SourceWatch/Congresspedia user Artificial Intelligence [3] has been doing a lot of fantastic work on the wiki lately, particularly on the 2008 presidential election. She recently picked up on a common practice in politics - the easiest way for politicians to show gratitude and allegiance to each other is for the big dogs to kick some campaign contributions down to the folks on the lower rungs. The fundraising juggernaut that is Obama 2008 has apparently had a lot of gratitude to show lately. She says:

A recent analysis [4] conducted by PoliticalMoneyLine of 2008 Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama [5]'s November 15, 2007, FEC [6] filing revealed that Obama "has been the most aggressive of presidential candidates in using his leadership PAC [7] to help the campaigns of state and local candidates, and not coincidentally, the funds spent that way have gone to Democrats in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. More than one-third of his leadership PAC money is being used this way."

Campaign reports show that in January 2007, when Obama launched his presidential campaign, Hopefund [Obama's PAC] fundraising all but stopped. Since June 2007 Obama has handed out more than $180,000. Additionally, FEC filings for late 2006 through October 2007 show that several recipients [8] of Obama's Hopefund campaign contributions had also endorsed him within months of receiving funds.

Be sure to check out what A.I. has uncovered at the wiki articles on Barack Obama's contributions to campaign endorsers [8] and Barack Obama: U.S. presidential election, 2008 [5]. Drop her a note at her user talk page [9] if you'd like to collaborate with her on these articles or if you have something you'd like to add. Remember, the wiki's 30,000+ articles have been written by people like you, so jump in [10]!