Obama Raffle: Total Bait & Switch

The Obama campaign is once again promoting a fund-raising raffle that may barely skirt the grounds of legality in at least one state, Minnesota. As Flying Debris noted here, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety had issues with the legality of the Obama campaign's last attempt at a political fund raising raffle. This morning the Obama campaign sent out an e-mail from Michelle Obama, you know Barack's wife, the one not to be questioned because she is not part of the campaign. Michelle gushed "(s)eeing it in person will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I'm excited about being there, and if you make a donation of $5 or more before the deadline, you could join Barack backstage." She is writing about meeting Barack backstage during the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Co.

In very fine print at the bottom of the message, under the large DONATE button is the following message in very, very small print: "If you do not wish to make a donation, you can still be selected to join Barack at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Learn more here. "

The preceding type is actual size and the "Learn more here" link is directly to the Obama donation page and not only is the only option for not making a donation listed as "Other:" but the lowest option is for $25. Where's the $5 option Michelle? This is the type of sleazeball stuff we have come to expect from unscrupulous marketers and now the Obama campaign, and apparently the Obama family.

Well I just tried to enter the Meet Obama Raffle and found out that the page that Michelle linked to does not allow one to enter the raffle without giving the Obama campaign your credit card information. Considering the problems that the Obama campaign has had with their website there is no way that I would give them a credit card number.