Què estaria passant si ho hagués fet McCain?

L'interès despertat per Obama entre diversos sectors de la societat nord-americana ha fet que obtingués moltes donacions per a la seva campanya. Una de les víes més importants de recaptació de fons ha estat per internet. Hi ha sospites fonamentades que ha pogut rebre diners de la mateixa persona amb noms diferents per sobre dels límits establerts per la llei o que ha pogut rebre diners de l'estranger, de ciutadans no americans, cosa que també està prohibida per la llei. El diari "The Washington Post", que ha donat suport a Obama, se'n feia ressó aquesta setmana, això sí, en pàgines interiors.

Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign is allowing donors to use largely untraceable prepaid credit cards that could potentially be used to evade limits on how much an individual is legally allowed to give or to mask a contributor's identity, campaign officials confirmed.

Faced with a huge influx of donations over the Internet, the campaign has also chosen not to use basic security measures to prevent potentially illegal or anonymous contributions from flowing into its accounts, aides acknowledged. Instead, the campaign is scrutinizing its books for improper donations after the money has been deposited.

The Obama organization said its extensive review has ensured that the campaign has refunded any improper contributions, and noted that Federal Election Commission rules do not require front-end screening of donations.

In recent weeks, questionable contributions have created headaches for Obama's accounting team as it has tried to explain why campaign finance filings have included itemized donations from individuals using fake names, such as Es Esh or Doodad Pro. Those revelations prompted conservative bloggers to further test Obama's finance vetting by giving money using the kind of prepaid cards that can be bought at a drugstore and cannot be traced to a donor.

The problem with such cards, campaign finance lawyers said, is that they make it impossible to tell whether foreign nationals, donors who have exceeded the limits, government contractors or others who are barred from giving to a federal campaign are making contributions.

"They have opened the floodgates to all this money coming in," said Sean Cairncross, chief counsel to the Republican National Committee. "I think they've made the determination that whatever money they have to refund on the back end doesn't outweigh the benefit of taking all this money upfront."

The Obama campaign has shattered presidential fundraising records, in part by capitalizing on the ease of online giving. Of the $150 million the senator from Illinois raised in September, nearly $100 million came in over the Internet.

Quin tsunami informatiu estaria passant si això ho hagués fet McCain?