John Edwards Defends Attacks From Barack Obama

Barack Obama has been attacking John Edwards because of all the support he is getting from 527 groups. Edwards has in the past been critical of 527 groups especially the Swift boat group that aired negative and false ads about John Kerry during the last election. 527 groups are tax except groups that are named after a tax code. They are formed primarily to influence elections, and are not subject to the Federal Election Commission or it’s rules. There are several 527 groups that are running negative ads in support of Edwards in Iowa right now. According to a Obama spokesperson, “His (Edwards) campaign simply exploited the biggest loophole in the campaign finance system in order to get public matching funds while arranging through allies to benefit from a 527. That’s how they avoided the spending limits that are a condition of the public matching funds.” Edwards currently has the support of Alliance for a New America, a newly created organization headed by former Edwards adviser Nick Baldick. It receives a lot of support from labor groups mostly the Service Employees International Union. They are planning on spending over a million dollars in ads supporting Edwards in Iowa. Edwards is also getting a lot of support from another 527, Working for Working Americans, which is mostly the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners. Edwards dismissed Obama’s complaint saying, “I’m very proud of my record now, almost 10 years now … unlike other candidates including Sen. Obama, I’ve never take money from a Washington lobbyist, never taken money from a PAC.” He added: “If Sen. Obama and his campaign want to focus on negative attacks they can do that, but that is not what I’m going to do.” Edwards went on to say, “I’m proud to have the support of labor unions. Unless I’m mistaken what they are doing is just positive support for my campaign. But, I’ve said 527s should be outlawed, I stand by that.”
Alan Cosgrove