Martin Eisenstadt’s Blog

In response to a commenter on my last post about McCain fundraisers living the “Sex & the City” lifestyle, I wasn’t being facetious, and sure, I’ll give you a quick fact (it really doesn’t take long to look this stuff up). On Obama’s July campaign disbursement form, he says he gave $4 million to a company called “AB Data.” Of course, the Milwaukee Business Journal says it’s more like $8 million. AB Data is an online campaign fundraising company whose other clients include the pot-smoking Drug Policy Alliance Network, whose own website says its policy is “to end the war on drugs.” To quote:

DPA Network is the nation’s leading organization working to end the war on drugs….. The Drug Policy Alliance Network and its partner organization, the Drug Policy Alliance, are working hard state by state to educate lawmakers about marijuana and to make cannabis available….

This is who Obama is giving his money to.

AB Data is run by Dick Swett-loving “philanthropy-expert” Bruce Arbit.

The Paris Problem was the tip of the iceberg. What the McCain campaign can ill-afford to do is further antagonize our own supporters. We need to quiet grumbling among our own contributors and volunteers about how much our hardworking fundraising consultants are getting paid. People like New York Finance Chair Tamara Hallisey, who’ve earned at least $148,000 since the start of the year. Likewise, I hear that the latest attack we should expect from the Obama-holier-than-thou crowd is that the McCain campaign is using unlimited “victory committees” to pay fundraising staff for the work they do for the official “restricted” campaign fund while John takes the high road on public financing.

Up(state) with People: Rachel McGregor fundraises in Albany

Apparently, a few people noticed in my Paris Hilton post that hedge fund king Peter G. Peterson of the Blackstone Group gave $30,800 to John McCain this spring. Wait a minute, they asked, isn’t there a limit of $2,300 for campaign contributions (for the primary, and again for the general)? Yes, but if you look closely, you’ll see he didn’t give the money to the campaign. It went to the “John McCain Victory Committee.” Entirely different entities.

The only problem is that some on the left are whining that the Victory Committee is a shell used to get around campaign finance laws and the public financing restrictions that John abides by. Specifically, they’re pointing to Victory Committee disbursements to campaign fundraisers like Tamara Hallisey and Rachel McGregor of the Hallisey Group in New York (and yes, Rachel did attend Barry Goldwater High School in Arizona!), or Corinne Lovas in Arizona. All very talented - and on a personal note, I might add, quite fetching - fundraisers. They also complain that their work is being promoted by the official campaign and then they’re funneling money to the Victory Committee.

Tamara Hallisey with the Senator

Liberal grousing that it looks like they were paid by the Victory committee for work they did to raise funds for the official campaign (JohnMcCain 2008), or complaints from our own supporters that they’ve been getting rich by double dipping from both the Campaign and Victory Committee budgets is just not a big deal, people. For example, campaign reports show that Tamara Hallisey was paid only $55,755 from John McCain 2008 since January. It was her Hallisey Group that received an additional $62,500 from JM2008 plus $30,000 from the Victory Committee. Meanwhile, Tamara’s able 26-year-old associate Rachel was paid only $53,603 from the campaign, and $13,000 from the Victory Committee since the start of the year. Did you see “Sex in the City“? It’s expensive to look good in New York and do the tough job they’re doing finding money in the middle of Hillary Clinton territory. Trust me, I took the Acela up from DC this week, and Manhattan in the summer is a sweltering hub of liberal elitism. I can only imagine what it’s like walking around here in Manolo stilettos and trying not to step on Obama supporters littering the streets.

Face it - this is a Presidential campaign. The staff is idealistic, the pace is frantic, and the accounting is inevitably a little sloppy. For example, our beancounters didn’t file campaign disbursements with the FEC for February or perhaps January, and it looks like the July Quarterlies don’t include some payments made in the June Monthly figures. Look, John’s been the first to say he’s no expert on economic issues. No matter. I have no doubt that similar - if not worse - accusations could be leveled at the Obama campaign.

For the couple of naysayers out there who questioned my sourcing on last week’s post about Paris Hilton’s family being upset with the McCain campaign for comparing her to Barack Obama, I simply say the proof is in the pudding.

