Subject: RE: Ben Smith and outside groups
From: "Anna Burger" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 16:37:41 -0400

I think the campaign will come out publically and say that 527's like our are great.  They are also passing that word to donors

Anna Burger
 202-730-7303

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	[email-masked] [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent:	Tuesday, May 13, 2008 04:22 PM Eastern Standard Time
To:	[email-masked]; [email-masked]; Anna Burger; [email-masked]; [email-masked]
Subject:	RE: Ben Smith and outside groups

Maybe it's time to move down the ballot.

From: Amy Dacey [mailto:[email-masked]] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 4:20 PM
To: John Podesta; Stocks, John [NEA]; Anna Burger; Robert McKay; Frank
Smith
Subject: Ben Smith and outside groups

I talked to Ben on background and reiterated who the Fund is and what we
do and then directed him to Kirk Adams as a better source for
clarification from the candidate side..

This was the result on his blog.. Not good

Shutting down the independent groups

My story <http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10315.html>  on
Politico:

Senator Barack Obama's campaign is steering the candidate's wealthy
supporters away from independent Democratic groups, calling into
question what had been expected to be the groups' central role in this
year's Democratic offensive against Senator John McCain.

Obama's national finance chairwoman, Chicago hotel mogul Penny Pritzker,
told supporters at a national finance committee meeting in Indianapolis
May 2, and in other conversations, not to give money to the groups,
people familiar with her comments said.

"From the beginning of this race Obama has told supporters that if they
want to help his effort, they should do so through his campaign," said
Obama spokesman Bill Burton, who confirmed that Pritzker has told donors
not to give to the groups. "And he means exactly what he says."

Most presidential candidates say they don't encourage the outside
groups, and donors are accustomed to taking those words with a grain of
salt. The candidates' words are typically seen as mere legal defenses
against allegations that the campaigns are illicitly coordinating with
outside groups.

The donors have been considering entreaties from Progressive Media USA,
run by conservative-journalist turned liberal media critic David Brock;
from former Clinton aide John Podesta's Fund for America; and from
America Votes, a group backed by billionaire George Soros that focuses
on voter mobilization, among other efforts.

But in recent days, major donors have begun to conclude that Obama is
serious in trying to cut off funds to the outside groups.

"It's given donors pause," said one prominent Democratic donor of
Pritzker's words. 

-- 
Amy K. Dacey
Executive Director
Fund for America
202-730-7727 

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