BOP2008 | Stories

McCain’s Land Swap Deja Vu

Fri, 09 May 2008 12:28:01 -0700

Republican John McCain’s controversial 2005 land swap deal, reported today by The Washington Post, is eerily reminiscent of a similar situation reported by the Center for Public Integrity in its book The Buying of the President 2000.

Stealth Campaigns – Part Five

Tue, 06 May 2008 12:04:00 -0700

We may never know exactly why any American would contribute more than $20 million in a single year to influence a presidential election. That is because Bob Perry, a residential housing developer in Houston, Texas, refuses to explain his reasoning and investor George Soros is somewhat vague about his motives.

Stealth Campaigns – Part Four

Mon, 05 May 2008 10:14:01 -0700

Negativity has always posed a temptation for politicians, especially those who fear they are going to lose the election. Politicians claim to hate negative advertising, but they continue to use it. That’s why former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle once called negative advertising the “crack cocaine of politics.”

Stealth Campaigns – Part Three

Fri, 02 May 2008 10:47:01 -0700

So, with the 2008 presidential campaign headed for a record level of spending not only by the major party candidates but also independent groups that raise millions without disclosing their donors, how effective has the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002 been?

Stealth Campaigns – Part Two

Thu, 01 May 2008 10:52:00 -0700

[Editor’s note: MoveOn.org’s political action committee announced yesterday that it will spend a million dollars on a month-long ad campaign against Republican John McCain. The group has endorsed Democrat Barack Obama.]

As the 2008 presidential campaign cycle got going, the undisputed leader in the field of independent attack advertising was MoveOn.org, the liberal Democratic group with loads of money, a popular website, and more than 3 million registered members. As MoveOn.org grew in stature and influence, Republicans grew intensely anxious about the power of liberals to raise money, mobilize voters, and influence public opinion – and answered by launching Freedom’s Watch to fight back.

Stealth Campaigns

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:59:01 -0700

Their names roll off the tongue with a patriotic cadence: Freedom’s Watch, Democracy Alliance, Citizens United, Progress for America, Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America. These are the new giants of American politics, the well-funded groups organized behind a veil of secrecy to influence the voters’ choice for president of the United States in 2008.

Financed by many of the nation’s wealthiest investors and business leaders, as well as millions of small donors, these organizations are responsible for a flood of political attack advertising. Their work threatens to drown out the traditional voices of the Republican and Democratic parties and undercut the presidential candidates’ efforts to control their own messages.

Zero Enforcement

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:23:01 -0700

In a crucial election year rife with controversies and record spending, the Federal Election Commission, missing four of its six members, lacks the quorum necessary to take any action. Despite a new congressional ethics law that gave the FEC new regulatory responsibilities, the paralyzed agency has failed to provide any rulings or advisory opinions so far this year.

McCain Filling Up with Gas Money?

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:50:00 -0700

In a Tax Day speech Tuesday, Republican John McCain announced a series of economic stimulus proposals, most notably a summer-long suspension of the federal gasoline tax. With the national average cost of gas looming at more than $3.38 per gallon, the plan would impose a moratorium on collection of the 18.4-cent-tax between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Hillary Clinton: The Wal-Mart Videos

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:45:00 -0700

Throughout the 2008 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton has studiously avoided discussing her five-and-a-half-year tenure as a director of Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer.

Clinton, who served on the Wal-Mart board from November 1986 to May 1992, while she was First Lady of Arkansas, makes no mention of the experience in speeches, nor is it listed in her official biography or referenced anywhere on her campaign’s website. Indeed, as The New York Times put it last year, her stint as a director of Wal-Mart “remains a little known chapter in her closely scrutinized career.”

The Longest Campaign — Part Five

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:24:00 -0700

All it took was a single clever idea. As a result, the federal financing of presidential campaigns, which was showing signs of decrepitude a quarter-century after the Watergate scandals that inspired it, is all but dead.