FACTS ON SPECIAL INTEREST MONEY: KERRY V. BUSH

Thanks to Brad DeLong for tipping me off to this site called the Annenberg Political Fact Check.

As you may know, the Bush campaign recently released a libelous internet attack add calling John Kerry unprincipled for his acceptance of special interest money (why on the internet? because legitimate TV stations would not air such tripe).

While most of the media picked up on the attack, most of them missed the point that the attack ad was riddled with misleading, misquoting and decepitve statements.

"While it is true that Kerry got $640,000 over the past 15 years from individual lobbyists, that's only one type of special-interest money. And the Bush campaign itself has reported raising $960,000 from individual lobbyists in the past year alone.

The Bush campaign's internet screed conveniently ignores other forms of special interest money, namely PACs that give way more money than individual lobbyists. Oh yeah, by the way, Kerry raised $73,784 through PACs for his presidential campaign. Bush got over $2 million in PAC money for his campaign, and he doesn't even have a primary contest.

If one looks at all the special interest money pouring into the Senate, Kerry actually ranks 92 of 100, which "puts him on a different planet from President Bush."