[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Mitchell Schwartz
California State Director
Obama for President Campaign

Since Barack Obama began his campaign for the presidency in February, our campaign has attracted the support of over 100,000 Californians. Over 700 volunteer groups were formed and over 15,000 individuals have taken action to help our campaign in the state. Californians have contributed more to Barack Obama than residents of any other state, including donations from thousands of small dollar contributors who can give again.

Most importantly, the more Californians are getting to know Barack Obama, the more they are convinced that he is the candidate who will deliver change we can believe in. Californians appreciate that Barack Obama had the judgment to oppose the war from the start and has announced a plan to end it as quickly and responsibly as we can. They know that he will challenge the conventional thinking in Washington, and he will oppose efforts to give President Bush a blank check to extend the war in Iraq to Iran. And they’re discovering he is a principled leader who will tell us not what we want to hear, but what we need to hear, about the challenges America faces, with the ability to unite Democrats and Republicans and get things done.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The front page of today’s San Francisco Chronicle features one of the strangest political stories I’ve seen in some time. "The state chairman of the 'Californians for Obama' campaign has raised thousands of dollars in donations through promotions ranging from celebrity-studded Mexican cruises to CD sales to campaign office 'grand openings' in support of the popular Illinois Democratic senator and presidential candidate. But the official presidential campaign of Barack Obama said Tuesday it was unaware of the activities of the entirely unauthorized Los Angeles-based fundraising efforts of Emmett Cash III..."
 
Critics say Cash’s "his independent efforts to parlay Obama's presidential drive into a fundraising bonanza illustrates an increasingly disturbing trend in political campaigns of the Internet age -- the proliferation of entrepreneurs who use technology to scoop up voter donations without official campaign sanction… while Cash has raised nearly $10,000 this year, not one dollar has gone to the Obama campaign -- or any other political candidate."
 

by dday [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

I am outside at my neighborhood cafe, hopped up on ice tea with free refills and wireless. It is that time again. Enjoy the linky goodness.

We are getting a second wave of coverage on campaign contributions today. California was Obama's biggest donor state. Clinton pulled in more here overall $5.1M to Obama's $4.2.

Speaking of donations and locations...the NYT has been having fun with datamashups. They have combined a pretty map with candidate donations. You can see where in the country they are raising the most money from. Its fun to play around with and has a zip code lookup.

Bill Clinton charmed Carla Marinucci at a recent fundraising event in SF.

Tommy Thompson sure put his foot in his mouth today, saying that Jews have a 'tradition' of 'earning money'. Think Progress has the video, Atrios the snark.

A CNN national poll shows the race tightening up in both parties. Clinton and Guilani have lost ground since last month's poll. Speaking of national polls, Chris Bowers thinks they are inflating Clinton's lead.

McCain is having a little trouble with his pronouns and taxes. Hotline has the goods.

The Obama needs substance meme is spreading. I have been contributing to that admittedly, though others have the same issue.

The LADN has a decent profile of Richardson this weekend, titled Richardson walks tightrope as top Latino candidate".