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Tag Archive: Investigations

Obama sends secret love to geeks

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You would expect to see Obama branding in every aspect of the Obama Victory Fund website. But the web developers at President Obama's campaign have taken it a step further, creating the Obama “O” campaign insignia in the source code of the website -- the sort of thing only dedicated hackers and data nerds could love -- or, for that matter, bother to suss out.

A screenshot of the Obama source code:

Obama source code

Known as ASCII art, the “O” is made from characters and spaces, serving no functionality other than appeal to geeks.

The Easter egg has generated attention in some circles ...

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Sex and taxes: What the Romney returns and the Edwards precedent say about political slush funds

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The cloak and dagger tale circulating on the Internet about a group of hackers who claim to have purloined old tax returns of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and say they will release them to whomever is first to pay their ransom suggests why a federal court case that absolved former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards of campaign finance crimes was wrongly decided.Mitt Romney

During his 2008 campaign, Edwards relied on the largesse of two wealthy Democratic donors to keep his affair with campaign worker Rielle Hunter secret. Edwards' campaign did not report the donations, nor did it report the payments ...

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Kennedy heir’s bid for Congress attracts campaign contributing veterans

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Joseph P. Kennedy III easily won a primary election in Massachussett's fourth district thanks in part to some Washington insiders and a high-profile family and their vast network of well-heeled donors.  

Since he announced in February his bid for an open seat currently held by outgoing Rep. Barney Frank, the first-time candidate has already held at least four fundraisers, where his campaign requested contributions ranging from $250 to $5,000, according to records in Sunlight Foundation's Party Time.

Caroline Kennedy was among the first to aid her 31-year-old cousin raise cash. In March, she held a $2,500 ...

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Texas-sized lobbyist bundler shuns Democrats’ super PACs

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Democratic super PACs and other outside political groups will be deprived of the party's most generous 2010 bankroller this election: Donor and bundler extraordinaire Ben Barnes is repudiating the outfits that don't provide full financial disclosure.

Since the 2008 election, the 74-year-old Texan has been the lobbyist who, along with his family, has given the most to Democrats  -- more than $900,000 in donations to candidates and committees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He has been in Charlotte all week for the Democratic convention with a few aides and was spotted busting a ...

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A look at the Democratic super PAC targets

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Two of the guests at an exclusive brunch Wednesday where Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel attempted to steer donors toward Priorities USA, the super PAC supporting President Barack Obama's reelection campaign, are seasoned campaign bankrollers -- one of them with a past that leans Republican. 

A look at the campaign giving histories of New York investor Orin Kramer and Chartwell Hotels CEO George Tsunis, identified by the New York Times as having heard Emanuel's official debut as a pitchman for the super PAC, gives an example of the type of donors Democrats are targeting as they try to catch up ...

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First lady courts LGBT donors over lunch

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- After a rousing convention speech Tuesday night that, among other things, commended LGBT Americans for their courage to marry, Michelle Obama spent about an hour Wednesday at a downtown Charlotte Marriott courting well-heeled gay donors.

According to one political consultant and LGBT activist there, she knocked it out of the park. “It was like a conversation in a living room almost,” said Palm Springs, Calif. LGBT activist and political consultant Greg Rodriguez.

That may be important, as a recent analysis showed that one in six bundlers for President Obama are gay. Another report identified 33 gay bundlers ...

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Democratic convention watch: Join the conversation tonight

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The Sunlight Foundation is at the Democratic convention, literally and virtually, and you can join us online Wednesday and Thursday nights.Sunlight Live screenshot

Our colleagues in Charlotte, Liz Bartolomeo and Keenan Steiner, are following the (oops - did we see corporate? And super PAC? yes we did!) money at all the parties. They can't possibly make all 400+ that we've got in our Party Time database. But they are doing their best.  See something we don't know about? Let us know!

And we are exposing the Democrats to Sunlight at night via Sunlight Live. This platform enables our team to ...

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At Democratic super PACs briefing, strategists ask for more cash

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- If there were millionaires at Tuesday's happy hour for prospective donors of the three major super PACs backing congressional Democrats and President Obama, they were not the recognizable backers of the groups. And there was not much exclusive about the affair.

At the door of a cozy, downtown bar a short walk from the site of the Democratic Party’s convention, an employee checked off names of attendees on an iPad. But he did not seem to stop anyone, and so this reporter walked on through the door. 

The event was one of several being hosted ...

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Open the floodgates: FEC supersizes political donations by text

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One month after okaying a proposal to permit small political contributions by text, the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday green-lighted a Democratic firm's plan to collect standard-size contributions using a system that will collect all the identifying information required by the regulators.

In an advisory opinion released this afternoon, the commission said that a proposal by Revolution Messaging will meet federal disclosure requirements. The Democratic digital media company, which has several veterans of President Obama's 2008 campaign on its staff, offered a plan to collect names and addresses -- required by the FEC for those giving $200 or more ...

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Show us the Obama and Romney Super PAC donors

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On the eve of the Democratic convention, Priorities USA Action, the super PAC that is supporting President Barack Obama's reelection campaign, has announced that it raised $10 million in August, via this report in the New York Times. However, we won't know who has donated this money until official reports are due at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) later this month.

Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, has not yet released its fundraising totals for August. In July, the group raised $7.5 million. Top donors to the group include Casino magnate ...

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