Who's behind this project?

Hungry for Obama is the creation of four friends (and ardent Obama supporters) who share a house in the Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco: Daniel Cox, Louis Eisenberg, Benjamin Rattray, and Brad Wolfe.

Particular contributions:

• Brad is responsible for the initial idea of hosting viral dinner parties — and the punny name for our movement.
• Our friend Nick Handler compiled all of the information below about the campaigns and the current state of the race.
• Our friend Evan White designed the logo.

Why should I participate?

Three reasons:

1. This election is a pivotal moment in American history.
2. It's likely to be extremely close.
3. Even if you only have $20 or $50 to give, the exponential nature of the pyramid ensures that your participation will be worth dozens or hundreds of times that amount — if you host a great dinner and inspire your guests to do the same. This is your opportunity to make a major impact on the election!

For more details on why we've launched Hungry for Obama — and why you should get involved — click here.

How does the Obama campaign spend its money?

A few noteworthy figures:

• 33% ($130 million so far) finances broadcast media such as campaign ads in battleground states. For example, the Obama campaign has spent $39 million in Florida, a battleground state with 27 Electoral College votes. Most polls show Obama running slightly behind McCain in Florida, but this critical state is definitely within reach.
• 5% ($15 million so far) pays for campaign events.
• 29% ($90 million so far) covers turning the gears of the campaign, including staff salaries, travel expenses, and rent.

A complete breakdown of expenditures can be found here.

Want to know where donations to the Obama campaign are coming from? Check out this map.

Why are private donations so critical to the Obama campaign?

The Obama campaign has decided not to accept public financing for the general election. The public financing system allows a candidate to accept treasury money for his general election campaign ($84.1 million for the 2008 election), but in exchange the candidate must refuse all private donations and limit spending of personal funds to $50,000. To learn more about public financing of elections, read this.

Despite an earlier commitment to accept public financing for the general election, Obama decided to forego the public money because he believes that the public financing system is broken. While it puts limits on what candidates can accept, it does not limit the national party committees or partisan "527" groups from raising an unlimited amount of money and using it to support a candidate. The Republican National Committee and Republican-inclined 527 groups have been extremely successful in raising large amounts of money and running smear campaigns. Remember the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacks on John Kerry in the 2004 election? That campaign was run by a 527 group. So even though John McCain has accepted public financing, he is relying on the financial support of his party and these unregulated 527 groups to fund his campaign.

Despite raising a record $66 million in August, the Obama campaign is slightly trailing in available funds:

• Obama (and DNC): $94 million
• McCain (and RNC): $100 million

Over 2.5 million individuals have donated to the Obama campaign! Grassroots fundraising and small donors have driven this incredibly successful campaign. Compare the demographics of Obama's donors to McCain's donors.

How close is the race?

• First, don't trust the polls. Many pollsters only call land lines, not cell phones. Recent analysis shows that polls that include cell phones tend to support Obama. If there has ever been an election in which young, cell phone-using voters will make a difference, this is the one!
• Since all of us like to look at the polls anyway, here are a few good websites to check:
  • Intrade prediction markets: a real prediction market where you can bet on the probability of certain events occurring, including the election. Bet on Obama and win big!
  • FiveThirtyEight.com: comprehensive summary and analysis of state and national polls. Great for statistics buffs. This site uses regression analysis and computer simulation to consider all of the possible Electoral College scenarios and their relative likelihoods based on recent polls.
  • Real Clear Politics: a good source for election news and aggregated polling results.
• The popular vote is dead even! More importantly, so is the Electoral College. 120 electoral votes are up for grabs in 10 "toss-up" states, including Nevada, Colorado, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. There are even a few plausible scenarios in which the candidates could tie in the Electoral College with 269 votes apiece! A swing of a few percentage points in one or two of these states could decide the election.

Why are campaign ads so important?

Americans watch TV — lots of it. In June and July, McCain ran 57,132 local TV spots, while Obama ran 70,381 (Nielsen). Both campaigns are targeting audiences in key swing states such as Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Unfortunately, the McCain campaign has shown a disturbing willingness to distort the truth and even outright lie in ads and speeches — about both their own ticket and Obama's record. Even Karl Rove admits that the McCain campaign has gone "too far" in its advertising. Factcheck.org, a non-partisan "consumer advocate" group for voters, and many other media outlets (NYTimes, Washington Post, CNN) have been monitoring, analyzing and reporting on the unusually deceptive advertising that the McCain campaign has been running. Among the issues they are spreading lies and distortions about are:

• Obama's tax policy - again, and again, and again
• Palin's "maverick" record
• Obama's views on the threat posed by Iran
• Obama's legislation on sex education
• Obama's economic advisors

Obama has to spend significant resources running ads of his own to correct the distortions of his record put forward by the McCain campaign. By raising money through Hungry for Obama, we're helping the Obama campaign set the record straight and present his true character to the American people.