[Vision2020] $800,000 to ACORN — $700,000 for stage props: CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN

[No Weatherman]

Obama Berlin speech cost $700K
Jerry Seper (Contact)

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama paid a German
company nearly $700,000 for staging, sound and lighting services at
the time he delivered a speech this past summer in Berlin and declared
himself a "citizen" of both the U.S. and the world.

Billed as a highlight of Mr. Obama's July trip to Europe, the speech —
delivered before hundreds of thousands of people in front of the
historic Victory Column in Tiergarten — was organized by the
Berlin-based company Mediapool, opening much like a rock concert, with
warm-up performances from the band Reamonn and reggae singer Patrice.

The German company, whose Web page says it specializes in theater and
event management, is listed as a disbursement recipient on Mr. Obama's
most recent campaign expenditures report, filed Thursday with the
Federal Election Commission.
The company prominently displays pictures of the Obama speech and
rally on its marketing pages and lists the event at the top of its
projects page.

The company was paid $667,082 by the Obama campaign in three
disbursements in July and August, according to the FEC records. The
campaign also paid $9,018 to the limousine service Bero Berlin, the
records show.

The disclosures come at a time of giant campaign budgets and massive
spending by both Democrats and Republicans.

Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin's maverick image
as a moose-hunting "hockey mom" took a hit with disclosures that the
Republican National Committee had spent $75,062 at high-end department
store Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis and $41,850 in St. Louis in early
September on her wardrobe, along with $4,100 for makeup and hair
consulting. About one-third of the Alaska governor's purchased clothes
have since been returned.

At the time of the wardrobe disclosures, Obama spokesman Nick Shapiro
noted that neither the campaign nor the Democratic National Committee
had paid for the wardrobes of Michelle or Barack Obama.

Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said it "should come as no
surprise" that the events Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain have participated
in over the past two years cost a lot of money to produce.

"But given that the executive editor of The Washington Times attacked
our campaign this morning with talking points ripped from our
opponent's playbook, we doubt that it will investigate the hundreds of
thousands of dollars the McCain campaign spent on fair complexes,
opera houses, clubs, aquariums and casinos around the country," he
said.

Mr. LaBolt's comments were in response to a statement Friday by
Executive Editor John Solomon after The Times was kicked off Mr.
Obama's press plane in the final days of the election.

"This feels like the journalistic equivalent of redistributing the
wealth," Mr. Solomon's statement said. "We spent hundreds of thousands
of dollars covering Senator Obama's campaign, traveling on his plane,
and taking our turn in the reporters' pool, only to have our seat
given away to someone else in the last days of the campaign."

Also dropped were the New York Post and Dallas Morning News. All three
newspapers have endorsed Mr. McCain.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers, speaking on the Berlin expenditures,
said, "Clearly, being the biggest celebrity in the world doesn't come
cheap."

During the Berlin speech, Mr. Obama spoke repeatedly of the things
"we" must do on terrorism, the environment and other global issues.
The speech was filled with references to politics, from acknowledging
American shortcomings to urging Germany to recommit to NATO success in
Afghanistan.

"I speak to you not as a candidate for president, but as ... a proud
citizen of the United States and a fellow citizen of the world," he
told the crowd, which had gathered not far from where the Berlin Wall
once divided the city.

Officials estimated that the crowd was one of the largest in Berlin's
history. Estimates ranged from the campaign's guess of 200,000 to as
many as 500,000 from the German Embassy in Washington.

The Obama campaign carefully crafted the event, which was helped by
perfect weather, and said the footage might be seen in a political ad.
Obama fans distributed a photo of the massive crowd next to a photo of
a remarkably similar crowd at the 1963 March on Washington.

The reception from the Berlin crowd was as rapturous as the campaign
could have hoped. During the speech, one fan held a sign reading,
"Barack for Kanzler," the German word for "chancellor," and dozens of
Europeans in the crowd said they could not wait to see President Bush
leave office.

About 700 Berlin police officers reportedly were assigned to the
event, which also needed a larger-than-usual force of U.S. Secret
Service agents.

Mr. Obama received raucous applause for saying the future meant
"finally bringing this war to a close" in Iraq, but the loudest cheers
erupted when he talked about climate change and railed against
genocide.

For hours before Mr. Obama arrived, attendees listened to live reggae,
drank beer and munched on bratwurst and steak sandwiches. Many in the
crowd sported black-and-white Obama T-shirts with the slogan, "I want
you to stop climate change."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/01/citizen-of-the-world-speech-cost-obama-tour-700000/