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Special-Interest Groups Ramp Up Obama Support

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By LESLIE WAYNE, The New York Times

Published: January 30, 2008

After months of denouncing the influence of special-interest money in politics, Sen. Barack Obama is nonetheless entering a critical phase of the presidential campaign benefiting from millions of dollars being spent outside campaign finance rules.

Obama has repudiated a California group, Vote Hope, that is working on his behalf. But it has pressed on and, along with a sister organization called PowerPac.org, is planning to spend up to $4 million promoting him in California and conducting voter registration drives aimed at blacks in 11 Southern states.

The group has run radio advertisements with local ministers in South Carolina. New spots, some for television, have been prepared for California, one with the rap star Common and others focusing on black and Latino voters.

As the campaign treasuries of Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton are rapidly depleting heading into the nominating contests in more than 20 states on Tuesday, independent political groups - whether so-called 527 groups, political action committees, nonprofit organizations or trade unions - are stepping in to help fill the void.

The efforts of these groups, particularly 527s (named for a section of the tax code under which they fall), worry campaign finance watchdogs because many can take unlimited contributions from donors and have limited oversight.

Obama's campaign says it has taken pains to discourage these efforts on its behalf, and, in fact, the campaign has no recourse in controlling them. "We do not think people should be donating to 527s," said Bill Burton, a campaign spokesman. "We would rather have them involved in our campaign. It is our hope that anyone who supports Obama does so directly through his campaign and not through these outside groups."

Unions Spend For Clinton

The Clinton campaign has been a greater beneficiary of these groups. Clinton has large unions representing government employees and teachers on her side, as well as the politically savvy feminist political organization Emily's List. The two unions plan to spend millions of dollars on her behalf through direct mail, phone banks and get-out-the-vote efforts in Super Tuesday states.

The teachers union, which has 1.4 million members, has budgeted $3 million for the effort, while the government employees union has earmarked $5 million. Emily's List has an effort directed at women just outside the New York City media market.

Obama has lined up support from unions representing plumbers and pipe fitters, as well as hospitality and garment workers. One union, Unite Here, plans to mobilize its 450,000 members through direct-mail advertisements, phone banks and door-to-door visits in Super Tuesday states. It also will continue efforts, begun in Nevada, to run pro-Obama TV and radio spots, many in Spanish and aimed at voters in California. The plumbers and pipe fitters union, which has 340,000 members, said it is working with the Obama campaign to get out its membership and is urging members to donate time as campaign volunteers.

The efforts by Vote Hope pose a particularly sensitive challenge to Obama's campaign, given his repeated criticism of Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards for having accepted similar help.

Referring to Edwards, Obama said in December, "John said yesterday he didn't believe in these 527s." Then he added, "You can't say yesterday you don't believe in it, and today three-quarters of a million dollars is being spent for you."

The two California groups supporting Obama, Vote Hope, which is a 527, and PowerPac.org, which is a nonprofit group, are both creations of Steve Phillips, a longtime social activist and lawyer who founded PowerPac.org five years ago.

"We have a chance to make an impact," Phillips said. "There are not the resources within the Obama campaign to organize. You need a dedicated organization with a dedicated revenue stream."

Timely, Critical Donations

Phillips donated $95,000 to the effort. He is also the son-in-law of Herbert Sandler, a billionaire banker and major donor to the Democratic Party and liberal causes. Vote Hope plans to spend about $1 million supporting Obama in California, while PowerPac.org has budgeted $2 million to $3 million for the nonpartisan voter registration drive in the South, help that could not come at a better time.

"These groups are critical to the campaigns," said Kenneth Gross, a campaign finance lawyer who advises Democratic candidates. "The campaigns are spread so thin on Feb. 5, in terms of geography and television coverage. There is never enough money to do what you want. So these groups can step in and play a critical role."

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