[statecom-discuss] (no subject)

[John Andrews]

[This note and accompanying article make a useful statement for all of us
working for alternatives to the Republican/Democratic duopoly.
-- John]


DEMOCRATS ARE A DISASTER

The Democrats are just another corporate party.

As such, they are a disaster for the American people.

If you had any lingering doubts about this, check out the front page of the
Wall Street Journal yesterday.

The article is titled: Business Donors Bypass McCain, Democrats Rake In Cash
>From Industry by Brody Mullins.

Mullins reports that both Obama and Clinton have been cleaning McCain's
clock "among business interests that give mainly to Republicans."

Of seven major industries that have been the most reliable Republican
resources, McCain has raised $13.1 million through February, compared with
$22.5 million for Obama and $27.1 million for Clinton, the Journal reported.

Now, ask yourself - if the Democrats were the party of the people, if they
were truly going to make the corporations serve the American people, would
the corporate executives be dumping millions into their campaigns?

No they would not.

- from the Ralph Nader website

---------------

[This is the article that is quoted.]

<
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120709422285181841.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news
>

Business Donors Bypass McCain
Democrats Rake In
Cash From Industry;
Catch-Up for GOP
By BRODY MULLINS
April 2, 2008; Page A1

WASHINGTON -- John McCain faces a problem as he tries to close a deep
fund-raising deficit against the two Democratic candidates for president:
Both have been cleaning his clock among business interests that give mainly
to Republicans.

Of seven major industries that have been the most reliable Republican
resources, Sen. McCain has beaten Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama
in only one, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, a
nonpartisan organization. Even that one, transportation, is a close call.
Among the seven combined, the expected Republican nominee raised $13.1
million through February, compared with $22.5 million for Sen. Obama and
$27.1 million for Sen. Clinton.

The Republican standard-bearer's attempt to claw back financial support from
the GOP's business base could be a pivotal factor in determining the outcome
of the presidential race. Employees of financial-services, insurance and
real-estate companies so far have donated to Sen. Obama over Sen. McCain by
almost two-to-one -- and favored Sen. Clinton by even more. Health-care and
pharmaceutical firms have given three times as much to each of the two
Democrats as to Sen. McCain. Defense firms put Sen. McCain ahead of Sen.
Obama, but behind Sen. Clinton. Energy, construction and agribusiness firms
have given more to both Democrats.

In February, as Sen. McCain neared a lock on the nomination, he showed signs
of a fund-raising recovery among those industries. A Wall Street Journal
analysis of campaign-finance reports shows that he raised far more from
energy firms in February than either Democratic rival, cutting into his
deficit there. He outraised Sen. Clinton among employees of finance,
insurance and real-estate firms, though he fell short of Sen. Obama's total
during that month, the latest available. In agriculture, Sen. McCain
outraised Sen. Clinton and fell just $1,000 short of tying Sen. Obama.

But in the health and defense industries, he fell further behind -- by more
than enough to wipe out his gains elsewhere. From the Republican-friendly
industries combined, Sen. McCain raised $1.6 million in February, closing in
on Sen. Clinton's $1.8 million but well behind Sen. Obama's $2.7 million.
Those figures don't include major industry sectors -- media, entertainment,
communications and high-tech -- where Democrats are historically strong and
which almost double the industry totals for Sens. Obama and Clinton.

Sen. McCain told reporters last week that his campaign had seen a "dramatic
increase in contributions" once other Republicans ended their campaigns in
early February. He also noted how badly he needed the turnaround: "We've got
our work cut out for us," Sen. McCain said. "I mean, the numbers don't lie."
The Republican is some $100 million behind each of the two Democrats in fund
raising from all sources.

Executive Donations

Corporations themselves by law aren't allowed to donate money to candidates.
But executives and employees of companies and their spouses can each give up
to $2,300 to a candidate for the primary campaign and another $2,300 for the
general election. Candidates must make public the names and employers of
people who donate $200 or more, a group that the Center for Responsive
Politics says mostly come from executive ranks.
[John McCain]

Two main factors have combined to put Sen. McCain in such a deep hole with
businesses. First: Since early 2007, Democrats in general have been more
successful at fund raising than their Republican counterparts. The unusually
strong business-sector fund raising of Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama has been
helped by a wide expectation during 2007 of likely Democratic success in the
White House and congressional races because of President Bush's
unpopularity. Corporations have been "moving in a direction where the
electorate is likely to be," says Mike Feldman, a Democrat and consultant
for a number of U.S. corporations in Washington.

