Behind the Headlines

By Charles Slat
More evidence that money fuels political campaigns:
I signed up for media credentials via e-mail the other day for Sen. Obama’s visit to Monroe today. The media registration made it clear that I only would hear back from the campaign if the credentials were denied.
Today in checking my e-mail, I noticed that a message from the Obama campaign had been quarantined like a lot of the other spam I get. The subject of the quarantined message was “Deadline: Tomorrow”
Was this something telling me when I had to show up at the Obama rally, some provision that would be made for me to meet my deadline for filing a story, a question of when my newspaper’s deadline was?
No.
It was a personal solicitation of a minimum $15 donation by the federal campaign-finance reporting deadline of Aug. 31. If I donated by then, I would receive a “first edition” 5-inch diameter Obama-Biden 08 magnet to stick on my car.