New numbers coming in:

With Obama now firmly in charge of the DNC, and directing his big-dollar donors in its direction, the DNC is finally competitive with the RNC. Combined, the Obama/DNC combo is now near parity with the McCain/RNC pairing. That didn't take long to close the gap. This month, the GOP gets left in the dust, and given that their current heavy spending isn't making much of a difference, that truly is a whiff of desperation you're smelling from the McCain camp.

Meanwhile, our two party committees are crushing their counterparts. The NRCC, in particular, is in woeful straits, and won't be in any position to provide its members or candidates any help whatsoever. Remember -- this is the month that included their big annual Bush fundraiser. They ain't got any more of those on tap.

The NRSC on the other hand has got enough money to play some respectable defense, though little more. The NRCC can't even offer that. But across the board, Democrats will be on the attack this November, with little Republicans can do except fill up some sandbags and hope the rising waters don't crest.

Over the last few days the McCain camp has started to get desperate with all the good news for Obama. So what does a campaign run by the architect of negative campaigning do?

Do some good 'ole negative campaigning of course. Here's a recap.

This is my first installment of research for our diarist clammyc.  I had emailed this wonderful diarist when he posted asking for volunteers to lend research to his "hopefully" ongoing .series "It's time to stop Defending Obama" and go on the offensive against McCain.  Since I do research for my local Democratic Club and some local candidates, I have found in my freetime I love to research the Republicans. I have really had my eyes opened.  Call me naive, but I had no idea of the extent of the corruption and dishonesty that permeates the Republican Party and has for years.  I knew I never liked their ideas but researching them on a broader field than just local politics has shown this proud Democrat that while there indeed are some not so savory characters in the Democratic party (which seems to be a disease that afflicts all politicans,) but what I am finding as I follow the tangled web of connections, is that they all tend to lead directly to George Bush, Karl Rove, the RNC and yes, the candidate himself, John McCain.

I ask that clammyc use this diary as one of his installments so please feel free sammyc to post this in your diary as a continuation of your efforts.

I read this article on the CNN website and was surprised at the enthusiasm disparity between the Democratic and Republican nominees

See article here regarding the fundraising "edge" that the RNC/McSame have over the DNC/Obama.  A few things in there confused me, I was hoping fellow Kossacks could help.  Most of my befuddlement comes from the whole "primary election" funds vs. "general election" funds distinction, though media bias in general also had me scratching my head.

Expected out of the McCain camp this afternoon, The Obama Iraq Documentary: Whatever Politics Demand:

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today announced that U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), U.S. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), U.S. Senator John Thune (R-SD), U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and U.S. Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA), will participate in a press conference to unveil a new campaign video entitled, "The Obama Iraq Documentary: Whatever the Politics Demand" on Thursday, July 17th at 3:30 p.m. EDT at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, DC.

Four years ago...

This  is a rebuttal of  the
McCain raises $62.5 million through public finance loophole
diary,  which is on the rec list despite being  almost libelous.
The diary  accuses McCain of "violating his public financing pledge"
(in "grand style") by "exploiting a loophole".
Rational minds must disagree:
the factual  truth is that  this is just how the process works .
My comment from all the way back on JUNE 25 accuses the Obama campaign
of pissing away $84M for September and October by FAILING to
do THE SAME thing that the McCain campaign "is accused of" doing in the diary.

For those who didn't click the links:
The McCain campaign is (surprise, surprise)
soliciting and routing donations to the Republican National Committee.
Meanwhile, the Obama campaign, for better or for worse,
is not bragging about the fact that it is asking people
to donate to the Democratic National Committee.

Just a quick diary here. The DNC and Obama need our help. We know McCain's fundraising has been weak, and Obama's has been stellar, but currently McCain + RNC has about $100 million dollars.  The RNC was quietly raising funds while we battled it out in our primary. So please give anything you can!

If you need more of a push remember:

Remember the DNC and Obama are NOT taking money from lobbyists and need small donors!

Remember the DNC and Obama and our friend Dean are running a 50 state strategy!

