Who Gives Kudos: tara dactyl (2) Papa2Girls (2) PJ Public (2) Band4MassCann (2) (2)

	tara dactyl	"Five times more than the rest of the field combined." Wow, that's a huge gap! Granted, I'm sure the "MyBarackObama" concept wasn't cheap. But that's a lot of money. Hmm, kinda puts the $49K offer into perspective. This makes it all the more shocking that Josh Orton was "flabbergasted" by such an offer; clearly they are willing to dedicate a lot of money to "Internet Media." I'd love to see some sort of itemization that details exactly who got what. Sooner rather than later.   Posted by tara dactyl on Saturday, June 09, 2007 - 5:34 PM [Reply to this]

	PJ Public	Here we go. I just found the details breakdown. It's at http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/expend.asp?id=N00009638&cycle=2008 You can click on the text in the "Description" column to get the individual payments made in Q1 2007. ~PJ   Posted by PJ Public on Saturday, June 09, 2007 - 9:51 PM [Reply to this]

	tara dactyl	Ask and you shall recieve, thanks PJ. You're like the genie of information. For my 2nd wish: who killed JFK? And 3rd: how many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop? It's interesting that the other candidates have a handful of itemizations for "Internet Media", whereas Obama's fill up 2 pages. I'll expose my weakness now and ask, "what do they mean by 'domain websites?'" That may be a stupid question, but contextually I'm inclined to think that money was spent on registering for domains, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I may be ignorant in this area, though. Can I switch my third wish and ask for your help on this one, PJ? ;)   Posted by tara dactyl on Sunday, June 10, 2007 - 1:38 AM [Reply to this]

	PJ Public	Tara, Who killed JFK? Hmm. Not sure. I think you'll have to find a "genie of assassination information" for that one. How many licks to get to a Tootsie Roll center? Hmm. Drawing a blank on that one too. Might want to look in the phone book for "Tootsie Roll genie" for this one. As for 'domain websites' ... Good question. Domain names are cheap - $10 or so a year. So, that's not it. I'm guessing "domain" here is referring to the "barackobama.com" domain name - and whatever other domain names they use. So, 'domain websites' is probably referring to the actual websites run using the domain names they control. The thing that really sticks out to me is the $85,000 they have listed as going to Bank of America for 'Domain Websites'. Since Bank of America has nothing to do with website building or hosting, it makes me wonder what that $85k was for, and who it actually went to ... as in, was that $85k in Certified Bank Checks from BoA, that actually went to someone else? Or ... ?? ~PJ   Posted by PJ Public on Monday, June 11, 2007 - 1:39 AM [Reply to this]

	Papa2Girls	Tara remember also that these numbers are for Q1 which was even before the "MySpaceGate" incident occurred. The numbers for Q2 will be even more telling to me with regards to their "Internet Media" expenses. Some interesting quoted points I read so far on MyDD blog were: ***************************************** ~Obama burning a lot of cash: Huge numbers for funraising, polling, travel, supples and rent. It will be interesting to see his second Q numbers and see if he gets more in line with Hillary. If not you have to wonder if they could have problems down the road. The Dean campaign and its sudden money woes come to mind from '04. Everyone thought they were flush with cash after raising what was at the time a large sum only to find out after Iowa they were strapped. ***************************************** ~Democratic Presidential Candidate Expenditures: Fascinating. Clinton is paying much LESS on her staff than Obama and Edwards. We are always told the opposite, but that was apparently just hubris from the Edwards' and Obama supporters. And, Obama outspending everybody on polling and fundraising? What is up with his huge travel expenditures? Almost a Million for Obama, only $166,000 for Clinton? Obama is burning through a lot of cash. ***************************************** ~another average joe   Posted by Papa2Girls on Saturday, June 09, 2007 - 7:10 PM [Reply to this]

