Democrats have seized on Republicans as the party of unlimited secret money.
The only problem: so are Democrats.
Continue ReadingIn recent days, Obama released an ad blasting ?secretive oil billionaires? for attacks on him, Nancy Pelosi unveiled a campaign slogan, calling for ?a new politics free of special interest influence,? and the Democratic National Committee released a Web ad accusing Mitt Romney of lying about his ties to a super PAC that?s spent millions supporting him.
Maybe that would have sounded better in 2008, when Obama put the kibosh on the Democratic outside money infrastructure ? or even in 2010, when Obama led a chorus of Democrats assailing Republicans? outside spending.
But this year, Democrats are playing the same game. Obama?s team has blessed a network of super PACs trying to raise the same seven-figure checks as Romney?s. And Obama?s allies have gone even further than Romney?s, setting up nonprofit groups that do not disclose their donors at all.
In fact, top Democrats are so ardent about the need to raise unlimited ? and sometimes secret ? cash this year that some operatives aren?t pleased about the recent attacks, grumbling that it makes it a whole lot tougher to get wealthy liberals to fork over mega-checks when the politicians who?d benefit are ripping Republicans for taking the same types of contributions.
Then there are doubts about the effectiveness of such attacks, considering how they went the last time Democrats tried them in 2010. Obama and his allies spent the final weeks before Election Day complaining bitterly about GOP-allied spending groups, hinting they could be awash in illegal foreign money, only to watch Republicans notch historic gains in the House.
And, beyond that, the Obama campaign?s juggernaut fundraising makes the president an especially poor messenger for the attacks, reasoned one Democratic operative familiar with the party?s outside money operation.
?When you?ve been talking about raising $1 billion, you really shouldn?t be talking about money in the political process,? the operative said. Democrats ?should talk about issues that people really care about like whether their taxes are going to get raised, whether their kid is going to get sent to Afghanistan, or whether they?re going to get blown up on a plane,? the operative said, adding ?campaign finance isn?t a particularly resonate issue other than for those who are talking about it.?
But party leaders suggest the secret money attacks forecast in Obama?s ad ? his first of the cycle ? are part of a broader messaging strategy that seeks to cast Republicans as secretive and unethical pawns of big business who couldn?t care less about the plight of regular Americans.
?The reason that it was something we led with was that it?s part of the contrast,? said DNC Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz when asked about why Obama?s ad began with a secret money attack rather than the gauzy positive themes that typically define inaugural ads.
The theme seems geared partly toward a potential general election that pits Obama against Romney ? the GOP presidential candidate Democrats would least like to face. The former Massachusetts governor has come under heavy Democratic fire in recent days for his reluctance to detail his work at the helm of the private equity firm Bain Capital and his refusal to release his campaign bundlers or multiple years of tax returns ? disclosures that Obama has made.
And, without prompting, Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman, pointed to Romney to explain the theme behind Obama?s ad. ?It?s a pattern. Just look at Mitt Romney. He isn?t being frank and honest about his role in Bain Capital. He accepts hundreds of millions of dollars in shadowy special interest money that he talks out of both sides of his face about,? the Florida congresswoman told POLITICO, referring to Romney?s struggles to define his relationship with the deep-pocketed super PAC, Restore Our Future, which has buoyed his campaign with sharp ads savaging his opponents.
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