Arianna Huffington: Follow the Real Money (HuffPost)

[marmar]

04.02.2007
Follow the Real Money (126 comments )

What is it with the media and the Clintons? Something about Bill and Hillary just seems to throw off the instrumentation of reporters. It's not that the reporting is consistently too negative, or consistently too positive, just that it's so often not the truth -- or at least, not the whole truth.

For instance, I can see why Hillary's camp would want to trumpet the $36 million that appeared in many of the campaign fundraising stories. But I can't understand why anyone in the media would lead a report with this number. The real story is that Obama's take for the primary may be staggeringly close to Hillary's, despite the fact that he is a newcomer competing against the most powerful money machine in American politics. We'll know just how close after the Obama campaign releases its own report and the Clinton campaign discloses how much of its first quarter take is earmarked for the general campaign.

But in the meantime, the media were happy to repeat the Clinton camp's pre-packaged story. The worst offender was Matt Drudge, who started off the day trumpeting the claim that Hillary had raised $36 million with the headlines: "AMERICA LOVES HILLARY -- TOP FUNDRAISER FOR ROUND ONE: $36 MILLION," and "Hillary in blowout with $36 million," and declaring her the "winner" of "round one."

Maybe Drudge happily declared her the "winner" because he shares the opinion that Hillary is the dream candidate for the GOP. Which means that, at least until the nomination, the interests of the Hillary camp and the right-wing media strangely converge with both sides celebrating her as an unstoppable juggernaut.

But the larger question is, why did the rest of the media go along with this charade? Because, as the Hillary camp presented it, the story is about as real as John McCain's casual shopping stroll in Baghdad. ....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/follow-the-real-money_b_44839.html

[waiting for hope]

1. Trust Arianna to lay it bare:

"According to Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson, the campaign can't release the details because it wants to make sure the numbers are accurate. If you believe that, I've got some WMD from Baghdad to sell you. I guess $36 million wasn't enough for Howard to buy a copy of Microsoft Excel, because on any spreadsheet, the numbers for the primary and the general are automatically sequestered."

[Captain Hilts]

2. Arriana's really got it in for Hillary C. nt

[wyldwolf]

3. I think she showed up at a party wearing the same dress Hilllary had on

[wyldwolf]

4. the funny thing is, Huff should know better

As someone who worked on several campaigns herself, she should know you report total net receipts to the FEC for any given reporting period. That figure includes all donations, transference of money, interest, rebates, in-kind contributions, and a host of other things that add monetary worth to the bottom line.

Arianna, like always, is pandering to her red-meat craving (though apparently naive) readers.

[John Q. Citizen]

6. So why do we know that Hillary moved 10 million over from her Senate account

if it's not in the report?

Does Hillary have a mole inside her organization who is devulging information that isn't available on the fundraising report?


On the other hand, if the 10 million transfer from her Senate account is reported as such, yet someone is promoting a story that implies Hillary raised 36 million this quarter, isn't that essentially dishonest?

Or doesn't honesty matter in reporting how much various candidates raised in a given quarter?

[IndianaGreen]

7. Because she did, and it was reported by all the news organizations

The question is what she did with the other money she raised for her NY race.

[Colobo]

8. Good question.

[wyldwolf]

10. the $10M IS in the report

she reported $36M and there has been no secret $10M was transferred from her Senate campaign.

[ElizabethDC]

13. For the record, the $10 million was the first thing mentioned in the Clinton campaign press release

4/1/2007

Clinton Reports $36 Million in Total Receipts for First Quarter

Total includes $26 million raised since Jan 20, $10 million transferred from successful senate reelection campaign

Hillary Clinton's campaign today announced it will report $36 million in total receipts for the first fundraising quarter, which ended March 31, 2007. The staggering number reflects the strength of support for Clinton from every walk of life and every part of America.

"We are overwhelmed by the tremendous enthusiasm and historic response this campaign has received so far," campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle said today. "Going forward we are poised to continue this success and make even more history."

Specifically, the campaign noted several key numbers demonstrating the overwhelming depth and breadth of Clinton's support:

$26 million raised in new receipts since launching her campaign on January 20
80 percent of the contributions were $100 or less.
$4.2 million raised on the internet (including $1 million in a week during the One Week, One Million campaign, and nearly $600,000 online in the 36 hours preceding the deadline)
$6 million in total grassroots donations (internet plus direct mail and telemarketing receipts)
50,000 donors (tens of thousands of them new donors)
Contributions received from residents of all 50 states (plus Washington, DC)
$10 million transferred from Senator Clinton's successful senate reelection account
In March of 2003, the highest total reported by a Democratic campaign in its first-quarter fundraising report was $7.4 million and the top four candidates combined raised just over $23 million. In March of 1999, incumbent Vice President Al Gore reported $8.9 million for his first quarter.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=1424

[laugle]

5. I can't stand that snake, Arianna!

I will never forget the complete delight she took in bashing President Clinton and calling for his impeachment!

She is a very unhappy and hateful woman, full of jealousy!!

[Colobo]

9. Arianna rocks

She's a breath of fresh air.

[rman]

11. Wow that's quite a psycho-analysis there

With so many negative emotions assigned to that woman, who'd ever want to associate with her?
But i guess that's the point of your diagnosis.

[bvar22]

12. K&R for the truth....

AND the truth is that BIG MONEY is buying this election.
Win/Win for BIG MONEY if Hillary is the Democratic Candidate.

[BenDavid]

14. Arianna's jealousy

I never thought about how Arianna Huffington is jealous because she never had any of HRC's success - either in marriage or in a political career. Fascinating.

As always, Arianna completely misrepresents HRC's position. As always, Arianna fails to list any FACTS about the reasons she hates HRC. As always, Arianna comes with the snide remarks and the Maureen Dowd-like disgust, but never are there any facts - it's always Arianna's "impressions" of HRC.

Besides, if HRC came out and said, "I made a mistake with my Iraq vote. It was stupid of me, I should've known better and I apologize for that," does anyone think Arianna would then LIKE Hillary? Hell no! - she'd just go to the next reason on the list why she hates HRC. And, ...has Arianna ever voted for a Democrat for president? Can somebody get that question to her?

[John Q. Citizen]

15. What do you like about Hillary? Besides her pro war vote?