	Bird - Dyshon's #1 Fan Monica Randell	For all that money his internet team should be flawless. All of the die hard Barack supporters said they wouldn't want thier contributions going to Joe Anthony. I wonder if they are ok with this.   Posted by Bird - Dyshon's #1 Fan on Saturday, June 09, 2007 - 6:28 PM [Reply to this]

	Niimki	That seems pretty damn high. When domains cost about around $10 a year per name and hosting can go around $1000 a year for major bandwidth and all the code whistles and bells you could want, where did the other 290k go? A good team of web jockeys and coders wouldn't have cost that much in a year....oh yeah....and they would have been very high quality for that price...not the drop the ball crew he has now....I doubt some of your bigger companies spend that much for web presence. I would also like to see some kind of list of expenses on that one. Unless they are factoring in some major equipement or T lines at some office someplace in that price....   Posted by Niimki on Saturday, June 09, 2007 - 7:16 PM [Reply to this]

	Bluestem Garden	The mybarackobama.com is pretty extensive, with over 6,700 groups which is organizing much of the grassroots efforts. Eg. the recent walk for change involved people viewing options and signing up for walks online, receiving emails relating to coordinations and pre-walk events, etc. I believe running the main site probably takes the majority of the funding. Web presence like myspace and facebook pages are most likely much less. To answer Bird's question above, I'm ok that they didn't spend an additional 50K ($39k + $10k) for the myspace page.   Posted by Bluestem Garden on Monday, June 11, 2007 - 4:11 AM [Reply to this]

	tara dactyl	Well it looks like he spent the same amount of money on a few extra buttons and hats... is that ok?   Posted by tara dactyl on Monday, June 11, 2007 - 6:27 AM [Reply to this]

	Bluestem Garden	ok, so I did go check out the latest on all the candidates: Mitt Romney has spent the most to date at $11.6M (raised $23.4M); 50% spent John McCain next with $8.4M (raised $13M); 67% spent Barack is at $6.6M (raised $26M); 25% spent Rudy $5.7M (raised $16.6M); 34% spent Hillary $5.1M (raised $36M); 14% spent Edwards $3.3M (raised $14M); 24% spent It was also pointed out that Hillary's existing connections to donors could be why she's not spent as much on fundraising. Compared to the republicans, the democrat candidates have all spent a considerably less percentage of their total raised. I think Barack is doing fine.   Posted by Bluestem Garden on Monday, June 11, 2007 - 8:00 AM [Reply to this]

	tara dactyl	For me it's about quality, not quantity. I'm no expert on where funds should be appropriated for presidential campaigns; I don't care about the percentage of money Obama spent compares to the other candidates. I sincerely hope I'm wrong about the money that went to Tiger Eye. If I'm not, then I don't think he's doing "fine." If $49K is too much for 160,000 friends, I think it should be too much for some crappy merch.   Posted by tara dactyl on Monday, June 11, 2007 - 8:06 PM [Reply to this]

	Bluestem Garden	If you're referring to the buttons and tshirts, those are usually resold as a campaign fund-raiser. Most campaigns do this.   Posted by Bluestem Garden on Monday, June 11, 2007 - 10:23 PM [Reply to this]

	tara dactyl	No, that's not what I'm referring to.   Posted by tara dactyl on Monday, June 11, 2007 - 10:32 PM [Reply to this]

	Bluestem Garden	Are you scrutinizing the other campaigns too...or just the one you "support"?   Posted by Bluestem Garden on Monday, June 11, 2007 - 6:46 AM [Reply to this]

	tara dactyl	As an Obama supporter I'm much more concerned with his campaign than anyone else's. I have been checking up on the other candidates as well, though. Gosh I've missed you Blue. I was afraid you were too busy with your own blog; I checked it out though... there's not much to be busy with. Glad you came back to check out an active blog!   Posted by tara dactyl on Monday, June 11, 2007 - 8:13 PM [Reply to this]

