Obama's Fundraising Sources

Big Donors Are a Major Force in Obama Campaign via NYTimes

Barack Obama is constantly being painted as the grassroots alternative to the Beltway-bound, in-the-pocket-of-Wall Street, Big Oil, Big Pharmaceutical, etc. John McCain. Obama claims to be the agent of change, the instrument through which we will be freed from the grip of special interests, lobbyists, and business as usual in Washington, D.C. Much has been made of the number and amount of his small donors, the little people, hungry for something new who are giving whatever they can, in the desperate hope of Change.

However, as is usually the case, the truth is much different than the picture the media and the Obama campaign has tried to paint. (Having said that, this story is from the Times, so I suppose the media can go both ways...) Apparently, according to the campaign's record, more than a third of Obama's money has come from donors giving $1000 or more, more than either McCain or Hillary has recieved. Take it away, Times:

Behind those larger donations is a phalanx of more than 500 Obama “bundlers,” fund-raisers who have each collected contributions totaling $50,000 or more. Many of the bundlers come from industries with critical interests in Washington. Nearly three dozen of the bundlers have raised more than $500,000 each, including more than a half-dozen who have passed the $1 million mark and one or two who have exceeded $2 million, according to interviews with fund-raisers.br>

An analysis of campaign finance records shows that about two-thirds of his bundlers are concentrated in four major industries: law, securities and investments, real estate and entertainment. Lawyers make up the largest group, numbering roughly 130, with many of them working for firms that also have lobbying arms. At least 100 Obama bundlers are top executives or brokers from investment businesses: nearly two dozen work for financial titans like Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs or Citigroup. About 40 others come from the real estate industry.

Try as he might to portray himself as the new hotness, Obama repeatedly demonstrates that he's just as deep in the pockets of the same old special interests, and if elected, the results will be exactly the same as under any other president in the past 25 years. And when your campaign is based on the idea of Change, when you don't really have anything beyond that on which to run, then your campaign is in for a rough time.