Moe Lane

Well, the 3rd quarter is over, which means that the set of speculation over various and sundry people’s fundraising totals may now kick into high gear.  Probably the most anticipated numbers will be coming from Obama for America (OfA), given their haul last time – and their brags this time.  The Politico has started off with an eye-grabbing headline – “Obama 3Q haul: $55M or more?” (H/T: Hot Air)- which is at least something that we can use to start looking at numbers.  And write elaborate posts about them, for that matter.

Let’s go with the traditional bullet points on what needs to be taken into account at this stage of fundraising reporting. (more…)

Yes, I can read.  I can count and use a spreadsheet, too.  That’s why I’m saying it was a bad quarter.

Executive summary: Obama for America’s (OfA) reported fundraising total for the second quarter is significantly less than what it needed to be in order to hit OfA’s stated ultimate fundraising goals for 2012 – as in, one half to one-third of what they need.  And OfA is (grimly) aware of this, which is why they significantly downplayed their fundraising totals in their latest video, despite the fact that in raw terms the amount raised by OfA (47 million) looked highly respectable.  Which they were: just not respectable enough.

First off, all numbers here assume a raw total of forty seven million, which is what is being reported in the media* as Obama for America’s take (as the below should make clear the DNC’s numbers should not be taken into consideration when assessing the President’s fundraising goal**).  Now that this has been noted… OK, let’s walk through some numbers, here.  Below the fold is a chart showing the amount of money that Obama for America raised in the 2008 election cycle.  The links are all to official reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission, so I certainly hope that they’re accurate: (more…)

I would like to note for the record that there is not yet any indication that any kind of personal information, including credit card information, was stolen from the Obama for America (OfA) campaign website during the period when it was insecure.  Preliminary accounts indicate that the hack was limited to a redirect of mobile applications to a list of general ‘anti-government criticisms.’

Nonetheless, computer security is of course very important, so I suggest that OfA subscribers contact info@barackobama.com if they have any concerns or questions about the status of their accounts, or the security of the data found within.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

ACORN/OFA crony Buffy Wicks unaffected.  Of course.

Another win for Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government. Jake Tapper has the details:

Embattled former National Endowment for the Arts communications director Yosi Sergant is out of a job. Late this afternoon, the NEA released a short statement saying, “This afternoon Yosi Sergant submitted his resignation from the National Endowment for the Arts. His resignation has been accepted and is effective immediately.” The agency provided no further details.

Sergant had been under scrutiny after leading a controversial conference call on August 10, where he encouraged artists to create work to promote the Obama administration’s agenda. Sergant was initially removed from his post as communications director, but continued to work at the NEA.

See also here for more, including a link to new guidelines for the NEA.  The firing is not surprising, considering the way that Sergant was hung out to dry by his superiors. No word yet whether ACORN / Obama for America crony Buffy Wicks will suffer a similar sanction – or, indeed, any punishment at all for attempting to set up a shadow Ministry of Propaganda within the American governmental system.

It’s supposed to look ominous when written out like that. That’s because it is.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.