do to him IF he is the 2008 Democratic nominee:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/14599

TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Robert Menendez got it right about Obama's lack of electability

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on February 4, 2008 - 6:36am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/14337

Obama showed in the Jan. 5 debate that he does NOT understand enemy attacks!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on January 7, 2008 - 4:32am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/13992

Hillary's high negatives are an illusion compared to Obama or any other Democrat

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on November 28, 2007 - 4:49pm.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/13894

ANALYSIS: Statements from Obama that show his lack of electability if nominated!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on November 14, 2007 - 10:46am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/13782

Barack Obama will be swiftboated & will get eaten up alive if he is the nominee!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on November 1, 2007 - 3:49am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/13433

ANALYSIS: Why I think that Obama would be a very weak general election candidate

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on September 24, 2007 - 9:01am.

The cost of Democrats losing this election is very high as I have credibly documented:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/14527

The high cost of another Neocon winning this election is war and much more war!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on January 28, 2008 - 2:26pm.

...article. Please keep it with your files for future reference. I am at a loss to understand why the media in this country has failed to follow-up on this story since Hillary made such a big deal about it two debates ago.

************

OBAMA-REZKO LINK MAY BE SCRUTINIZED BY REPUBLICANS

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections08/barackobama/story/0,,2252385,00.html

Daniel Nasaw in Chicago
Monday February 4, 2008
Guardian Unlimited

Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton Barack Obama exchange comments during the Democratic Presidential Primary debate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Photograph: Mary Ann Chastain/AP

In a Chicago neighbourhood of stately mansions, the mock Georgian with a basketball hoop in the back stands out. Parking is prohibited along its front; secret service agents and police stand a watchful guard.
The house is owned by Barack Obama - and it is at the crux of the Democratic presidential hopeful's questionable connection to Tony Rezko, a political powerbroker and fundraiser currently in jail awaiting trial on fraud charges.

That connection already has been highlighted by Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton. In a debate in South Carolina, the New York senator said that while she was fighting Republicans, Obama was representing his "contributor, Rezko, in his slum landlord business in inner-city Chicago".

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And if Obama becomes a presidential candidate, his relationship with Rezko is certain to be raked over by the Republicans, who will be ruthless in zeroing in on their challenger's weak points and poor past judgments.
The details of Obama's house purchase certainly point to a close relationship between the pair. Obama bought the 94-year-old house in June 2005, shortly after his election to the Senate. The same day, the wife of real-estate developer and fast-food restaurateur Tony Rezko bought the adjacent lot from the same owner who was splitting a large lot in two.

Obama, the new senator for Illinois, and his wife Michelle, were flush after signing a $1.69m publishing deal on his book, "The Audacity of Hope". The couple paid $1.65m for the house - $300,000 less than the asking price, according to the Chicago Tribune. Rezko's wife Rita purchased the adjacent lot, formerly the yard of the house, for $625,000, the full price.

In a lengthy interview with the Chicago Sun-Times in 2006, Obama said the seller, a University of Chicago doctor, required that sales of the two properties close at the same time. He said the house had been on the market for months, the listed price was too high, and the sellers were anxious to move. He said he approached Rezko about the two properties.

After the purchases were completed, Rezko agreed to sell a 10-ft sliver of his land abutting Obama's, so the senator could build a fence separating their properties. The Chicago Tribune reported an appraiser valued the slice at $40,500, but Obama paid $104,500. The amount represented one sixth of Rezko's original purchase price, for one-sixth the land.

Rezko was already under investigation at the time of the property deal, but it's unclear whether Obama knew this. But by the time of the purchases Chicago newspapers had run dozens of stories detailing Rezko's questionable business deals and relationship with political figures, and the city's papers have reported that he was widely known to be under investigation.

Obama has since acknowledged the deals were an error.

"I consider this a mistake on my part, and I regret it," he told the Chicago Sun-Times in November 2006, just months before launching his presidential campaign. "I am confident that everything was handled ethically and above board. But I regret that while I tried to pay close attention to the specific requirements of ethical conduct, I misgauged the appearance presented by my purchase of the additional land from Mr Rezko."

Rezko - now awaiting trial on charges that he obtained kickbacks from companies seeking to do business with the state - was one of Obama's early political patrons. In the 1990s, Rezko worked on a low-income housing development with a non-profit group that Obama's law firm represented. The two remained friendly, by Obama's own admission dining together once or twice a year. Chicago political insiders say Rezko's big-money donations to Illinois politicians stem in large part from the nature of his work - and of politics in the area.

As a developer of low-income housing and a fast-food restaurant franchisee, Rezko would have needed connections in government to speed along licenses, permits, loan applications and other approvals.

"When one is in a business that depends on government action, as happens all over the world, you donate to a lot of campaigns," said Don Rose, a veteran Chicago political consultant.

Rezko donated generously. Besides Obama, Federal Election Commission reports show Rezko has given large sums to the Illinois Democratic party, the Democratic National Committee, John Kerry's presidential campaign and numerous others. He was also a chief fundraiser to Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.

Campaign finance reports show a Rezko company was one of the first contributors to Obama's first bid for state senate, donating $1,000 to the campaign in July 1995. Obama has said Rezko hosted a fundraiser for his US Senate campaign and raised roughly $50,000.

Seeking to rid itself of Rezko's taint, Obama's campaign has donated to charity about $150,000 in campaign contributions linked to Rezko.

Rezko and Obama first met in 1990 when the future senator made news after his election as the first black president of the Harvard law review. Rezko offered him a job, which he turned down. The two remained friendly.

In the mid-1990s, Rezko entered a venture with a non-profit organisation called Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp. to develop low-income housing in the Woodlawn neighbourhood on Chicago's south side.

The law firm Obama joined out of Harvard law school represented the non-profit group, but not Rezko's company, said Judson Miner, a partner in the firm.

"Barack never represented Rezko; we never represented Rezko," Miner said. "Our role was simply to do the research for the client." Miner also disputed the suggestion the non-profit was developing "slums". "These programs are about buying slum property and turning them around," he said.

He added that in 1994, Rezko didn't have the reputation he does now. "He did not carry the same baggage," Miner said.

Rezko was indicted in October 2006 on charges he sought payments from investment firms seeking business with a pension plan for teachers. He was also accused of defrauding a company that finances fast-food franchise acquisitions.

Federal prosecutors say Rezko used his relationships with Illinois politicians to ensure he and a co-defendant could influence the pension plan's actions.

Rose said Obama was guilty of poor judgment with regard to Rezko. "Nothing untoward occured in this," he told the Guardian. "It was a lapse in judgment, PR judgment, because there is not even the appearance of impropriety. It's just the association."