The GOP had Karl Rove; Obama has David Axelrod
Thursday, October 23, 2008 at 03:39PM 
David Axelrod is the political strategist behind the success of many Democratic candidates, Sen. Barack Obama foremost among them. Axelrod is a partner in AKP&D Message and Media Firm. In politics, one hand always scratches the other. In March, 2008, BusinessWeek did an article, ‘The Secret Side of David Axelrod.’ Considering the hearts and kisses media has given the Democratic candidate for president, it comes as no surprise Axelrod was once political editor at The Chicago Tribune.
BusinessWeek notes there’s not a lot of hard data on the AKP&D website. But it’s fairly easy to put simple sums together, and here are a few items worthy of consideration.
- From the same River North address, Axelrod operates a second business, ASK Public Strategies, that discreetly plots strategy and advertising campaigns for corporate clients to tilt public opinion their way. He and his partners consider virtually everything about ASK to be top secret, from its client roster and revenue to even the number of its employees. BusinessWeek lists a few clients: Chicago Children's Museum, ComEd, Cablevision, and AT&T.
- AKP& D lists the International AFL CIO as a client. Total political donations to Obama from AFL CIO employees: $20,856. Total contributions from AFL CIO members: Who knows?
- Total contributions to Obama from AT&T, an ASK client: $128,880.
- First campaign Axelrod managed: Illinois Democrat Paul Simon's first election to the U.S. Senate. Total federal earmark requested by Obama for the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute: $1,025,000.
- Mayor Richard M. Daley, one of Axelrod's friends and earliest clients, is pushing construction of a new Children's Museum in Grant Park to replace a facility on Navy Pier that the museum says it has outgrown. So far, though, "open-space" foes have stymied the move. The museum retained ASK early in 2007. Total federal earmarks Obama requested for Chicago Children's Museum, for the construction of a new Chicago Children's Museum facility: $1,300,000.
Citizens Against Government Waste tracks spending in Congress. According to CAGW: Sen. John McCain has never requested a single special-interest, pork-barrel earmark--0-- in his 25 years in Congress, while Obama has requested $740 million in earmarks in his first term in the US Senate.
CAGW conferred the status as a “Taxpayer Hero” on McCain with a CCAGW Lifetime Vote Rating of 88 percent with Sen. Obama’s Lifetime Rating of just 18 percent when it comes to cutting spending and voting to reduce taxes.
I guess media is too preoccupied with Gov. Sarah Palin to track earmarks requested by Obama. He implied during the debate that earmarks are insignificant—a government mindset that helped lead us to where we are today. Obama says we need to take a scalpel to trim federal spending; McCain says we need a hatchet. McCain’s choice of tool is spot on. Next time you hear a Democrat criticize Karl Rove, think of Axelrod.
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