I now have two sources confirming that Barack Obama’s Communications Director, David Axelrod has been communicating regularly with unrepentant terrorist and former member of the Weathermen, Bill Ayers, about how to respond to stories trying to report on Obama’s longstanding relationship with Ayers. One of my sources tells me that one person, a TV pundit who wishes to not be named, is talking about this without mentioning Axelrod.
Read More...In an election year dominated by the rallying cry of change, an unlikely coalition of some of the state’s most powerful special interests will spend $3 million urging voters to stick with the status quo.
The Alliance to Protect the Illinois Constitution is asking for a “no” vote on one of the most important issues on the November ballot: whether there should be a constitutional convention to make changes to the state’s 1970 governing document.
Every 20 years, the constitution requires that voters be asked whether the document should be rewritten. Sixty percent of the voters must approve the question for a convention to be called. In 1988—a time of more civil political discourse—75 percent of voters opposed a convention.
Read More...The $52 million figure may not be a disaster for the Obama campaign, but it is hardly a success. Not just because it’s far below what the Obama campaign projected in June. It’s a disappointment because it includes general election contributions from those who had previously maxed out. Remember also that unlike the money McCain is raising, which has to be spent by the time he receives $84 million in public financing, Obama’s money needs to last all the way through the election.
With a burn rate of $42 million a month, Obama’s campaign can just barely sustain its current levels of spending. And what’s leftover may not be adequate to run the kind of campaign he needs to win. Just consider despite all the money he’s raised, Obama has been outspent on television by 3 to 1 in the last two months. All the stagecraft and theatrics has come ... Read More...
Sen. Barack Obama’s chief political strategist sits on the finance committee of the Chicago church led by controversial pastor Michael Pfleger, who claimed in a sermon last weekend Sen. Hillary Clinton cried in public because she thought being white entitled her to the Democratic presidential nomination.
Pfleger, whose remarks about Clinton were condemned by Obama, several times hosted at his church Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan. Pfleger practices black liberation theology, is a regular guest speaker at Trinity United Church of Christ, and was identified by Obama as a key source of spiritual guidance.
David Axelrod, Obama’s top strategist, serves on the finance board of Pfleger’s St. Sabina Catholic church, which is seeking to raise $1 million to offset the costs of reconstructing sections of the cathedral found to have structural problems.
Read More...Barack Obama’s chief strategist leveled the campaign’s harshest counterattack yet over John McCain’s recent rhetoric on national security issues, and defended himself against charges that threaten to make him a focus of the campaign tit-for-tat in the coming months.
The chief strategist also defended himself against a recent Newsweek story charging that he had essentially lobbied Chicago officials on behalf of his communications firm’s clients. He called the piece a “red herring,” and contrasted his record with that of his counterpart in the McCain campaign, chief strategist Charlie Black, who Axelrod labeled “the most powerful corporate lobbyist in Washington.”
“I never lobbied anybody,” Axelrod said.
Read More...The Chicago Tribune, which once employed Barack Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod, is refusing to publish the truth about a Weather Underground terrorist bombing that killed a policeman. The paper apparently does not want to tarnish the image of Obama friends Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, who were allegedly part of or had direct knowledge of the bombing plot that also injured several other police officers. The Tribune considers Ayers an education expert and has published various articles by him.
Read More...His father was a stern, law-and-order man whose 21-year tenure as Chicago mayor will forever be associated with the 1968 Democratic convention protests over the Vietnam War.
But his son, current Mayor Richard M. Daley, has a much more conciliatory view about that history than you might expect. In an interview with the Financial Times, he declared off-limits attempts to make political capital out of links between two of his constituents – Barack Obama and Bill Ayers, a former leader of the Weather Underground radical group that bombed the U.S. Capitol and other targets in the 1970s. Mr. Obama has declared that he and Mr. Ayers have a “friendly” relationship and served together on a foundation board. Mr. Ayers has become controversial again because, in a newspaper interview that happened to be published on 9/11, he declared not only that he didn’t regret setting bombs but that he and his ... Read More...
Forty-second Ward alderman Brendan Reilly says he didn’t get very far when he sat down with officials from the Chicago Children’s Museum earlier this week to talk about potential sites for their new facility. They’re only interested in one: Grant Park.
“They’ve refused to consider any other locations, and they’ve defined their parameters so narrowly that it will be practically impossible to find a place for them anywhere but Grant Park,” he says.
Read More...David Axelrod has long been known for his political magic. Through his AKP&D Message & Media consultancy, the campaign veteran has advised a succession of Democratic candidates since 1985, and he’s now chief strategist for Senator Barack Obama’s bid for President. But on the down low, Axelrod moonlights in the private sector.
From the same River North address, Axelrod operates a second business, ASK Public Strategies, that discreetly plots strategy and advertising campaigns for corporate clients to tilt public opinion their way. He and his partners consider virtually everything about ASK to be top secret, from its client roster and revenue to even the number of its employees. But customers and public records confirm that it has quarterbacked campaigns for the Chicago Children’s Museum, ComEd, Cablevision, and AT&T.
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