President Obama is Rising Again

The American people are loving their President again.  It is going to get better as election draws near. You are dealing with a smart, efficient President. He will not be distracted by those who want to derail his vision. He has a vision for America and it is not self-interest motivated which many of those before or wanna bees can say with a straight face. President Obama is a man with values and conviction. Thanks America for waking up to the greatness of your President.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/12/gallup-obamas-approval-rating-at-five-

Barack is popular in Montana

Barack in Butte, Montana: Defying Conventional Wisdom About Race and Politics
By Laura Flanders, TheNation.com
Posted on January 30, 2008, Printed on January 30, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/75379/
If Barack Obama's South Carolina win was a "black" thing, it's awfully strange how it's going down in Butte. US towns don't come much whiter or more hope-resistant than this battered old Montana mining town. And yet organizers here resonate with his call, not because they think he'll change things here, but because they believe the movement he's inspiring will help them do that work.

It was mid-morning Sunday when I finally flipped open my laptop to watch Obama's South Carolina victory speech. The only other soul in the faded foyer of the once-grand Finlen Hotel was Debbie, the receptionist. Obama's words drew blue-eyed Debbie over. What do you think? I asked. Looking at the crowd, her smile revealed more than a few missing teeth. "That looks like everybody," she said. "That's good."

The Finlen is a lonely place; a 1920s relic perched on a snow-swept slope between stone-cold, closed Victorian banks and bars and the country's biggest toxic Super Fund site. Butte was once the copper capital of the world (and the most unionized town in the US) but the swag and smut of the 1880s is long gone and Butte's as broken now as the bones of its best-known 20th century export -- Evel Knievel. And even he is dead.

The exuberant crowd behind the stylish Senator Saturday was Southern, sunny, multi-racial and all revved up. The backdrop to his words in Butte was very different. Obama's pledges of "change" and "purpose" and "belief" echoed, airy, into this wintry, white, whupped, western town. This place aches for solid stuff like union jobs and productive work and there was precious little promise of either in Obama's speech.

So can Obama's magic move Butte? Before the morning was over, I was able to ask the question to a group of local activists. The Montana Human Rights Network was holding its annual"Progressive Leadership Institute" in the Finlen this weekend and two dozen local organizers gathered around to hear the speech in between workshops on running effective campaigns and running for local office.

"It's not that he would change anything in Butte," said Alan Peura, a City Commissioner in Helena. "But he's building momentum that we can use to make that change ourselves."

Although John Edwards was by my survey probably the group's favorite candidate, Obama roused them, not by his policy promises, but by opening he presents for their work.

"At the very least, we'll have four years of movement-building from the Presidential bully pulpit, which is the polar opposite from what we've had," chimed in Jason Wiener, a Missoula city councilman.

Obama's wrong on fuel, said Patricia Dowd. He supports liquid coal, a fossil-fuel-burning non-alternative that Dowd, an environmentalist, is against. "But I love the fact that he always thanks his organizers first. He values what we do and that makes it easier for us to do our work.''

"I don't trust all this talk about bi-partisanship," said retired MT Congressman, Pat Williams, one of the longest-serving progressives ever to sit in the US House. "Compromise can be just another word for collusion." On the other hand, even Williams sees movement potential at the party level if Obama were to be the candidate. Williams served in Congress under Clinton in the early 1990s. He saw how the Clinton magic worked - for Clinton only. "We lost the Governors, the House, the Senate."

Ken Toole, one of the founders of the Network and a student of the Right remembers how the Right came to power. Gaining the White House wasn't the last it was the first stage of that process. "The best thing Obama could be is our Reagan," said Toole. "Reagan didn't deliver a whole lot in terms of policies, but he shifted the country's direction." Even from Butte, it's clear to organizers: Obama's not the savior: we are. He opens a door. We push.

Laura Flanders is author of Bushwomen: Tales of a Cynical Species.

Obama Gets a financial boost

July 2, 2007
Obama Campaign Raises $32.5 Million
By JEFF ZELENY
WASHINGTON, July 1 — Senator Barack Obama raised at least $32.5 million from April through June, he announced Sunday on his campaign Web site, attracting more than 258,000 contributors since entering the Democratic presidential race nearly six months ago.

