PAC money put to work by Obama

Two weeks after Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) won the first endorsement of a lawmaker from Iowa or New Hampshire, a new fundraising report shows that he has spent the past two months using money from his leadership political action committee (PAC) to court them.  

Obama showered lawmakers from Iowa and New Hampshire with contributions while other presidential hopefuls turned their focus to raising money for their presidential campaign accounts, records show.   

{mosads}Presidential campaigns covet the endorsements of lawmakers from these two states because they will host two of the first contests of the 2008 presidential primary.

In June, Obama gave $5,000 contributions from his PAC, Hopefund, to every Democratic member of Congress from Iowa and New Hampshire. On June 15, he gave to Reps. Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire, and Reps. Bruce Braley, David Loebsack and Leonard Boswell of Iowa. At the end of the month, he wrote a $5,000 check to Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

Obama’s wooing paid off last month. On July 26, Hodes became the first lawmaker from Iowa or New Hampshire to make an endorsement in the Democratic primary, throwing his support to Obama.

Hodes said last week that Obama’s rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), and the other Democratic presidential contenders had called him often to seek his endorsement. But Obama had spent the most time on the phone with him.

“I was able to spend a lot of good quality time with a number of candidates during the last election cycle as well as during the primary process,” said Hodes.

But Hodes said Obama’s “approach was more personal … He and I talked on the phone a number of times and kept in touch. He called me more often than the other candidates.”

Hodes said he appreciated Obama’s money contribution to his reelection account, but added, “I’m not for sale. This is not about money for me. This about what I ultimately think is the best thing to do for the country.”

Shea-Porter said she is getting a “respectful amount of attention” from the Democratic White House hopefuls but doesn’t plan to endorse a candidate before the January primary.

 Shea-Porter also said she doesn’t keep track of who gives to her reelection fund.

Harkin is indeed tracking contributions and is grateful for Obama’s money. “I’ve already thanked him for it, and I’m going after the other ones, too,” he said, referring to potential contributions from other presidential contenders to pay for his 2008 reelection race. “I’ve asked them for it; I’m up next time.”

Harkin said that he doubts he’ll endorse someone before the Iowa caucuses but that he has given candidates advice on how to win the state. He advised Obama and others to pay attention to voters in rural areas of the state, he said.

“Candidates tend to get sucked into Des Moines and Waterloo and Cedar Rapids and Iowa City,” he said. “I told them all [not to] forget about these rural small counties, because you get more bang for the buck out there.

“I said you really have to look at a rural strategy,” added Harkin, who said he spoke to Obama recently but would not reveal details.

Fundraising records of other candidates’ PACs show no contributions in the past six months to government officials from important primary states.

Clinton’s Hill PAC, former Sen. John Edwards’s (D-N.C.) One America Committee, Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) CHRIS PAC, Sen. Joe Biden’s (D-Del.) Unite Our States PAC, Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) Straight Talk America PAC and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s (R) Commonwealth PAC showed no such contributions during the first half of 2007.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) are not known to have leadership PACs on file with the Federal Election Commission.