The Obama 2012 campaign feels like it's been given an early Christmas present by the Rick Perry campaign that any politician would love. When Perry announced his candidacy for President in August, he was catapulted into the lead and stayed there for almost two months. That allowed him to raise large donations from both big-money donors and small dollar contributors across the country. Now with $15 million on hand and virtually no chance for the nomination, his campaign can only benefit Obama.
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Results tagged “obama”
Why Obama Loves Rick Perry [Politics]
News Bits!
- One word to describe Netanyahu and President Obama's meeting today: awkward.
- Is it just us or do you think Syria is not taking these U.S. sanctions seriously?
- Dominique Strauss-Kahn is yet another example of how the rich and powerful always get out of jail. Let's not forget he has been indicted by a grand jury.
We're Crossing Our Fingers About Today's Chance of Raindrops on Roses [Extra Extra]
- You might be aware that President Barack Obama was in Austin yesterday. If you didn’t make it to any of his events, you can read what he had to say during his visit.
- There’s a Frank Lloyd Wright house for sale in Houston. For only $3,290,000 bucks it can be yours! (Luckily, it has an addition you can actually live in!)
- The truth about what it’s like to really spend a weekend in Austin. (Shocker: It seems some of our cheap hotels have crappy wifi!)
Obama's Full Speech Available Online
If you weren't invited to the Moody Theater last night for Obama's speech, YNN has the entire thing available on to watch online.
Obama in Town This Evening, Plan Your Drive Home Accordingly
As you likely already heard, our President will be stopping in Austin this evening for a fundraiser event at ACL Live at the Moody Theater, before hitting another fundraiser in the Lake Austin area. Air Force One lands at ABIA at 5pm and then his motorcade will start on its way downtown, right smack during rush hour. There's no known route to skip this evening, because the Secret Service won't release one ahead of time. Even if you're heading in the opposite direction from the route they do take, there is the possibility the road might be closed for a short time anyway (one time when Bush was in town, we were stopped on the IH35 access road as his motorcade went under it on 290E). If you can take side streets to get home, you might want to do so -- or leave work before 5pm. [Statesman]
Obama Officially Announces 2012 Bid, Leverages Facebook (Duh)
Considering the popularity of President Obama's Facebook page (almost 19 million "likes"), it's no surprise to see his campaign for 2012 kicking off with the re-engagement of that core support base.
The Facebook campaign leads with the very savvy Are You In? app, which enables users to quickly spread the word by posting your support to your wall. The application's functionality on Obama's official site also enables users to scroll through their list of friends to see who isn't 'in', and gives them the opportunity to invite those folks to join.
From the campaign: "The first step of all this is an unprecedented program to hold one-on-one conversations with millions of supporters about where they want this campaign to go—look for lots of news about that over the next several weeks as the process unfolds."
TechCrunch astutely notes that Twitter doesn't seem to be a part of the equation yet, but that YouTube is once again playing a big role in the online campaign efforts. Follow the jump to see the "It Starts With Us" video featured on the Obama homepage.
Obama Administration Roundtables at SXSWi [News]
Just like Arcade Fire, President Obama's administration is going on tour. His Startup America: Reducing Barriers tour has 8 planned stops, with the Austin one coinciding nicely with the South By Southwest Interactive conference, on March 12. The focus of the roundtable talks is for top Obama staffers to hear from entrepreneurs and small business owners on how to remove regulatory growth obstacles. No details on where exactly the talks will be held just yet, but stay tuned to the SXSWi site for panel information. Other cities scheduled for the tour include Durham, NC, Boston, Silicon Valley, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, and Boulder, CO.
We Hope You Made a Wish If You Saw The Presidential Motorcade [Extra Extra]
- If you missed today’s lunch with the big dude, the watermelon salad with tomato and basil crème fraiche sounds totally delish!
- Great photos from President Obama's visit to Austin.
- Sir Tim Rice has a one-hour episode for the BBC on Texas music. It’s so strange to hear someone with that posh accent talkin’ about Port Arthur.
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