As candidates tabulated how much money they raised in the year’s second quarter, Mr. Obama, of Illinois, appeared to be leading contenders from either party, raising at least $31 million for the primary campaign alone. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, raised about $21 million for the primary, a spokesman confirmed Sunday, and about $27 million over all.

“Together, we have built the largest grass-roots campaign in history for this stage of a presidential race,” Mr. Obama said, adding that 154,000 new donors had signed on in the last three months. “That’s the kind of movement that can change the special-interest-driven politics in Washington and transform our country. And it’s just the beginning.”

Mr. Obama waited barely 12 hours after the fund-raising period closed to trumpet his success, a quarterly record for a Democratic candidate, hoping to depict widespread support for his campaign and to rebut suggestions that his candidacy is falling behind Mrs. Clinton’s. If her estimate last week that she had raised “in the range of $27 million” proves true, Mr. Obama will have outpaced Mrs. Clinton for a second consecutive quarter in money that can be spent in primaries.

John Edwards’s campaign said Sunday that it had raised more than $9 million, while Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico reported raising $7 million and Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut reported raising $3.25 million.

Republican candidates did not provide fund-raising figures Sunday, but are expected to do so well in advance of the July 15 deadline for filing reports with the Federal Election Commission.

While candidates are allowed to simultaneously raise money for the primary and the general election, Mr. Obama has focused almost exclusively on primary money. The Clinton campaign has solicited both, and a spokesman, Phil Singer, estimated on Sunday evening that about $6 million of its second-quarter money was intended for the general election, meaning it could be spent only if Mrs. Clinton wins the nomination.

So far this year, the Obama campaign has raised $55.7 million to be spent on winning the party’s nominating fight. In the last three months, an average of 1,500 donors a day contributed to the Obama campaign, many through the Web site or in response to more unusual appeals, including a contest to have dinner with the candidate.

David Plouffe, the Obama campaign manager, said in an interview Sunday that more than 90 percent of the contributors to Mr. Obama could contribute again. In addition to courting major Democratic donors, the campaign has had fund-raisers across the country for donors making small contributions, focusing particularly on early-voting states, and has built a database of supporters and volunteers from events that cost as little as $5 per person.

“This gives us a deep financial base that will continue to allow us to perform strongly throughout the course of the campaign,” Mr. Plouffe said. “It also gives us a huge foundation of volunteers and organizational support.”

After spending significant money on the opening contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, the campaign will rely on a grass-roots operation in the states where primaries or caucuses are scheduled Feb. 5, Mr. Plouffe said. While the campaign focused intently on raising money in those states, he said, almost no effort was directed toward raising money beyond the primary campaign.

“The general election money,” Mr. Plouffe said, “is funny money.”

For weeks, the Clinton campaign had been seeking to lower expectations for the second fund-raising period. A memorandum sent last week by Howard Wolfson, a top strategist for the senator, estimated that she would raise “in the range of $27 million.” The campaign on Sunday had no comment on Mr. Obama’s fund-raising numbers.

While a spokesman for the Clinton campaign said a more precise figure was not available yet on Sunday, advisers to Mr. Edwards held a conference call to discuss their second quarter contributions of $9 million. After raising $14 million in the first quarter, campaign officials said they were on track to reach their goal of $40 million this year and said they were not troubled by falling behind two leading rivals.

Jonathan Prince, deputy manager of the Edwards campaign, said that slightly more than half of the $9 million — $4.7 million — came from small donations. In the first quarter, more than 80 percent of donations to the Edwards campaign were $100 and under; this quarter, more than 80 percent were $50 and under.

This reflects the campaign’s effort to expand its grass-roots base and to rely more heavily on Internet donations. Mr. Prince said the number of contributors had increased by 70,000 in this quarter to reach a total of 100,000 donors.

“This isn’t a money race, it’s a race to win the nomination,” he said. “That’s what we intend to do.”

Leslie Wayne contributed reporting from New York.