Mr. Obama's $268 Million Advantage

McCain lost because he was on a sinking (Bush) ship. The Republicans in power & the ELITE needed to dump their mess into the Democrats lap awhile - until their next stragety is realized.

Mr. Tapper,

"Mr. Obama"? Since when? Mr. Bradley must have written this piece.

Regards,
Ms. Question

I thought Mr. Tapper's piece tonight on ABC Nightly News was excellent. Not only did Obama have a massive financial advantage because he broke his promise to take public financing, he also most probably has killed the public financing system off. Who will take public financing if they can possibly avoid it when those who are not so constrained have such a huge advantage and Obama's example has shown that the public does not hold it against you?

I do not look forward to future campaigns where people regularly spend a billion dollars to become president. But that is what Obama has started. It is a shame that there is no outcry against this. I do not care if all of the money had come from small donors-- which of course it did not. It is still way too much money to have spent on a campaign.

What is doubly sad is that if it were a Republican who had won the highest office after such massive fundraising, folks would still be howling. Remember how upset folks were about Bush's very successful fundraising in 2000 and 2004? Now the critics are quiet-- even though there are reasons to be concerned about supposed small donations because of poor internet security, even though the percentage of his money that came from small donors was nearly identical to the percentage of such donors to the Bush campaign and the Clinton campaign before it, even though he broke a promise in collecting this huge amount of money. The only thing truly new about the Obama fundraising was its massive scale-- not that fact that much of it was raised on the net (think Dean) or that much of it was raised from small donors (see above).

The public financing system may be flawed, but it was a step in the right direction. It's a shame that so many are ready to toss it out and are not concerned about future campaigns being even more money-driven than those of the past. This is not change we should embrace.

268 million is a lot of money relative to anything. But it doesn't explain a 365 to 173 electoral vote landslide.

How much of this money really came from Americans.

Michelle get over it we won the republicans didn't you still believe the rumors that Obama isn't an American citizen do you really think they didn't the democratic party didn't investigate that before hand and I'm sure when Hillary Clinton was running against him she would have made sure she found that out. Pick another topic for crying out loud and worry about the economy and all the people who have no jobs.

typo
"cofirm" should be confirm

All that money and no one bothered to ask Obama to prove he was a natural-born citizen---by
spending a mere $15 to release the info on his long-form, vault, original birth certificate.

(And NO, the officials in Hawaii did NOT cofirm that he was born in Hawaii. They issued a carefully worded statement that skirted the issue.)

Anyway, I just find it odd that Obama could end the controversy by releasing the info--yet instead, he spends thousands upon thousands to keep the info sealed. What is he hiding?

If not natural-born, Obama cannot become POTUS because that would violate the Constitution.

The Constitution is the law of the land and more important than any candidate or president-designate.

Thanks for the revised figures.

It is sooooo good to be post-election and pre-football championship playoffs.

Who cares what dress Michelle wears or who her husband gets to run the Justice Department as long as Alabama has cremated Auburn and is taking the whole can of whup to Florida?

Obama can watch too. We'll send him a plate of Dreamland barbeque.

I suppose Obama's cool and calm, as well as his more popular policies, was also an advantage.

Nothing made me extremely happy this year,
than the news of Obama winning the Presidency. Its in my Diary!

Probably won't work - all those foreign donators won't want to save detroit.

Good that he won. If it was the opposite, we, who donated, could had buried ourselves live!

Great news! Obama used the internet in order to get contributions from Main Street America - and I contributed every 'little bit' that I could. I hope that Obama will continue to use the internet to educate us on what Congress is really doing in DC. Perhaps there won't be so much 'pork' in those Bills, if Main Street America can see the Bills before they are rushed through for signing!

Maybe Obama could set up a website and ask people to contribute to an auto bailout fund.