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Bad press is good press for Obama

Cynthia Tucker writes that even bad press is good press for Sen. Obama.  Negative media stories simply prove that Sen. Obama has crossed the threshold from novelty to serious candidate.

The best news for Barack Obama's presidential aspirations is a little recent negative press: Accounts of his dealings with a shady real estate developer - stories previously limited to Chicago newspapers and broadcast outlets - have begun seeping into national news reports. That means the junior senator from Illinois is no longer regarded merely as a fascinating sideshow, a black prodigy with an interesting background. He's being taken seriously as a possible presidential candidate.

What is a groundswell?

It makes me laugh when skeptics try to attack Obama for being a media darling.  The only reason the media is covering Obama so much is because he's drawing bigger crowds than everybody in the Democratic Party not named Bill Clinton.  If the skeptics want to continue to put their heads in the sand and claim that Obama has no grassroots support, then so be it.  We'll have the last laugh.

This skeptic apparently hasn't heard about Sen. Obama's sold-out events all over the country, from Texas to New Hampshire.  If that isn't a "groundswell", then what is?

I'm the first one to tell you that I was just bowled over by Obama's keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in '04. Nevertheless, the Obama tsunami for the presidential race in '08 feels more media driven than by any groundswell of the electorate.

Mr. Obama goes to Washington

Skeptic David Sirota writes for the Nation that Sen. Obama didn't back down from an interview, despite Sirota's previous attacks on Obama.

Obama was calling because he was bothered that I had written a few blog posts questioning positions he'd taken that appeared to belie his progressive image, most prominently his vote for a corporate-written "reform" of class-action lawsuits, his refusal to frontally challenge the Iraq War after running as an antiwar candidate and his vote to confirm Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State. One by one, Obama methodically answered each criticism. And when the call ended with his telling me he was committed to working with progressives, I was perplexed. Obama certainly talks a great game--but then, so have many false prophets over the years. I requested a formal interview, and to my surprise, Obama readily agreed. By the end of a day in Washington with him, I had the answers to two key questions: What can progressives expect from Barack Obama, and what does he really aspire to be?

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In a piece entitled "Getting rid of corruption", Sirota later admits that Sen. Obama is willing to fight a principled fight on campaign fiance reform.

One issue that he appears willing to consider spending his political capital on is campaign finance reform. As an Illinois state legislator, he authored a bill to publicly finance his state's judicial elections.