Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Obscene Amounts of Money Squandered in Presidential Race

$420 Million! And they're broke - except money man Mitt

Banking on Becoming President

After nine months of fundraising, the candidates for president in 2008 have already raised about $420 million. This presidential money chase seems to be on track to collect an unprecedented $1 billion total. By some predictions, the eventual nominees will need to raise $500 million apiece to compete--a record sum. To find out where all this money is coming from, explore the options to the left. Year-end reports are due to the Federal Election Commission by Jan. 31.

Candidate	Home State	Q3 Raised	Q3 Spent	Total Raised	Total Spent	Cash on Hand	Debts
Democratic Candidates
Clinton, Hillary	NY	$27,859,861	$22,623,680	$90,935,788	$40,472,775	$50,463,013	$2,347,486
Obama, Barack	IL	$21,343,292	$21,519,790	$80,256,427	$44,169,236	$36,087,191	$1,409,740
Edwards, John	NC	$7,157,233	$8,271,938	$30,329,152	$17,932,103	$12,397,048	$0
Richardson, Bill	NM	$5,358,585	$6,666,681	$18,699,937	$12,878,349	$5,821,588	$75,222
Dodd, Chris	CT	$1,522,061	$4,025,458	$13,598,152	$9,723,278	$3,874,874	$0
Biden, Joe	DE	$1,757,394	$2,635,896	$8,215,739	$6,329,324	$1,886,340	$128,210
Kucinich, Dennis	OH	$1,011,696	$888,774	$2,130,200	$1,803,576	$327,094	$0
Gravel, Mike	AK	$130,598	$144,224	$379,795	$362,268	$17,526	$85,853

Candidate	Home State	Q3 Raised	Q3 Spent	Total Raised	Total Spent	Cash on Hand	Debts
Republican Candidates
Romney, Mitt	MA	$18,396,719	$21,301,756	$62,829,069	$53,612,552	$9,216,517	$17,350,000
Giuliani, Rudy	NY	$11,624,255	$13,300,650	$47,253,521	$30,603,695	$16,649,826	$169,256
McCain, John	AZ	$5,734,478	$5,470,277	$32,124,785	$28,636,157	$3,488,628	$1,730,691
Thompson, Fred	TN	$12,828,111	$5,706,367	$12,828,111	$5,706,367	$7,121,744	$678,432
Paul, Ron	TX	$5,258,456	$2,169,644	$8,268,453	$2,824,786	$5,443,667	$0
Huckabee, Mike	AR	$1,034,486	$819,376	$2,345,798	$1,694,497	$651,301	$47,810
Hunter, Duncan	CA	$536,357	$618,117	$1,890,873	$1,758,132	$132,742	$50,000
Keyes, Alan	MD	$21,218	$10,139	$22,768	$10,139	$12,629	$12,876

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/index.asp

The Bush Administration's 935 Lies
Impeachment???

False Pretenses

Following 9/11, President Bush and seven top officials of his administration waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

By Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith

"President George W. Bush and seven of his administration's top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Nearly five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, an exhaustive examination of the record shows that the statements were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.

On at least 532 separate occasions (in speeches, briefings, interviews, testimony, and the like), Bush and these three key officials, along with Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan, stated unequivocally that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (or was trying to produce or obtain them), links to Al Qaeda, or both. This concerted effort was the underpinning of the Bush administration's case for war."

http://www.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/Default.aspx?src=home&context=overview&id=945