Syndicated

The evangelical movement is changing, and this will have real implications for the GOP. Rick Warren is replacing James Dobson as the political powerhouse of American evangelicalism. And you couldn’t come up with a clearer couple of events to express that than what we have seen in the last couple of days.

Within hours of each other, John McCain and Barack Obama agree to attend a forum at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church. (NYT has the story) I suspect that the word got out, and James Dobson got in the game. The NYT’s Caucus blog reported yesterday that Dobson would consider endorsing McCain and start explaining how bad Obama is.

But it is pretty clear that Warren and his issues are in the drivers seat. From the NYT:

Mike Huckabee is travelling around Africa with Cindy McCain, a bunch of Democrats, and the ONE campaign.

So I was doing some research for a panel that I am speaking on at RightOnline, and I was curious. So I searched on Google for "obama healthcare" and "mccain healthcare". I was shocked by what I found. First the ads:

 Which of these would you click on? The one that asks you to register at campaign events or get to know someone? Or the one that asks you for money. I bet that Barack Obama’s ad has a lot higher click-through.

Now, let’s actually click through. Landing pages after the jump.

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First, Obama’s:

That’s a video of Obama looking at you and talking to you. It asks you to "Join us" in a big red button in the middle of the screen. And they are asking you to come to an event, not give money.

Now compare with McCain’s site, except that I’m goign to give you the whole page.

What’s the message of this page? McCain isn’t looking at you. There’s no message. There’s no explanation for why you might give up your email address. McCain is looking at the "Contribute" button, because you know what he is thinking about…

Any guesses which one gets more email addresses? Any idea which advertising strategy gets better ROI? I have a guess…

Rolling back their “landmark” reforms

How did this
not get more attention?

With reporting deadlines looming, congressional officers have
issued revised guidelines that ease some of the lobbying disclosure
requirements enacted last year.

The revised guidance, issued by the Clerk of the House and
Secretary of the Senate, relaxed the rules for disclosure
of lobbyist contributions to parties at this summer’s Democratic
and Republican national conventions, among other
changes.

So, just as the Democratic convention is getting
more and more behind in fundraising, they make it easier for
lobbyists for pay for the parties that they can’t afford to pay
for. How bad is it? From the
Wall Street Journal

Under the new guidelines, “it’s hard to envision any
event at the conventions that would trigger disclosure,”
said Kenneth Gross, an attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher
& Flom LLP who advises lobbyists on complying with ethics
rules. “This relieves lobbyists from tracking and reporting much
information about attending or paying for events involving public
officials, that would have been required before.”

Just remember this when you see all the promises. What I wonder
is where the outrage is.

Recently, Matt Stoller at OpenLeft noted that transparency is a place for bipartisan coalitions:

Transparency is one of the few places where there really is a bipartisan alliance.  Newt Gingrich created Thomas, the web resources for legislation, and the Republicans do have a history of advocating for open government and new models of communication, including C-Span, direct mail, and web communication.  Some progressive Democrats do as well, but the old school top-down Democrats elected under the good government influences of the 1970s tend towards restricting political participation.

A number of conservative groups, under the umbrella of  Show Me The Spending, have been pushing the idea of requiring state governments, check the progress here, to put all spending on the web, modeled on the Coburn-Obama:

With your assistance and the help of a wide-ranging coalition of organizations, Congress passed the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, creating a website (now located at www.usaspending.gov) where visitors can search for federal grant and contract spending.  This was a great victory for government transparency, but now we need to replicate this win in all 50 states.

The basic idea is that every disbursement by the state government would be recorded. The amount, the date, the recipient, etc. This is not a partisan issue, although it creates the context for populist revolts. In Washington state, a law was passed through both Democratic controlled houses and signed by a Democratic governor.

Even better, this can be done by governors through executive order. Once people and the press start using that, there will be a constituency that will prevent a bad governor from repealing. And once we achieve transparency at the state level, we can push it down into the municipalities.

As I said, this creates conditions that support a populist revolt. Grover Norquist has described each of these as little earmarks that can be exposed, and it provides the record that you can wrap around the neck of corrupt politicians.

We need this kind of stuff. Let’s go to work.

We are seeing a pattern at the DSCC

Last week,
Talking Points Memo caught the DSCC at-best skirting campaign
finance laws in Oregon. Even TPM doesn’t buy DSCC spin.

This week, they are at it again, but it is Mississippi. This ad
is running (sorry for the poor quality. This guy videotaped his
television)

As you can see, the ad ends with a DSCC bug, but has the
“likeness” of Ronnie Musgrove. 
Roger Wicker’s campaign documents that this is not stock
footage, but actually shot last week with DSCC and Musgrove
staff:

The ad featuring Ronnie Musgrove was filmed on
Wednesday, July 9, at the Madison County Economic Development
Authority (MCEDA) and on the Canton square, according to MCEDA
officials. […]

On July 9 Ronnie Musgrove and the Democrat
Senatorial Committee coordinated a film shoot on the Canton Square
and in the offices of the Madison County Economic Development
Authority, less than a week before the ad began running. Contact
info for MCEDA:
http://www.madisoncountyeda.com/board_staff.html

Wicker’s campaign notes that the total of the buy plus previous
expenditures surpasses the legal limit for coordinated
activity:

The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) requires
coordination between a campaign and a National Committee like the
DSCC not to exceed $180,800. The DSCC ad on behalf of Ronnie
Musgrove is valued at an estimated $240,214 (not counting
production costs,
view coordinated expenditures.)  This ad combined with
previous coordinated expenditures with the DSCC ($55,133 in first
quarter) surpasses the legal limits by $114,547.