Paris’ mom Kathy Hilton wrote this in the Huffington Post yesterday:

I’ve been asked again and again for my response to the now infamous McCain celebrity ad. I actually have three responses. It is a complete waste of the money John McCain’s contributors have donated to his campaign. It is a complete waste of the country’s time and attention at the very moment when millions of people are losing their homes and their jobs. And it is a completely frivolous way to choose the next President of the United States.

Told you it was a bad idea to piss off your own contributors.

UPDATE:  Paris herself responds in her own “campaign commercial.”

Have the Jonas Brothers taken a cue from world celebrity Barack Obama and shunned their own religion?  I have it on good authority that at tonight’s Teen Choice Awards on Fox (actually taped last night, and attended by my 11-year-old niece), the Jonas Brothers make a surprise guest appearance and stole the show right from under the perky nose of host Miley Cyrus.

A couple quick points: the so-called JoBros thanked everyone under the sun for their success (parents, Disney, et al), and even “the Big Man who’s with them everywhere they go.” God? Jesus? Allah? Nope. They meant their enormous bodyguard, Big Rob. Why is this relevant? Because as some angry commenters wrote the last time I mentioned the Jonas Brothers, they apparently come from a deeply religious family and their early work was often identified as Christian rock. Of course, this was before Disney got a hold of them and packaged them for the masses. I would suggest that the Jonas Brothers had to lose their religion to attract the broadest audience - in the same way Barack Obama had to sever his ties to Rev. Jeremiah Wright before he could assume the Democratic nomination.

The Flying Jonas Brothers at the TCAs

Compare this to Miley (aka Hannah Montana) Cyrus. She made a point of thanking Jesus Christ first and foremost in her speech. Yet another way of sticking it to her Disney masters? Maybe. It seems the clock is ticking on how long Ms. Cyrus is hanging around the House of Mouse before becoming the next Hilary Duff, or worse, Lindsay Lohan. (again, thanks to my niece for that analysis).

In the battle of preteen hearts and minds, The Jonas Brothers’ ascension over Miley Cyrus is very much like Barack Obama’s triumph over Hillary Clinton. Yes, girls want to cheer and adore their self-empowerment peer with the million-dollar smile (one actual Hannah Montana lyric: “Who said, who said I won’t be President? I say, I say you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”). But when push comes to shove, young girls would rather swoon for the cute boys. That’s just human nature.

So to my colleagues on the McCain campaign, the take home lesson is don’t count on getting any of those Hillary women to cross over to the GOP (even with a Carly Fiorina or Gov. Sarah Palin in the veep spot). At the end of the day, they’ll vote with their hearts not their heads. And they’ll vote for the cute boy. Barack Obama’s not a celebrity for nothing.

(Final note on the Jonas Brothers: They conspicuously were NOT wearing their trademark keffiyehs - no scarves, no ascots, no cravats neither. I guess Disney’s been reading my blog, and took our criticism to heart.)

My last post about Paris Hilton’s family getting angered over the recent McCain ad definitely generated a firestorm in both the MSM and on the blogosphere - even a related lead story on The Daily Show. I, myself, have subsequently had several interview requests in the last couple of days, and I’m trying to oblige them all.

Naturally, some in the McCain campaign have taken me to task for stating the fairly obvious point that putting Paris Hilton in an ad had angered her very generous family members. But my associate Jimmy did the math:

The McCain Celebrity ad has been seen by over 1.3 million people - on YouTube alone. By comparison, only 3,911 people in America saw Paris Hilton’s last film, “The Hottie and the Nottie.” (US box office gross of $25,696 divided by average ticket price of $7.08) One could argue that the McCain ad was the best thing to happen to Paris Hilton since she started wearing underwear again.

And if the controversy surrounding it means that more people are watching the McCain ad, going to the McCain website and starting to talk about John McCain again since Obama’s so-called triumphant trip abroad, then it’s a good thing for the campaign, too, and has more than made up for the little friction with the Hilton family.

John McCain will smooth things over with William Barron Hilton and Rick Hilton. Their roots together are too deep to let a little mention of Paris get in the way. People forget that as twice chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committe, McCain has dealt with the Hiltons and their Indian casino interests for years (a decade ago, Hilton spun off its gaming operations into Park Place Entertainment, which subsequently became Caesars Entertainment - at one point the largest casino business in the world - and then sold to Harrah’s for $9 billion). Hilton Hotels - and its new owner, The Blackstone Group - of course, is still involved in the Indian gaming world. As well they should be.