Outside groups plot out fall political campaign

WASHINGTON (AP) - For all the money and competitive zeal of this year's presidential contest, Democrats and Republicans are having difficulty financing and organizing the independent groups that supplied so much outside muscle in recent presidential campaigns.

A few independent groups already are active: Ads portraying Obama as weak on terrorism are circulating over the Internet. And messages from organized groups questioning McCain's commitment to veterans and government reform are posted on their Web sites.

But, hindered by tougher regulatory enforcement, a drawn-out primary campaign and cease-and-desist signals from the two front-running candidates, so-called "527" groups - named after a tax code provision - have been slow to coalesce.

Members of Obama's finance team earlier this month urged his donors not to finance the 527 groups, and called on them to instead work with his campaign directly. The message has left many donors and group organizers seeking clarity from the campaign.

On the Republican side, many big dollar donors are not particularly enthusiastic about pouring millions of dollars into outside groups to help McCain, who has been a longtime critic of 527 organizations.

Cleta Mitchell, a campaign finance lawyer who advises such outside groups, said conservatives are not showing much interest in the presidential race, focusing instead on congressional contests and state judicial races.

"To be quite honest, these are grass-root activists and they're not all that enamored with McCain," she said. "This is what they say: 'We need to have as many conservatives as we can scrounge together in every other office because whoever is in the White House we'll probably be fighting with them on a lot of issues.'"

Among Democrats, groups and donors are unwilling to publicly criticize Obama. But they stress that independent organizations need money to carry out their message, not just at the presidential campaign level, but down-ballot as well. They worry Obama may freeze the resources of Democratic-leaning 527 groups and other nonprofit organizations operating in the political arena.

"This is a change election and there needs to be change agents elected in congressional races and in the White House," said David Donnelly, director of Campaign Money Watch, a 527 group that has accused McCain of backing away from his longtime advocacy of legislation limiting the influence of money in politics. "We will be trying to raise and spend money for paid media in races where candidates' positions on reform can be an issue."

Obama aides said they are not trying to cut out groups that are not involved in the presidential contest. But, said Obama spokesman Bill Burton, "We've been clear, if folks want to help out our campaign, they should do it through our campaign."

Some liberal and labor groups, such as MoveOn.org and the Service Employees International Union, are already airing anti-McCain ads paid through their political action committees. But neither Obama nor McCain has aimed criticism at PACs because they operate under stricter fundraising and reporting regulations than 527 groups do. PACS, for instance, cannot receive unlimited donations from wealthy contributors and can't get money from corporations or unions.

What 527 groups ultimately do depends on how lawyers advising these groups interpret a series of Federal Election Commission cases over the past two years that heavily fined 527 organizations that participated in the 2004 presidential election.

Among those fined was the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which raised unsubstantiated allegations about John Kerry's Vietnam war record. The FEC has since adopted rules that say groups can air "issue ads" but can't criticize the character of a candidate.

"We can't do in 2008 what we did in 2004," said Chris LaCivita, a Republican operative who worked on the Swift Boat ad campaign. "Everything has to be issue based."

Donors on either side also have not focused on the general election yet, given that the Democratic contests between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is still under way. Republican donors, if not ambivalent about McCain's candidacy, have wanted to wait to make sure who the Democratic opponent would be.

At the same time, Republicans fear that the Democratic side will be far better financed. Both Obama and Clinton have proven to be prodigious fundraisers - together raising more than $400 million so far. Labor unions are expected to spend millions during the general election. And liberal donors have set up an overarching 527 group called Fund for America designed to funnel money to various groups participating in this year's election. Already this year, the group distributed more than $5 million to a number of organizations, ranging from VoteVets.org, a veteran's organization critical of the war in Iraq, to America Votes, a voter mobilization group.

A conservative nonprofit group called Freedom's Watch, launched by former White House officials and donors friendly to President Bush, initially formed to be an influential voice in government policy. But it has focused more on congressional elections and has yet to weigh in on presidential politics. Former White House counselor Karl Rove has been mentioned in Republican circles as a possible organizer for a 527 group who could attract donors with his reputation for political mastery.

Both Obama and McCain have criticized outside efforts and have called on groups that organized on their behalf early in the primaries to back off.

Obama's campaign took the unusual step of filing an FEC complaint against fellow Democrats who are backing Clinton's candidacy, claiming their group, the American Leadership Project, was violating campaign finance laws.

On Friday, the McCain campaign issued a "Campaign conflict policy" for its staff that specifically barred any staffer from participating in a 527 group that supports or opposes a presidential candidate. On Thursday, the campaign asked Craig Shirley to step down as a member of McCain's Virginia leadership team because he was behind a 527 group that has been criticizing Clinton and Obama on the Web.

Still, the Republican and Democratic camps view each other warily. In guerrilla fashion, attacks from the left and the right are already under way.

From the left, a Web video distributed by Steve Rosenthal, a Democratic consultant and longtime labor political strategist, makes an issue of McCain's age in song and rhyme. "John McCain is older than the Golden Gate Bridge. He's younger than Bob Dole but only by a smidge."

An ad distributed by e-mail to more than a million conservatives by a group called The National Campaign Fund cites Obama's opposition to the death penalty for gang members in Illinois. "When the time came to get tough, Obama chose to be weak," the ad states. The group is chaired by Floyd Brown, a longtime conservative activist.

Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 at 08:00:15 PM
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