Second, Sen. McCain's maverick status in his party and frequent tangles with
big business interests made other Republican candidates far more attractive
to many industry donors. The 2008 presidential nominee of the traditional
party of business is seen as one of the least business-friendly Republicans
in Washington, and the fund-raising numbers reflect that. "It's very
foreboding for Republicans," says Jan Baran, a former general counsel at the
Republican National Committee and now a campaign-finance lawyer at
Washington law and lobbying firm Wiley Rein LLP. Mr. Baran called McCain's
weakness among business interests compared with the Democrats "startling."

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 40 of 47 current Republicans it
ranked in the Senate have stronger pro-business voting records over their
lifetimes than Sen. McCain -- though he still has voted with business
interests 81% of the time, the Chamber says.

Jill Hazelbaker, a spokeswoman for the McCain campaign, noted that Sen.
McCain "led the charge to limit the money and influence of special interests
in politics, so it's not surprising that he's not at the top of their
handout list." But, she added, the campaign will "have the money we need to
win."

In the Senate, the Arizona Republican has had no trouble raising money to
run for re-election, even from industries whose interests he sometimes
opposed. But Sen. McCain hasn't needed to raise much: He has faced only
token opposition for decades in the Senate, and Arizona isn't an expensive
state to campaign in.

Regulatory Influence

Senators who hold important positions also can generally count on campaign
donations from businesses with legislative or regulatory issues over which
they have influence. Sen. McCain is a senior Republican and holds
top-ranking positions on the Armed Services Committee and the Commerce
Committee, which has jurisdiction over industries ranging from aviation to
telecommunications.

Even businesses that he has clashed with have often given him campaign
money, such as the cable industry and auto makers. "Every single entity that
I've ever been involved with has given him money, and every single entity
has gotten the crap beaten out them by McCain," says Brian Kelly, a
telecommunications lobbyist.

But presidential fund raising works on a much larger scale, against
different competition for the funds.

During 2007, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney -- with decades of
experience in private industry -- and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani
won the biggest Republican share of business donations. Sen. McCain, whose
fund-raising problems famously all but pushed him out of the race midyear,
trailed even a Democratic also-ran, Sen. Chris Dodd, in a number of business
fund-raising categories through 2007.

Now, as Democrats increasingly paint Sen. McCain as a friend to business who
favors light regulation, the question is whether he can raise more in
business donations than the Democrats have.

To be sure, Sen. McCain can expect more help from across the party now that
he's the presumptive nominee. Corporate executives tend to donate to
candidates they think will win, and Republicans are gaining confidence in
their chances this November as Sens. Clinton and Obama continue to slug it
out in their primary. The Democrats' fund-raising efforts have yet to be
combined behind one candidate, while Sen. McCain is marshaling forces across
the party. His fund-raising staff is telling prospective donors that Sen.
McCain is "better than the alternative," says Rick Hohlt, a longtime
Republican fund-raiser.

The candidates haven't yet announced their overall fund-raising figures for
March. Details including breakdowns of donations by industry won't be
available until April 20.

Sen. McCain's February fund-raising comeback came partly from reaching out
to executives who backed other Republicans who left the race. People who
raised money for Mr. Giuliani began working with Sen. McCain's fund-raising
staff in February. Mr. Romney's fund-raising team began working to raise
money for Sen. McCain later that month and Mr. Romney appeared last week at
a pair of events in Salt Lake City and Denver. "I'll think you'll find that
the Republican Party, like any great family, comes together," Mr. Romney
said after the events.

Detroit Chips In

In February, officials at Ford Motor Co. helped raise money for Sen.
McCain's presidential bid at an event outside Detroit. Ford's chief
Washington lobbyist and general counsel were among the officials who donated
the maximum $2,300, though Mr. McCain has worked with Democrats to raise
fuel-efficiency standards.

"For me, I like him because he's strong on national security, will keep our
taxes low and spending in check," says Ziad Ojakli, the Ford lobbyist.

On a trip this month to the Middle East and Europe, Sen. McCain worked in a
private fund-raising event in London. Last week, he raised money at an event
hosted by Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson at the Venetian Resort
Hotel Casino, and attended a New York fund-raiser that drew many of Wall
Street's titans.

But the extent of Democratic inroads in former Republican strongholds is
daunting. From the beginning of 2007 through the end of February 2008, the
Democratic presidential candidates together won a slight majority of
donations from employees in the defense sector, an industry that since 1990
has favored Republicans by a 61%-39% ratio, according to figures compiled by
the Center for Responsive Politics for all federal elections.

The Democratic presidential candidates have collected 41% of
construction-industry giving and about 43% of agribusiness contributions,
both up from their normal share of about a third. Most strikingly, they've
won a combined majority of the donations from the health industry and from
the combined financial, insurance and real-estate industries, receiving 58%
and 53%, respectively. Since 1990, Republicans have taken about 55% of the
donations from those sectors.

