute person can sense it now. I can't stop thinking with what kind of sadistic paranoia she has been crashing me and my family within last more than ten years. Why? What for? I honestly can't answer it.
Posted by: aepelbaum | February 13, 2008 3:06 AM
lndlouis, I will pay for the AD if Hillary comes out and say she gets paid by Health Insurance Lobbyists, AMA (the very group) that opposes Health Care Proposals and big time corporate drug lobbylists that fund her. So, get out of this notion that she is Mother Teresa.
Posted by: r2ar2000 | February 12, 2008 8:15 PM
@WylieD: those are not contributions from lobbyists, those are contributions from people who happen to work for those companies.
Posted by: david | February 12, 2008 7:58 PM
Obama is the biggest reciptient of Wall Street Money, also known as "hush money" meaning the candidate who takes it WILL NOT CAMPAIGN on any issues that is not in the corporate interests of those donating.
Clinton admits taking this money. John Edwards ran the "grass roots" campaign. Look at the money amounts.
Posted by: lndlouis | February 12, 2008 6:43 PM
"Obama takes NOTHING from lobbiests."
Not quite:
http://opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.asp?id=N00009638&cycle=2008
Posted by: WylieD | February 12, 2008 6:41 PM
clinton is the lobbiest's candidate. The dinasaur political class candidate. The democratic machine party boss' candidate.
She is the Dem's candidate for everything wrong with America.
Obama takes NOTHING from lobbiests.
Obama is supported by individual voters' tiny donations... masses and masses of them.
VOTE FOR THE FRONT RUNNER - VOTE OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT!
Posted by: onestring | February 12, 2008 6:01 PM
The HIGHEST "abortion should be legal in all cases" gets is 23-24%.
http://www.pollingreport.com/abortion.htm
Posted by: JakeD | February 12, 2008 03:54 PM
That just happens to be the number of people who believe in Darwin's theory of evolution.
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/22/opinion/polls/main657083.shtml
Hardly a mere coincidence.
Posted by: mnjam | February 12, 2008 5:13 PM
http://www.pollingreport.com/abortion.htm
The HIGHEST "abortion should be legal in all cases" gets is 23-24%.
Posted by: JakeD | February 12, 2008 3:54 PM
Actually, polls show that MOST Americans believe the government has some right to interfere with partial-birth abortion and other forms of infanticide at least.
Posted by: JakeD | February 12, 2008 3:05 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Dear Clinton Supporters,
Please join up with the Obama camp. This isn't about ego - its about the future of the party. Obama is growing the party leaps and bounds over anything we've seen since before Reagan. We are on the brink of a Democratic consensus for the first time in a long long time. Obama is the one to lead it. Hillary is an accomplished person due respect, but she can't build the consensus as he can. Please join up and help us get out of the 51% era of partisan warfare and lead us into the 65% era of consensus politics.
Obama is person for the job. Please give your support to Obama.