Governor Blagojevich to speak

The governor is scheduled to give a press conference at 2PM today on the 2nd floor of the Thompson Center.

Campaign Donation Disclosure: So Easy, a Caveman can do it

Well, cavemen, er cavepersons over at Slate.

Barack Obama refuses to release the names of the 2 million-plus people who have given his campaign less than $200. According to campaign officials, it would be too difficult and time-consuming to extract this information from its database.

So how come we were able to do it in a couple hours?

Oh dear. You have challenged Obama. Watch out for the pink slip getting kicked off the campaign bus.

Another Really Smart Guy draws a blank

This time it is Jeffrey Sachs.

Don't worry though. It's not like Jeffrey Sachs is an important really smart guy. Oh shit. He is.

How to contribute as much money as you want to a single campaign

My fellow Americans. I come before you today to explain how you too can donate as much money as you want to the candidate for political office of your choice and get away with it.

Right now you are limited to giving $2,300 to candidate X of party Y in the primary. You can also donate another $2,300 to candidate X of party Y for the general election. It doesn't matter if they win their primary. You can still donate this money.

Want to donate more? OK. Are you married? Your spouse can donate. Make sure he or she approves though. If he or she opposes, just don't tell them.

Score. $4,600 in the primary and $4,600 in the general.

Got kids? How many? How old are they? Oh hell, it doesn't matter. They're 2 and 7? Fantastic. They're each donating $4,600 too.

Score. $9,200 in the primary and $9,200 in the general.

Run a business? An Internet one? Awesome. How many employees do you have? 7? Cool. They're all donating and you're paying for it. Careful though. Remember your spouse? Yea, either don't tell them or tell them as little as they need to know. Someone might call and check them out. That's another $16,100 for the primary and $16,100 for the general.

Score. $25,300 in the primary and $25,300 in the general. You're on your way to bundler status all by yourself.

Wait. Along the way you noticed that you accidentally entered the wrong name for one of your employees. But the charge still went through. That's odd. These one time use credit cards are supposed to be more secure. Could candidate X of party Y not be checking for the names on the cards?

HOLY MONTALBALL SCORE! Let's try it out.

Killer. It worked. Josef Stalin just donated to candidate X of party Y with the one time credit card you purchased with your own name. But wait, the campaign has your card number. They can trace it back to you. You're screwed. Could candidate X of party Y be deleting your name associated with your one time use credit card to protect your privacy?

Boo yah! They are. Wait again. They have the card number. They can trace that too. You're in trouble.

Boo yah too! They're purging the card numbers as well. They protected your privacy and their ass all by playing ultra stupid dumb.

Now, how many one time use credit cards can you afford?

Have fun. Be careful. I've only done this once before. Push it to the limit.

lol, ObamaStock tickets sold out, not really

The free ones are all gone. Enough people handed over their personal information for data mining purposes. Now the short supply is entering the resale market.

FS: One ObamaStock ticket. Highest bid so far, $550.

He promised me a middle class tax cut. I spent it before I received it just to see the One.

What Honest Political Reporting Looks Like: Lynn Sweet Edition

ObamaStock 2008 in Grant Park is issuing tickets for data collection purposes for future use.

Dear Republicans,

Are you paying attention?

Sincerely,

The Silent Majority

TPM funnies without Josh Marshall

Governor Charlie Crist is extending early voting hours. TPM's David Kurtz goes fishing for for mud.

That seems notably, even surprisingly, non-partisan and inclusive. Is there a catch?

There is a catch. Charlie Crist is a Republican. He just so happens to be a Republican with huge favorability ratings with a long history of building consensus in government.

However, if you are first mate on the Talking Points Memo frigate then you see Republican and presume ditch digging.