I tell ya what, I sure like his mom. She reminds me of me.
Obama's mom: Not just a girl from Kansas -- chicagotribune.com
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Those folks on the Edwards blog have looked at both of the candidates a lot thoroughly than I've seen anyone do thus far. Here's another link I found there.
Candidates' war chest management may offer clues
THE NEW YORK TIMES
April 17, 2007
WASHINGTON - The American public has given about $160 million to the 2008 presidential candidates so far this year, more than four times the total contributed to campaigns in the same period four years ago.
Much of the money went into the pockets of the political class: media, fundraising and political consultants. But each campaign doled out its contributions differently, often in unexpected ways that may provide some insights into the candidates.
Mitt Romney, the Republican who is by far the richest candidate in either party, was stingiest with his salaries for staff members, often had them fly on discount airlines and put up aides in accommodations as humble as a Super 8 in Parsippany, N.J.
Sen. John McCain, the Vietnam war hero whose Republican primary campaign spent the highest percentage of income during the quarter, paid nearly $11,000 for photography and $1,671 for flowers.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who irked donors during her last Senate campaign by running up heavy bills for such amenities, spent just $205 for photos and $89 for flowers, according to the campaign's filings.
Sen. Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat, has told some donors that their support enables him to run a new kind of campaign by refusing fundraising help from federal lobbyists, but a list of his top fundraisers released over the weekend shows his campaign has defined the term in a way that allows him to accept contributions from people who were federal lobbyists at the start of his campaign.
One of the best-known Democratic donors on his list of 130 top fundraisers, Alan Solomont, was registered as a federal lobbyist as recently as the last filing period for such registrations, at the end of 2006.
Solomont, who helped raise more than $35 million for Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign in 2004, founded a nursing home and assisted-living company. During the administration of Bill Clinton, some Republicans claimed that he had used his clout as a fundraiser to argue against tougher regulations of nursing homes.
Last year, he reported more than $90,000 in income from lobbying the federal government about Medicare and Medicaid.
In an interview, Solomont said he had withdrawn his lobbyist registration as soon as he signed on as a fundraiser for Obama.
"When I joined the campaign, I ended that," he said.
Bill Burton, a spokesman for Obama, said accepting help from a recently former lobbyist did not breach the campaign's policy.
"The point of this ban of federal lobbyists' donations," Burton said, "is that we don't want the fundraising help of someone who is currently lobbying the federal government."
The Obama campaign already has acknowledged that its lobbyist ban is an imperfect, symbolic gesture. Like those of Obama's rivals, the campaign has sought financial support from an array of other influence-seekers, including lobbyists who work at the state level, federal public affairs advocates who are not registered as lobbyists, and the chief executives of companies with strong interest in federal policy and legislation.
Obama's supporters note that his principal rival, Clinton, has enlisted the support of several registered lobbyists among her "Hillraisers," as she calls her top donors.
McCain's campaign, which trailed its rivals in fundraising (with about $15 million), but outpaced them in spending (about $11 million), had the highest-paid staff of any campaign in either party.
Nine of the roughly 150 people listed on his payroll earned more than $25,000 in the first quarter, including the political strategist Michael Dennehy, whose $51,925 earnings made him the highest-paid staff member listed on any campaign, and Terry Nelson, who made $36,173.
Rudolph Giuliani, the Republican former mayor of New York, paid seven staffers more than $25,000, led by his campaign manager, Mike DuHaime, who earned $44,375.
Clinton paid three staff members more than $25,000, and Obama paid only one that much. None of Romney's roughly 150 staff members made that much.