Nov 16, 2007 -- CQ: Obama's PAC Targets Early Primary States for Local Giving
By: Alex Knott

Barack Obama has been the most aggressive of presidential candidates in using his leadership PAC to help the campaigns of state and local candidates ‑ and not coincidentally, the funds spent that way have gone to Democrats in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. More than one-third of his leadership PAC money is being used this way.

Usually, leadership PAC money is used for national party-building, including helping other members of Congress, or local candidates in the home state.

While the practice of using these PACS to cement a politician's power base while also helping their party's chances in elections is nothing new, Obama and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. are the only ones among the Democratic candidates to make active use of this. Among Republican Presidential candidates, only former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani appears to be using leadership PAC money this way, albeit to a much lesser extent.

"Hopefund," established by Obama, made a total of $118,000 in donations to local parties and politicians through Nov. 5, the campaign reported this week.

Even though federal campaign finance law requires that leadership PAC donations be spent only on "party-building," and not for the benefit of the donor's own political prospects, it appears that Obama faces little risk of accusations that he is skirting the law.

"As a practical matter, it is fair to characterize the donations as strategic and with the intent of building support within key presidential election states," said Paul S. Ryan, an attorney at the non-profit and non-partisan Campaign Legal Center. But, Ryan added, "This is sort of a classic example, where even though the activities do not pass the smell test, they are nevertheless legal under our campaign finance statutes."

Some of the money donated by Hopefund this year has gone to committees and candidates who have endorsed Obama and spoken on his behalf. Hopefund made a $1,000 donation to the campaign treasury of New Hampshire Democrat Martha Fuller-Clark, a state senator who in 2002 and 2004 was the party's U.S. House nominee in the state's 1st District; she is listed as a member of a group named the New Hampshire Women for Obama. Similarly, $1,000 donations went to South Carolina state Rep. Todd Rutherford, who endorsed Obama, and New Hampshire state Sen. Jackie Cilley, who is listed as a supporter on Obama's Web site.

Bill Burton, a spokesman for Obama, played down the large amount of non-federal donations that Hopefund has made in the early primary and caucus states, saying that when one adds in the larger amounts that were made in federal contributions, "The majority has gone all over the country."

An analysis by CQ MoneyLine bears out this claim. Approximately 60 percent of all money contributed by Hopefund this cycle has gone to states besides Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Yet even a good chunk of the $329,000 Hopefund has given to campaigns for Senate and House races — $57,000, to be exact — has been heavily focused on those states holding early presidential voting events. The PAC has donated to all four Democrats in Iowa's congressional delegation — Sen. Tom Harkin , who is up for re-election in 2008, and Reps. Bruce Braley , Dave Loebsack and Leonard L. Boswell — as well as Selden E. Spencer, who is challenging Rep. Tom Latham in one of the state's two Republican-held districts. Hopefund also gave donations to Paul W. Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter , the Democrats who in 2006 captured both of New Hampshire's U.S. House seats from Republican incumbents.

Obama's efforts contrast with those of most other presidential contenders whose leadership PACs have been relatively inactive during the current campaign cycle, the exceptions being Biden and Giuliani.

Biden's Unite Our States leadership PAC reported spending more than $47,000 during recent months in the three states so favored by Obama's Hopefund plus Nevada, which also has early presidential caucuses.

Like Obama, Biden also received the endorsements of some local politicians in primary states to whom he donated. At least three of the Iowa state legislators who have endorsed Biden received contributions to their election committees in the first six months of 2007 from United Our States. Iowa state Senate President Jack Kibbie, whose campaign committee received $1,000 from Biden's PAC, later hosted a party at his house in Iowa at which Biden made an appearance and a speech. Other Biden PAC donations were followed by endorsements from New Hampshire state Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, South Carolina state Rep. Jerry Govan, and South Carolina state Sen. Glenn Reese.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani appears to be the only Republican who has used a leadership PAC to make donations to non-federal candidates this year, including $35,000 split among local and state Republican Party committees in his home state of New York and the campaign organization of Daniel M. Donovan Jr., the district in the county that encompasses the New York City borough of Staten Island. Giuliani's fund, Solutions America PAC, made a $5,000 donation in South Carolina, which went to U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson 's campaign treasuries, but its other federal campaign donations also went homeward, to the campaigns of New York Republican Reps. Vito J. Fossella , Rep. Peter T. King and Rep. James T. Walsh .