This is just crime. The DSCC is knowingly (and now
systematically, based on the Oregon example) violating campaign
finance laws.

Who is next? North Carolina? Alaska? Is this what a Democratic
Congress would bring?

Let’s not find out. Help
Roger Wicker.

Crossposted from
The Next Right

Last week, Talking Points Memo caught the DSCC at-best skirting campaign finance laws in Oregon. Even TPM doesn’t buy DSCC spin.

This week, they are at it again, but it is Mississippi. This ad is running (sorry for the poor quality. This guy videotaped his television)

As you can see, the ad ends with a DSCC bug, but has the "likeness" of Ronnie Musgrove.  Roger Wicker’s campaign documents that this is not stock footage, but actually shot last week with DSCC and Musgrove staff:

The ad featuring Ronnie Musgrove was filmed on Wednesday, July 9, at the Madison County Economic Development Authority (MCEDA) and on the Canton square, according to MCEDA officials. […]

On July 9 Ronnie Musgrove and the Democrat Senatorial Committee coordinated a film shoot on the Canton Square and in the offices of the Madison County Economic Development Authority, less than a week before the ad began running. Contact info for MCEDA: http://www.madisoncountyeda.com/board_staff.html

Wicker’s campaign notes that the total of the buy plus previous expenditures surpasses the legal limit for coordinated activity:

The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) requires coordination between a campaign and a National Committee like the DSCC not to exceed $180,800. The DSCC ad on behalf of Ronnie Musgrove is valued at an estimated $240,214 (not counting production costs, view coordinated expenditures.)  This ad combined with previous coordinated expenditures with the DSCC ($55,133 in first quarter) surpasses the legal limits by $114,547.

This is just crime. The DSCC is knowingly (and now systematically, based on the Oregon example) violating campaign finance laws.

Who is next? North Carolina? Alaska? Is this what a Democratic Congress would bring?

Let’s not find out. Help Roger Wicker.

Here’s a lesson that you will hear again and again. Union leaders take care of themselves before their workers. From today’s WSJ:

Public records based on the SEIU‘s own filings show that the SEIU National Industry Pension plan – which covers some 101,000 workers – was only 75% funded in 2006. Put another way, the plan had only three-fourths of the money it needs to meet its retirement obligations. And the national chapter is only the start. Some 13 local SEIU pension plans in 2006 were less than 80% funded; several didn’t reach 65%.

The bosses, on the other hand, have over-capitalized pensions:

On the other hand, SEIU leaders are highly attentive to their own pension funding. A separate fund run by the national union, this one covering the benefits of SEIU officers, was 103% funded in 2006. The top SEIU guns are set for their golden years.

You might need more than 100% if, say, the stock market were to suffer for a couple of years.

Andy Stern, however, has figured out a way to cook the books based on a formula that is not even in effect:

The SEIU is now disputing some of these figures, claiming the information it publicly filed is wrong. It now claims its national plan was 92% funded in 2006, and as of January 1, 2008, was 96% funded. Here’s the catch: The union says these new numbers are based on calculations required under a 2006 pension reform that hasn’t yet taken effect. It didn’t release its new math either, though we’re eager to see it.

In general, union pensions are a sleeper issue. It is part of the story behind Card Check. It is an untold story in the UAW-GM agreement. And it is always the same story: union bosses paying them and their buddies off and shafting their workers.

Keep a GOP House seat and expose corrupt Illinois Democrats

Marty Ozinga is a
businessman who grew his family concrete business into the largest
concrete company in the country. But from this ad, he looks like a
regular guy.

The Crypt has the details about the race:

Fresh off a quarter where he raised over $800,000 from
individual donors, concrete magnate Martin Ozinga III is up with
the first ad in the race in the campaign to succeed retiring Rep.
Jerry Weller (R-Ill.)

His opponent is an establishment Democrat Illinois political who
… Marty outraised through the hard work he learned at the family
business:

Ozinga is facing a hotly-contested
race against state Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson (D).
Halvorson announced yesterday that she raised about $400,000 over
the last quarter — about half of Ozinga’s total — but still holds
a small cash-on-hand advantage over Ozinga, who only entered the
race in April.

This ought to be a Republican seat, and with a well-known
politician tied into the Blagoyevich operation, we have a very good
chance of keeping it. And Ozinga looks and feels like a new kind of
Republican, and he is getting the blocking and tackling right in
this race.

Give Marty a hand and keep another Richard Daley, Barack Obama,
Emil “It’s
steak, not pork” Jones, Rod Blagoyevich style crooked Democrat
out of Congress.

Crossposted from
The Next Right.

Marty Ozinga is a businessman who grew his family concrete business into the largest concrete company in the country. But from this ad, he looks like a regular guy.

The Crypt has the details about the race:

Fresh off a quarter where he raised over $800,000 from individual donors, concrete magnate Martin Ozinga III is up with the first ad in the race in the campaign to succeed retiring Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.)

His opponent is an establishment Democrat Illinois political who … Marty outraised through the hard work he learned at the family business:

Ozinga is facing a hotly-contested race against state Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson (D). Halvorson announced yesterday that she raised about $400,000 over the last quarter — about half of Ozinga’s total — but still holds a small cash-on-hand advantage over Ozinga, who only entered the race in April.

This ought to be a Republican seat, but with a well-known politician tied into the Blagoyevich operation, we have a very good chance of keeping it. And Ozinga looks and feels like a new kind of Republican, and he is getting the blocking and tackling right in this race.

Give Marty a hand and keep another Richard Daley, Barack Obama, Emil "It’s steak, not pork" Jones, Rod Blagoyevich style crooked Democrat out of Congress.