payments,” he tells Newsmax. The where he resided from the entire
What Would It Cost
Obama campaign records do not membership of the United Nations,nited Nat
show any such payments. including such places as North Koreas North Korea
to Literally Buy the
“Every campaign faces the chal- and the Islamic Republic of public of
White House?
lenge of screening and reviewing its Iran. Unlike McCain’s onlineonline
contributions,” LaBolt says. “And we donation page, the ObamaObama
have been aggressive about taking site did not ask for proof ofoof of
every available step to make sure our citizenship. With such laxh lax
contributions are appropriate, updat- vetting of foreign con-con-
ing our systems when necessary.” tributions, the Obamama
But many of the donors Newsmax campaign may have ave
canvassed said they had “never” been indirectly contributedted
contacted by the Obama campaign or to questionable fund-fund-
seen any refunds, even though their raising by foreigners.ers.
contributions went over the limit For example, ine, in
months earlier. Such donations, if June, Libyan lead-ead-
not returned within 60 days, are a er Moammarar
clear violation of federal campaign Gaddafi gave aa
fi nance laws. public speech prais-aais-
ing Obama, claim-aim-
Offshore Drilling
ing foreign nationalstioonals
were donating to histo his
There may be gray areas in the law campaign.
regarding identifying and tracking “All the peopleoplle
donations from American political in the Arab andandd
supporters, but the rules are very Islamic worldorld
clear when it comes to foreigners. and in Africa rica
No contributions allowed, other than applauded this this
from permanent residents holding man,” the Libyan Libyyan
green cards. leader said. “They welcomed“Theey welcomed hih i m m
Still, the Obama funding machine and prayed for him and for his suc-uc
decided to skirt the requirements here cess, and they may have even been
A
s for setting the price, Coldwell Banker
conducted a detailed appraisal of the
White House 10 years ago, which pegged the
as well. So massive was the problem involved in legitimate contribution
asking price at $64 million. Housevalues.com
of non-Americans contributing to campaigns to enable him to win the
now says the White House would fetch around
the Obama campaign the FEC built a American presidency.” $106 million. With a 10-percent down payment
separate database of potentially ques- Gaddafi asserted that fundraising
and a 30-year, fi xed-rate loan of 7 percent, that will
tionable overseas donations. from Arab and African nations was
set you back a little over $634,000 per month.
By the time the election rolled “legitimate,” despite the U.S. federal
around, more than 16,500 contribu- laws banning such contributions. trate identity fraud domestically, they
tions totaling $5.25 million made the In July and August, the head of also greased the skids for foreign
FEC watch list. the Nigeria’s stock market sponsored nationals to donate to American cam-
More than 720 listed their “state” a series of pro-Obama fundrais- paigns, especially if they claim their
as “IR,” which the FEC often uses ers in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city. donation is less than $200.
as an abbreviation for “informa- The events attracted local Nigerian LaBolt cited several measures that
tion requested.” Another 74 listed business owners. At one fundrais- the campaign has adopted to “root out
their states as “UK,” for the United ing dinner, a table for eight went fraud,” including a requirement that
Kingdom. Almost 2,150 of the 16,500 for $16,800. Nigerian press reports anyone attending an Obama fund-
overseas entries clearly were U.S. claimed sponsors raked in an esti- raising event overseas present a valid
diplomats or military personnel, who mated $900,000. U.S. passport. Despite those efforts, a
listed an APO address. Their total The fundraisers were intended pair of Palestinian brothers, Hosam
contributions came to just $302,131. to help Nigerians attend the August and Monir Edwan, contributed more
But others came from places as far Democratic convention in Denver, than $31,300 to the Obama campaign
afi eld as Abu Dhabi, Addis Ababa, sponsors said. But the Nigerian press in late 2007, ostensibly to buy Obama
Beijing, Fallujah, Florence, Italy, and expressed skepticism of that claim, and T-shirts, FEC records show.
a wide selection of towns and cities the Nigerian public anti-fraud com- The amounts attracted the atten-
in France. mission is investigating the matter. tion of the FEC almost immediately.
The Obama Web site allowed Just as Internet-based credit-card In an April 15, 2008, report that
ISTOCKPHOTO a contributor to select the country donations made it easier to perpe- examined the Obama campaign’s
DECEMBER 2008 / NEWSMAX
53
0046-Cover Story SUNDAY.indd 5346-Cover Story SUNDAY.indd 53 111/10/08 5:38:19 PM1/10/08 5:38:19 PM
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84