The Trail

Sunday, December 30, 2007

A ROUND OF MEMOS

Funding for Edwards Sparks Controversy

John Edwards's populist message has, without a doubt, helped distinguish him from the other Democratic candidates in Iowa.

But a central tenet of that message -- that he is campaigning free from the influence of the powerful forces that control Washington -- is being challenged in light of the most recent federal election filings by one of the outside groups advocating on his behalf, and has sparked a round of dueling memos by the managers of the Barack Obama and the Edwards campaigns.

As The Washington Post reported Friday, the independent expenditure group Alliance for a New America recently received nearly $500,000 from Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, a 97-year-old socialite who is the widow of Paul Mellon and daughter-in-law of industrialist Andrew Mellon. It is at least the second check that Mellon has written to an Edwards-affiliated entity. The first, for $250,000, came in 2006, to the One America independent group, which helped support Edwards's political efforts between his presidential bids.

"These latest revelations make it clear why Edwards was able to announce that he could accept public funds while still spending all he needed to spend in Iowa," wrote Obama campaign manager David Plouffe in memo released Saturday morning. "His campaign simply exploited the biggest loophole in the campaign finance system in order to get public matching funds while arranging through allies to benefit from a 527. That's how they avoided the spending limits that are a condition of the public matching funds."

Edwards invoked the Mellon family name a month ago, and for very different reasons, when a New Hampshire voter at a town-hall meeting in Bow asked about the last time a president stood up to powerful, wealthy forces in America.

"The ones who are best known are not recent," Edwards said. "I mean Teddy Roosevelt did it, he did it very clearly, and he did it, I might add, in a time where there was a huge concentration of wealth and power, because he was back in the days when -- you know, some people refer to it as the Gilded Age -- back in the period where, you know, the Rockefellers and the Mellons and the Carnegies, all these people, owned most of America or a big chunk of America, and they used their money and power to dominate what was happening in the government and to dominate what was happening in the economy.

"If we continue in the cycle -- which is what's happening now -- if we continue in the cycle where what we do is we try to see, you know, who can raise the most money from whomever they can get it from to win this election and then be beholden to the people who helped them, nothing will change. That's my whole point. Nothing will change."

Edwards, who announced Saturday that he would not allow corporate lobbyists to serve in his White House if elected, brushed off his rival's criticism.

"I'm very proud of my record," he told the Associated Press. "Unlike other candidates, including Senator Obama, I've never take money from a Washington lobbyist, never taken money from a PAC."

-- Matthew Mosk

MATTERS OF STATE

Clinton Campaigns With Ohio Governor

CLINTON, Iowa -- Any presidential candidate likes to campaign with the governor by her side. But the governor at Hillary Clinton's side Saturday was not Iowa's. It was Ohio's.

Subtle? Not even close. The message: Nominate me, and I'll win next fall in Ohio, the state that cost Democrats the 2004 election. "Iowa may be the most important first state," Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland said here before introducing Clinton. "And Ohio may be the most important general election state."

Strickland's presence is Clinton's electability argument for the day as Iowa voters ponder whether she would be the Democrat best able to win a general election despite her high negative ratings in the polls. Strickland told the crowds in Iowa that Clinton is leading Ohio polls. "I would not have endorsed her, in spite of all the respect I have for her, were it not for the fact that I am convinced she is the candidate who can win in November 2008," he said.

Taking questions from reporters at an earlier stop in Eldridge, Clinton said the support of so many elected Democrats across the country bolstered her argument. "They are not on a political suicide mission," she said.

Clinton dismissed -- without naming them -- her main rivals, Barack Obama and John Edwards, both of whom came through Saturday. She portrayed them as people who had never really accomplished anything. "What really matters is: What have you done?" she said. "What have you done that has made a difference in people's lives other than your own?" she asked. "I'm not asking you to take me on faith. I'm not asking you to take a leap of faith."

She seemed to be mocking Obama in particular when she sarcastically talked about how nice it would be to offer gauzy dreams and promise to bring everyone together and "feel so happy." She added, "I guess I've lived long enough and read enough of history, read the Bible, to know that's not the way things happen."

-- Peter Baker