Remember Obama isn't afraid to attack McCain-- this is the year that our gloves come off!

Below the jump is a video from Obama's manager, David Plouffe detailing the situation I just described.

Before you watch the video, and recommend this diary (so everyone sees it and dumps money into the Democratic coffers) give your own donation. Whatever you can:

DNC
Obama

The Republican National Committee has put up a web site where users can submit ideas for its platform.  Obviously, they have figured out that "more of the same" isn't going to win in November.  We all know, however, that the GOP has no interest in platform ideas from anybody who doesn't have a corporate jet, so it can be safely assumed, as one Freeper put it, that this site exists to collect "your email address and VISA card number."

Well, it does require an email address.  Whether you contribute some ideas or just read the one's there, the site, http://www.gopplatform2008.com, is a laugh riot.

The GOP today announced that they would be copying their Democratic counterparts and opening up their quadrennial platform meetings to the public, well kind of.

Members of the public will be allowed to submit ideas and suggestions through the internet, whereas Democrats will have the opportunity to attend local and national platform meetings and sit in the very room with the members of the platform committee.

There is one other stark difference that really shows the contrast between the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee.

Cross Posted at Political Newsline

Obama's fundraising edge over McCain is according to beltway wisdom offset by the RNC's money advantage over the DNC's. The most recent figures show the RNC has $68 million compared to only $4 million for the DNC.

The problem is, there is almost no way the RNC can spend this money on TV ads effectively.

This is going to be really short.

For a couple days now, I have heard Chuck Todd on MSNBC say that Obama is having trouble raising money now that the primaries are over.

More reason to be concerned after the jump.

John McCain is clearly too out of touch with reality to be president. Phil "cut your whining" Gramm is an idiot. Could Jim Inhofe really be just a hoax? Most of the Republicans still left in office are a disgrace to our country. But there is one left that I have to have some grudging admiration for - Carly Fiorina, former HP CEO and chair of the RNC's "Victory 08".

Wired just posted a great interview with Fiorina (actually the interview was done by a sister publication, "Portfolio magazine").

For those who remember, Fiorina spearheaded the acquisition of Compaq computer by HP way back, and was castigated for it and eventually let go by the company's board. But in fact, HP stock did no worse under Fiorina than any other tech company stock of the time, and the merger has proved quite successful. I've long thought the attacks on Fiorina at the time were unjustified, some of the same sort of misogyny we saw with Hillary Clinton's campaign.

There are some items up on News Unfiltered that may interest the community.

PR Newswire is the central resource to keep up on Democratic National Convention releases and keep an eye on the Republican National Convention:

PR Newswire announced today that it has been selected as the Official Newswire for both the 2008 Democratic and the Republican National Conventions. PR Newswire will be the central resource to communicate breaking news releases, speeches, schedules and other information issued by the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 25-28, in Denver and the Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minn., Sept. 1-4.

Read more.

First you had the McCain campaign ripping off design elements from the Obama website. Now, a reader sends me proof that the RNC is ripping off the design of the DNC's email blasts:

Republicans can pretend that adding a border around their text makes it totally different, but in reality, this is just more evidence that the GOP is a party devoid of any fresh or original ideas. Or creativity.

Rumors are flying around the blogosphere about Obama possibly moving his DNC acceptance speech from the Pepsi Center to 78,000 seat Invesco Field.  Now there's word out that John McCain may be looking to move his RNC acceptance speech from the 19,000 seat Target Center to the Academy of Holy Angels, one of the finest christian high schools in the Twin Cities metro area.

I first saw this on TPM, and thought it was such a great idea, I'd spread it on.

In honor of our country's birthday, I'm asking one hundred folks to donate $17.76 for Obama. My goal is to raise  $1,776.00 for the Senator today.

Donate here

In addition, if you have your own fundraising page, reach out to all your friends and family and ask them to do the same for you.

Naomi Klein’s speech at the National Conference for Media reform was not included on the conference website. subMedia got a hold of a copy and published it on its website - http://subMedia.TV