The Los Angeles Times
Tuesday 08 January 2008
The group indicates it will spend in excess of the approximately $60 million it put out in the last presidential cycle.
Washington - Alarmed at the increasingly populist tone of the 2008 political campaign, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is set to issue a fiery promise to spend millions of dollars to defeat candidates deemed to be anti-business.
"We plan to build a grass-roots business organization so strong that when it bites you in the butt, you bleed," chamber President Tom Donohue said.
The warning from the nation's largest trade association came against a background of mounting popular concern over the condition of the economy. A weak record of job creation, the sub-prime mortgage crisis, declining home values and other problems have all helped make the economy a major campaign issue.
Presidential candidates in particular have responded to the public concern. Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina has been the bluntest populist voice, but other front-running Democrats, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, have also called for change on behalf of middle-class voters.
On the Republican side, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee - emerging as an unexpected front-runner after winning the Iowa caucuses - has used populist themes in his effort to woo independent voters, blasting bonus pay for corporate chief executives and the effect of unfettered globalization on workers.
Reacting to what it sees as a potentially hostile political climate, Donohue said, the chamber will seek to punish candidates who target business interests with their rhetoric or policy proposals, including congressional and state-level candidates.
Although Donohue shied away from precise figures, he indicated that his organization would spend in excess of the approximately $60 million it spent in the last presidential cycle. That approaches the spending levels planned by the largest labor unions.
The chamber president is scheduled to announce the broad outlines of the organization's plans for the 2008 election and beyond at a news conference here today. Donohue also plans to fire a rhetorical warning shot across the bow of candidates considered unfriendly to business.
"I'm concerned about anti-corporate and populist rhetoric from candidates for the presidency, members of Congress and the media," he said. "It suggests to us that we have to demonstrate who it is in this society that creates jobs, wealth and benefits - and who it is that eats them."
In advance of today's news conference, Donohue told The Times of his plans to be active in 140 congressional districts this year, as well as the presidential contest.
At the state level, Donohue said his organization would be active in nearly four dozen contests for attorney general and state supreme courts. Both state courts and attorneys general are involved in decisions affecting business, including consumer protection and a wide range of litigation.
The chamber has become a significant force in state and national politics under Donohue's decade of leadership. Once a notably bipartisan trade association with a limited budget and limited influence, it has hugely increased its political fundraising and developed new ways to spend money on behalf of pro-business candidates.
Under Donohue, the organization has also frequently aligned itself with GOP priorities.
Since he took over the chamber, contributions by businesses have soared, often to pay for political advertising known as "issue ads," which are exempt from many of the Federal Election Commission limits.
Under a system Donohue pioneered, corporations contribute money to the chamber, which then finances attack ads targeting individual candidates without revealing the name of the businesses involved in the ads.
In 2000, drug companies paid the chamber to run advertisements in Michigan to help elect then-Republican Sen. Spencer Abraham. Pharmaceutical companies that year gave the chamber additional millions to run issue ads attacking mostly Democratic House candidates. And large corporations paid $1 million or more to support advertising campaigns against judges deemed too friendly to plaintiffs.
There has been pressure from lawsuits and government activist groups to require the chamber to reveal the source of its political funds and more details on its spending.
Donohue is not inclined to do so.
"I will disclose any funds I am legally required to disclose - and not disclose any others," Donohue said. "We are exercising our constitutional right to petition the government and we will continue to do so."
In 2004, the chamber also helped defeat Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, flooding his home state of South Dakota with money, ads and more than 50 on-the-ground organizers.
This year that kind of ground tactic is going to be more prevalent, Donohue said, noting that the chamber plans to make use of its ability to communicate freely with its 3 million member companies located in every congressional district.
In the interview Monday, Donohue said he was unhappy with anti-corporate rhetoric coming from candidates in both parties and he wanted candidates to know about the chamber's ambitious plans.
Donohue is not likely to name names at his news conference, but there is no doubt he is unhappy about Huckabee.
The concerns Donohue expresses reveal apprehension that Republican pro-business candidates may lose favor with voters and that the GOP's important but fragile alliance between economic and social conservatives is showing signs of strain.
Even more than Republicans, Democratic candidates have boosted the volume of populist messages as the economy softens. Edwards, whose trial lawyer past has been openly criticized by Donohue for years, launched new advertisements that warn against the danger of replacing "corporate Republicans with corporate Democrats."
The middle class, Edwards says in the new ad, is "losing ground while CEOs pocket million-dollar bonuses and corporate lobbyists get their way in Washington."
Donohue, in effect the nation's leading business advocate, kicked back hard at some of the leading Democratic proposals on taxes, labor law and the courts.
If that agenda succeeds, he said, Democrats "will be gone from power for at least 40 years," though he acknowledged that the political rhetoric might moderate after the primary season.
"People on the other side have been very strong in the way they play in legislation and elections. We intend to do the same," he said.
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In New Hampshire, Negative Signs for Romney
By Jonathan Stein
Mother Jones
Sunday 06 January 2008
If you were to guess the location of a Mitt Romney campaign event, what would it be?
A corporate office? A country club?
Try both. This morning in New Hampshire, the former Massachusetts Governor appeared at the Timberland world headquarters in Stratham, New Hampshire, and then moved to the Nashua Country Club in Nashua. His appearances in both locations, along with multiple events by Senator John McCain also held today, show why Romney will likely get beaten by his main competitor in tomorrow's primary election.
