Yesterday the New York Times tried to draw some new lines around what qualifies someone as a "donor," specifically when it comes to how Barack Obama counts his donors. The Times treats people who pay for a campaign sticker or button as something less than a donor (a real, live, check-writer). Nick Nyhart, our President, takes a look at the faulty logic in this featured Huffington Post piece.

Says Nick, let's not quibble over bumper stickers and keychains:

That Sen. Obama is able to inspire a quarter of a million donors who gave a small amount of money is what's newsworthy. With the projected $1 billion presidential race and Senate and House candidates raising record amounts of money for their own races in preparation for 2008, we should be praising candidates' efforts to cultivate small donors.

Rather than devaluing small donors, let's get real and talk about how to give them the most power. After all, even Obama must rely on the big checks not the little ones to raise enough money to run a credible campaign. To end this money chase, we need more attention for a proposal now making its way through Congress - full public financing of elections.

Incidentally, Sen. Obama is a co-sponsor of the Fair Elections Now Act and it's good to see a candidate attempting to "walk the walk" when it comes to balancing power between large and small donors.

Ethics and campaign finance have featured heavily in Obama's campaigning.  Jennifer Hunter at the Chicago Sun Times wonders whether his proposals (like an independent ethics commission and new restrictions on contact between lobbyists and lawmakers) have a chance at changing a history of corruption in Washington -- look for the mention of the Fair Elections Now Act towards the end.