Individually, Sens. Clinton and Obama haven't just beaten Sen. McCain to
business donors. In many areas they bested the top Republican fund-raisers,
Messrs. Romney and Giuliani, too.

Sen. Clinton was first among all candidates in raising money through
February from financial, defense and health-care firms. She's helped by
representing New York in the Senate and by taking a leadership role on
health-care issues, even though many firms in the industry oppose aspects of
her health-care plans. Sen. Obama, meantime, was the most popular recipient
of donations from pharmaceutical manufacturers and electric utilities --
both normally Republican strongholds.

Sen. McCain's rocky relationship with business stems from his evolving
regulatory outlook. At his core, he is a conservative inclined to trust free
markets to lower prices and produce benefits for consumers. But mainly in
the last decade, he has developed what some see as a populist streak,
becoming more willing to use his powers in the Senate to help consumers when
he thinks the free market isn't working properly. The Club for Growth, a
leading advocate for lower taxes and smaller government, released a
nine-page report last fall titled: "John McCain's Tenuous Record as an
Economic Conservative."

Sen. McCain bucked oil and gas interests by opposing new drilling in Alaska
while championing global-warming legislation. He supports the importation of
cheap prescription drugs over the opposition of the drug manufacturers. He
helped pass a fuel-efficiency increase that was resisted by auto
manufacturers. He backed legislation to regulate tobacco. He has spent a
decade feuding with cable and broadcast companies. And he has worried
defense contractors with demands for stricter oversight, most recently
helping to reopen a $23 billion Boeing Co. contract for airborne fuel
tankers.

Many of the industries and companies he clashes with nevertheless have been
top sources of campaign cash for Sen. McCain, according to the Center for
Responsive Politics. The oil and gas sector ranks among the top contributors
to Sen. McCain over his career. So do people who work in the real-estate,
securities, finance and commercial-bank industries, even though he voted
against President Bush's tax cuts on investments.

Employees of Miami-based law firm Greenberg Traurig are top contributors to
Sen. McCain, even though he led the Senate investigation into the firm's
former top lobbyist, Jack Abramoff. Jill Perry, a spokeswoman for Greenberg
Traurig, says employees of the firm have been "active givers to all three
presidential candidates."

Cable Battles

Sen. McCain's pushes against some businesses also have benefited other
firms, which have sometimes donated to his campaigns. His decadelong battle
with cable companies and television broadcasters has benefited the
satellite-television companies, which have become top backers. Sen. McCain's
push for cleaner energy sources has aided the nuclear industry, whose
executives have sometimes donated to him. His tussle with Boeing has
coincided with $12,000 in donations from employees from a Boeing competitor:
European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co.

McCain fund-raiser Kirk Blalock tells corporate executives to "take a leap
of faith" on Sen. McCain. Many companies calculate that, on balance, Sen.
McCain helps them, even if he tangles with them on some specific priorities.
"If someone is going to write a check to McCain, it's on the broader macro
issues. I don't think it's because he's for one industry or another because
he's not," says Mr. Blalock, who lobbies for a range of industries including
insurance and generic pharmaceuticals.

Sen. McCain supports free-trade agreements and, in a reversal of an earlier
position, now backs extending President Bush's lower tax rates on
individuals and investments, currently set to expire at the end of 2010.
Neither Sen. Clinton nor Sen. Obama wants the tax cuts to become permanent,
and both have become increasingly harsh about free trade on the campaign
trail. Both vote with business interests just under half the time, according
to the Chamber of Commerce ratings, despite their success at business-sector
fund raising.

Perhaps no industry better shows Sen. McCain's approach to industry
regulation than cable. In the early 1990s, Sen. McCain helped cable
companies win deregulation. But when cable rates spiked up, Sen. McCain
stepped in. Unwilling to impose regulations, he backed injecting competition
into the marketplace by beefing up satellite-television companies, such as
DirecTV and EchoStar, to create marketplace pressure to hold down rates.
(News Corp., the owner of this newspaper, owned DirecTV for a period during
that time.)

Recently, Sen. McCain has tried to lower cable prices by forcing the
industry to allow consumers to purchase only the channels they want, without
having to pay higher prices for packages of channels. The cable industry
opposes the plan.

"Lord knows the guy has a track record of not helping us," says Kyle
McSlarrow, the head of the cable industry's Washington lobbying association.
But Mr. McSlarrow serves as a volunteer fund-raiser for Sen. McCain, because
"there are big-time issues I agree with him on, even though there are
smaller issues that we agree to disagree on."

Cable executives and employees have donated $161,000 to Sen. McCain's
presidential campaign -- a sizable amount, but far behind the $561,000 and
$249,000 they have given to Sens. Clinton and Obama, respectively, neither
of whom has been involved in cable issues.

--Elizabeth Holmes contributed to this article.