Graham Richard to Newsweek: "It's all about the Benjamins."

Longtime Newsweek political writer Jonathan Alter quotes former Fort Wayne mayor Graham Richard saying "It's all about the Benjamins."

Mr. Richard was referring to the Democratic presidential race.

Mr. Alter writes in this next week's edition of Newsweek magazine:

Before getting to Hillary's game, let me introduce a new ace in the hole for Obama. For all the talk of numbers, there's one that will be most important for superdelegates: 1.5 million. That reflects the 1.5 million names of donors that the Obama campaign has on file. Because no contribution below $200 is publicly reported, the vast majority of those names are in Obama's exclusive possession, to be shared as he wishes. As Graham Richard, the longtime mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind., explained it to me last week, it's all about the Benjamins. Local officials (that's who most superdelegates are) need the tens of thousands of Democratic donors on that list who come from their states. Their re-election depends on successful fund-raising. No Obama at the top of the ticket, no list. No list, and you may be back selling insurance after November.

Comments

[Andy Borgmann]

That is a really interesting perspective I didn't ever realize.

I am not sure I like the idea that politicians share their donor lists because a.) I don't think people should be persuaded like that to cast a super-delegate vote, and b.) this is like "political spam."

I don't want to get hounded from local politicians if I have given to national politicians (and vice versa).