Hillary Clinton Goes For Corporate Sponsorship In Debate.

There has been lots of finger-pointing from each presidential candidate ---Senator Obama and Senator Clinton ---regarding fund-raising issues. Obama has accused Clinton of taking too much money from lobbyists and corporate interests. And Clinton has accused Obama on fudging numbers on how many actual donors he has.

But the Thursday night CNN debate revealed something troubling about Senator Clinton’s campaign fund-raising. The new issue in this race is "product placement".

Apparently, this might be a new way for a candidate to get their hands on corporate cash, but is it with the campaign finance rules? It is not a donation, per se----the corporate entity is getting some value out of the exchange, but is it kosher?

For those of you unfamiliar with ‘product placement’...

“Product placement advertisements are promotional ads placed by marketers using real commercial products and services in media, where the presence of a particular brand is the result of an economic exchange...Product placement occurs with the inclusion of a brand's logo in shot, or a favorable mention or appearance of a product in shot. This is done without disclosure, and under the premise that it is a natural part of the work. Most major movie releases today contain product placements."

When a TV sitcom family sits down for breakfast, and has a box of Frosted Flakes with Tony the Tiger’s face prominently displayed, that means that Kellogg’s gets a good plug.

Or, for example, in the movie, “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”, the stranded alien gets hooked on Reeses Pieces, which increased sales of the candy’s sale by eighty percent. Sometimes it’s done rather inconspicuously as when a bag of Wise potato chips or empty diet-Coke can is placed on the table in the lunch room at the hospital on “E.R.”

Well, on the CNN debate between Obama and Clinton, it seems that Clinton may have engaged in some product placement dollars coming her way. This, from a well-known maker of copiers with the following exchange regarding her charge of plagiarism lodged against her opponent.

Obama: “…we’re starting to get in to the silly season of politics…”

Clinton: “…It’s not change you can believe in, it’s change you can Xerox.”

And the crowd may have contained more fans of the other photocopier companies---like Canon or Ricoh ---because they certainly booed Hillary.

What’s next for product placement in the presidential race? Nike Shoes sponsoring candidates walking in a New York City parade? Gerber’s sponsoring the kissing of babies? An underwear company sponsoring the popular campaign theme of ‘change’?

And it won’t end there—what if Hillary becomes president ---will Swanson's Dinners sponsor state dinners? Will Continental Airlines sponsor flights of Air Force One? Or maybe movie promos for the movie Air Force One on Air Force One?

It’s a slippery corporate slope, folks. Also, as a lawyer, Hillary should know not to use the trademarked term "Xerox" in such a generic manner.

We Miss Rush Holt

If you’re like me in Central Jersey, and you used to have Congressman Rush Holt representing your interests in D.C., you miss him.

Once again, Rep. Holt proved his mettle by standing up to the president on the issue of illegal wire-tapping of American citizens. It’s good to have someone who is able to teach Bush Jr. about the constitution.

Holt, courageously said:

"There has been a fundamental shift under the Protect America Act in the relationship between the people of this country and their government. It is whether or not the government regards the ordinary American with suspicion first…Think about it. The reason this country and our liberty have survived so well is because the government understands they are subservient to the people."

The Protect America Act just recently passed the Senate by a 68-29 margin. In the past, Obama and Clinton both voted against the Act.

Ironic, though, that the “law and order” Republicans have no problem giving “retroactive immunity” to those telecommunications companies who broke the law and allowed phone conversations of law-abiding Americans to be listened to. Go figure.

The Protect America Act [recently passing the Senate] allows the government to monitor “foreign-to-American” phone calls without obtaining a warrant. So, all those customer service phone calls to gas companies and electric companies that are outsourced to call centers in India---can all be listened in to by the NSA.

Good going, Rush. Keep up the great work. You and the New Jersey Giants rule.

Senator Obama: The Six Pointed Star

Senator Obama: The Six Pointed Star

The New Jersey Primary is a mere 72 hours away. And the percentage points that now separate Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama is a single digit Six. Count'em---6.

The wide road that separated them was 32% in December, and then slipped down to 17% sometime at the tail end of January. Ground Hog Day is today, and now it’s down to a miniscule Six Points, “according toa private poll commissioned by one of the state’s most powerful Democratic leaders, George Norcross. The poll, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner on January 30-31, was distributed to some Norcross allies earlier this morning and obtained by PolitickerNJ.com.” Hmmm.

I hear tell that if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, we will have eight more months of campaigning after Tsunami Tuesday.

Presidential contenders are dropping like flies.

This week, Rudy 911uliani dropped out, and endorsed Senator John “100 years in Iraq” McCain. John “Two Americas” Edwards is gone, too---but has yet to endorse. Also gone is Rep. Dennis “I’m having a primary this year in my district in Ohio” Kucinich. Apparently, no one may want his endorsement.

Still in the race is Alan Keyes, the last Republican candidate Senator Obama defeated. Only problem for Keyes is, that no one knows he’s running for president.