Don’t worry, people. Dave Obey is definetly a member of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. His Congressional campaign may have paid his membership dues, for the princely sum of $35, but he is a member. Or at least Lot of People for Dave Obey is a member. But since I don’t think campaigns can be members, or at least at the $35 rate, I bet it is him individually, using campaign dollars to pay that personally unafforable sum.
This just in: Dave Obey shops at Wal-Mart. Or, more properly, Lot of People for Dave Obey paid $37 last quarter for a Sam’s Club membership. This even though a 2004 Associated Press story noted, “Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is raising the ire of several Democrats in Congress who say the world’s largest retailer is so obsessed with cutting costs it treats its employees shoddily and maintains trade practices that cost Americans jobs. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, who owns many shares of Wal-Mart, says Wal-Mart’s treatment of its workers is ‘disgraceful.’ Rep. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, vows he will never shop at a Wal-Mart. … And Rep. George Miller, D-California, says that if his party ever regains control of Congress, ‘you bet there will be hearings on Wal-Mart.’” Perhaps the Republicans will call Obey’s campaign manager to talk about the great deal she got on parade candy.
And for those who wondered, when Dave Obey has a reimbursement for campaign expenses made out, it’s to the Dave Obey that lives at David Obey in Arlington, Virginia, not Wausau, Wisconsin.
Kevin at Lakeshore Laments does a nice job making simply obvious how Steve Kagen spent his money – polling, TV ads, direct mail. I will instead point out how what he was spending was indeed HIS money, because he is his campaign’s only real revenue stream.
Kagen had only FIFTEEN individual campaign contributors other than himself in the last three months. Of those fifteen only SEVEN came from the State of Wisconsin. Kagen raised more money from the eight outside Wisconsin than the seven inside Wisconsin.
Those who know me well know that only one word applies: Pa-thetic!
P.S. On a personal note, let me offer my congratulations to Rick Graber on his appointment as ambassador by the President.
Let me also express my deep disappointment that the Democratic Party of Wisconsin decided to use this as an opportunity to bash Mr. Graber, Cong. Green, and the President.
When a Wisconsinite is elevated to such an honor, our entire state ought to take pride in that person’s achievement, as a fellow Badger, regardless of political party. This is an instance where at a minimum you apply the, “When you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” rule.
Alternatively, DPW Chairman Wineke might have put out a release saying something like, “As the chairmen of our respective parties, Rick Graber and I have seen a lot of one another over the past year, as we attend fora and TV shows opposite one another. While we disagree on almost every issue, I respect Rick as a colleague in public service, and I wish him the very best as he tackles this new and exciting opportunity. I also look forward to the RPW choosing a new chair who will continue our state’s civic conversation.” That would have been the classy statement to release. Oh well.
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yawn. remember when you had interesting stuff to say?
Being the FEC reports expert that you are, I hope you won’t mind me reminding you that the FEC report only lists contributors that gave over $250.00.
In fact, Kagen has received over 1000 contributions overall, and this quarter, 96% of them were from his district. The rest of his contributions were low dollar, and obviously exceeded the number you stated above.
This amount of contributions, most of them coming from concerned citizens in the 8th CD, seem to indicate an upswelling of support for Kagen.
Hardly “pa-thetic” if you ask me.
Wow, Daniel! You’ve really outdone yourself this time. The most amazing thing is that you actually believe your own BS. Only 15 individuals contributed??? Come on!!! Those are obviously only the large donations. You have, for whatever reason, completely ignored all of the smaller donations. Do you think anyone is going to read your incoherent drivel and actually believe it? Pull your head out of your bum before you write from now on….it embarassing to the rest of us.
Those who know you well do indeed know there’s only one response: pathetic research.
Kagen has received donations from more than 1,000 donors, not 15, as any cursory look at his actual FEC report will show. What’s more, fully 96% of them are from CD8.
One can’t help pointing out that Gard claims 95% of his donations are from “Wisconsin” — but not necessarily CD8.
And I hear I thought that Jamie Wall was the candidate of the “Net-roots”…
Ricky, I appreciate that you think that at least in the past I had interesting things to say.
Molly Bloom, I checked and the FEC requires candidates to list donors of more than $200 in a calendar year.
You are all right that the FEC report does not list every individual contributor. Kagen received ~$17k in the last quarter in “unitemized contributions.” Precisely because they are unitemized, the FEC report gives no information on how many of them there are.
A few of you are nice enough to cut and paste from the press release that Kagen received donations from over 1000 contributors overall during his campaign. We have no idea how many of those were first-time contributors this quarter. And 96% of the contrbutors this quarter are from the 8th, but we have no idea what percentage of the overall contributors are from the 8th. The fact that they use statistics from two different time frames is called SPIN.
Allow me three other points. First, if you have received contributions in excess of $200 from only 15 people this last quarter, then you are a miserable fundraiser. Grassroots support is built in increments of $25, absolutely, but television ads are usually bought with $1000 contributions. And Kagen doesn’t too many of those.
Which leads me to my second point, namely without his own wealth Kagen would be trailing a distant third in the Democratic primary. Kagen has pumped $1.455 million dollars of his own dough into this race. That means he’s raised about $140,000 from other contributors. Take out her own contributions, and Nancy Nusbaum has raised about $440,000. Take out his own contributions, and Jamie Wall has raised about $414,000. In contrast, Republican candidate Speaker John Gard has raised $1.35 million, all from other folks.
Third point: If having over 1000 contributors nationwide means you have an “upswelling of support,” then John Gard must have a super-duper upswelling, because he’s received the support of over 2000 8TH CD RESIDENTS! He also, for the record, has more cash on hand than any other candidate on either side in this race.
Your points about Kagen’s personal wealth miss the point. The pojnt is, Kagen is the only candidate in this race who will take a pay cut to serve. All the others are vying for a job that will give them a substantial pay raise. Now which one are you going to trust to make decisions based on your pocketbook, not his or hers?
Daniel, you need to get your facts straight before you go on the attack. You really lose credibility that way.
First of all, we DO know how many contributors overall are from the district. 88%. It says so right in the press release you linked to.
Secondly, Gard has raised quite a bit of money, but not from just “other folks.” Wal-Mart and Pfizer are just some of his high-dollar, special interest contributors. And I don’t think they have the interests of 8th CD citizens in mind. Which begs the question: does John?
You’re right, Koibull, Wal-Mart and Pfizer have given money to John Gard. Absolutely true.
You can play that whose interest game two ways, though. First, you can point out other contributors.
And Steve Kagen has taken money from the SecureUS, the leadership PAC of California liberal Congresswoman Jane Harman, whose Los Angeles district is right on the ocean… I’m sure that the Los Angeles Liberal has the same values and priorities of the good people of Wisconsin. Not!
The other way to play that point is by noting that John Gard receives the financial support of PACs whom I would bet you, koibull, believe are legitimate interests, which represent the best interests of Northeastern Wisconsin’s working families – the International Union of Operating Engineers and the Laborers International Union of North America, for instance. He’s also received the endorsement of the Wisconsin Troopers Association, a statewide police union.
Koibull – Wal-Mart and Pfizer, hey? Have you read the contributor list of Demcratic Congressman Ron Kind, representing Western Wisconsin? He’s taken $4500 this cycle from Wal-Mart’s PAC, and money also from Petroleum Marketers Association. And Dave Obey’s campaign shops at Wal-Mart.
[...] On the disbursements side, Team Kagen shops at Sam’s Club – so he’s not one of the hate on Wal-Mart Democrats apparently, even if his union PAC contributors are among the nation’s loudest. [...]