Romney has held campaign events at corporate headquarters before; a campaign official today could identify at least three, including today's at Timberland. The crowds are always sizable, said the official, and the campaign doesn't need to work to turn out attendees since they are already at the site for the day jobs. But if Governor Romney is anticipating a conservative and business-friendly audience, he's mistaken.
For beginners, Timberland is a progressive company, committed to social responsibility. It uses soy-based inks and 100 percent recycled post-consumer waste fiber boxes. People attending today's event passed solar arrays out front and displays in the lobby that demonstrated how the company takes advantage of recycling opportunities (next to a giant pile of plastic bottles was a sign explaining that Timberland uses recycled plastic to make the lining of its boots). The company houses and sponsors the non-profit organization City Year.
So when I headed into the event's auditorium, I suspected Romney wasn't hitting his target audience. Before the event began, I surveyed people and found I was right. Of the 17 people I spoke with, two said they were committed to Romney, one said she was leaning toward him, and the other 14 said they were "learning more about him," which could mean they were considering him or just playing hooky from work.
Ten of the 17 called themselves independents, four said they were conservatives, and three said they were liberals. Not the right mix for someone who has tried to position himself to the right of his opponents on issues like national security, immigration, and gay marriage. After Romney finished speaking, he turned to the crowd for questions. People were slow to rise to their feet. Eventually, three people did ask questions, one of whom was distributing leaflets on Israel beforehand and used her question to promote her agenda. The same lack of excitement characterized Romney's crowds in Iowa a few days before he lost to Mike Huckabee in that state's caucuses.
Afterwards, I poked my head into the cafeteria and found five City Year employees, all young men and women. I asked if any of them were more likely to vote for Romney after the event. I got grimaces and awkward giggles. Most stared at the table. None responded.
I traveled from the Timberland offices to the Nashua Country Club, where Romney's audience was composed of the sorts of folks who chose to wear suits and blazers even though they were taking the afternoon off from work. Here, Romney probably found the pro-business audience he was seeking at Timberland. He repeatedly made reference to his history at Bain by saying, "I spent my life doing what you do." He wasn't referring to carpentry.
Romney made two main points at these events. The first is that he is the candidate of change in the Republican field. Twice at Timberland he said, "Washington. Broken." Later he added, "I'm the candidate that's going to fight for change. I will change Washington. I spent my life changing things." Barack Obama won Iowa on a message of change, said Romney, and he beat three senators with years of experience. If the Republican nominate McCain, Romney repeatedly predicted, Obama will do to him what he did to Biden, Dodd, and Clinton. (Romney has co-opted Obama and Edwards' rhetoric thoroughly. Today, he promised to "get the lobbyists out of the way.")
The second point of emphasis for Romney was his "To Do" list. After the Iowa caucuses, Romney broke out a long banner with the twelve things he hopes to accomplish as president. Though they incorporate just about every goal of conservative governance, they did not include balancing the budget, a major mistake in a state where both Republican and independent voters are famed for valuing fiscal restraint. Sure enough, at town hall event Sunday, a voter rose and asked Romney why balancing the budget wasn't on the list. Today, it had been taped on at the bottom. Two additional blank spaces were left, in case voters suggested Romney do anything else.
It was, after all, a "To Do" list. To do's are like chores, not principles.
John McCain's events today were drastically different. McCain routinely appears at outdoor events in front of city halls, town centers, and main squares. He did so today in Nashua, Keene, Concord, Manchester, and Exeter. Though people at these events frequently have to wait in the cold for McCain, easily as many turned out today as did for Romney's events in posh digs.
Also interesting is the fact that McCain doesn't seem to care that he can't control the environment at his outdoor events. At his rally in front of the State House in Concord, Ron Paul fans turned out in equal numbers of the McCain folks, and held up as many signs. The Iraq Veterans Against the War bus was parked next to the event, and peace protestors were common. At the event in front of the Exeter Town Hall, people stood holding signs saying, "Stop McCain's Amnesty." (When I asked these people who had sent them, they declined to say. When I asked them who they planned to vote for, they all identified Mitt Romney.)
McCain focused heavily on foreign policy at his event in Exeter. "I will get Osama bin Laden if I have to follow him to the gates of hell," he said. "We are succeeding in Iraq," he said later, adding that if he is president, the troops with "come home with honor, not in defeat. Not in defeat!" Even if it takes a thousand years.
He also said that a McCain victory in New Hampshire would prove that "an honorable campaign" that doesn't try to "buy an election" through negative advertisements could win.
The standard attendee at McCain's events is as committed as the most committed attendee at Mitt Romney's events. McCain supporters take signs home by the fistful and some have built massive contraptions onto their cars to outfit them with McCain paraphernalia. With the exception of one young man who said he was also considering Obama, all the attendees in Exeter that I spoke to before and after the event said they were committed to McCain. "I was with Romney until I heard McCain speak earlier [last year], now I'm with McCain," said Jim Waddell, a retired schoolteacher from Hampton, NH.
If Mitt Romney gets beat in New Hampshire on the heels of his Iowa loss, even though he spent more money in both states than his competitors, it will prove one thing: any state that gets prolonged exposure to Mitt Romney doesn't want to vote for him.
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