	Bluestem Garden	Guess you missed our blog in the top 30 spot today... nice remarks, btw. It really showcases your maturity.   Posted by Bluestem Garden on Monday, June 11, 2007 - 10:26 PM [Reply to this]

	tara dactyl	I speak the truth. If you don't like it, you don't need to come here. You have your own "top 30" blog, I suggest you use it if you want to discuss your "unique" perspectives.   Posted by tara dactyl on Monday, June 11, 2007 - 10:38 PM [Reply to this]

	Joe Anthony Joe Anthony	I think a lot of that money went to Blue State Digital, Joe Rospars's company, that built the Obama website.   Posted by Joe Anthony on Saturday, June 09, 2007 - 8:47 PM [Reply to this]

	Joe Anthony Joe Anthony	Actually: 36,171.50 was paid to Blue State digital in the first quarter. Not sure if this means anything, but it shows that the guys trying to take over my page were getting paid significant amounts for their work. Obama for America Disbursements for Q1: http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2007/Q1/C00431445/B_PAYEE_C00431445.html   Posted by Joe Anthony on Saturday, June 09, 2007 - 9:03 PM [Reply to this]

	uplandpoet Anthony Watkins	36,171.50 was paid to Blue State digital in 1st qtr, hmmm sounds pretty close to 39,000 for 10 qtrs, you messed up, you should have asked for a tenfold bump:)   Posted by uplandpoet on Saturday, June 09, 2007 - 10:55 PM [Reply to this]

	tara dactyl	Also... $46,074 went to "Tiger Eye Promotions." As far as I can see, this is an Ohio-based company that makes promotional stuff (buttons, hats, shirts, keychains, etc.) with candidates' logos. On their website (tigereyedesign.com) you can buy things from all candidates (there is a division between parties-- republicanstuff.com and democraticstuff.com). I checked out the various candidates' pages and they all look the same, save three things. 1) Obama's page has a not-so-nifty banner at the top, 2) the domain "obamastuff.com", and 3) an extra page or two of swag. I will say that Obama's merch is a little nicer, but not by much. Certainly not $46,074 worth?!?!? Nowhere on the site does it say that any proceeds will go to the campaign. I think he got hosed on this one. I could be wrong though.... am I missing something?   Posted by tara dactyl on Sunday, June 10, 2007 - 5:42 AM [Reply to this]

	Band4MassCann Mike C	Campaigns are more than just winning. They're slush funds to spend money that they raise from other people on their friends companies. Neo-cons love to do this. Barak Obama seems to be in that company. CFR. He's probably pulling a Kerry planning to lose and spending it all up front right now! Haha.   Posted by Band4MassCann on Sunday, June 10, 2007 - 7:31 AM [Reply to this]

	Bluestem Garden	This comment was left on Daily Digest: "YEAH BARACK OBAMA! More proof that he is on the front side of the wave." Guess there's a different perspective.   Posted by Bluestem Garden on Monday, June 11, 2007 - 3:57 AM [Reply to this]

	Bluestem Garden	true, I guess it remains to be seen if it's effective. I think the mybarackobama.com has been good for organizing local efforts.   Posted by Bluestem Garden on Monday, June 11, 2007 - 4:52 AM [Reply to this]

	Bluestem Garden	Not sure which event you mean. The Seattle appearance that Barack spoke at was to a full house (3,500- max allowed) and the pre-speech entertainment was a local African-American dance troop and an acoustic singer. I didn't think either were paid for their appearance. btw- who coordinated your event? Given how early all this is happening is pretty remarkable.   Posted by Bluestem Garden on Monday, June 11, 2007 - 6:51 AM [Reply to this]

	Joe Anthony Joe Anthony	In my opinion you're wrong. haha, I showed you. : )   Posted by Joe Anthony on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 - 6:36 AM [Reply to this]

	tara dactyl	your so funny (yes that mistake was intentional)   Posted by tara dactyl on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 - 7:01 AM [Reply to this]