Originally posted indepth at The Minority Report

You cannot buy a pair of shoes, or an hour of internet time while sitting at an internet cafe, without providing a valid credit card, the correct name on that card, a valid address associated with that card, and the correct zip code and/or security code ID off the back of that card.

And yet, each and every one of those security measures demanded by every merchant who uses the internet was disabled by the Obama Campaign on their website. If you were willing to provide a valid credit card number, you were allowed to contribute. This was an invitation to fraud. And it appears that fraud is exactly what ensued. The problem is a loophole in the Campaign Finance Reform (CFR) laws.

According to Newsmax.com the final sale price on the White House came to a little over $650 Million, with much of the financing coming from foreign sources. In fact, when all the numbers are in, nobody will ever know the numbers, because of loopholes in the campaign finance laws, and shoddy bookkeeping from the new owner.

The American people will never find out exactly how many of the estimated 3 million donors did so illegally, as it is highly unlikely that the Obama Administration will be interested in an investigation. President-elect Obama raised more money on the internet than any candidate in history. And, therein lies the rub.

On October 24, the National Journal reported an experiment conducted by reporter Neil Munro. Munro purchased two $25 pre-paid American Express gift cards, and then, using a public library internet site, attempted to donate to both Presidential Campaigns. The McCain donation was refused. The Obama contribution was accepted.

Rebecca Donatelli, president of Campaign Solutions of Alexandria, Va., which processes donations for John McCain, said her system rejected the donation because American Express could not verify that the donor lived at the address given with the online contribution.

The McCain campaign does accept normal credit card donations because staffers can easily check whether the owner of the credit card shares the same billing address as the listed donor, she said. That address-check process costs the campaign about 12 cents, she said.

–snip–

Obama campaign spokesman Nick Shapiro said, “We review our contributions to ensure that the information donors provide is complete and verifiable. We would only accept a contribution from a pre-paid credit card if the donor provides complete and verifiable information, consistent with FEC guidelines.”

Bob Biersack, FEC spokesman explains, “Contributions that come under $200 aggregated per person are not listed. They don’t appear anywhere, so there’s no way of knowing who they are. The committees are responsible for providing accurate information about the identifying characteristics of their donors…. The precise mechanisms of that are not necessarily written into the regulations,” he added.

The Center for Responsive Politics, (CRP) a non-partisan watchdog group that tracks the influence of money in politics, asked both presidential campaigns to submit better recording of their contributions to include those donations that did not meet the $200 threshold. The McCain campaign chose to go beyond CFR requirements and list all donors regardless of amount. The Obama campaign did not.

According to CRP spokesman Massie Ritsch, “We and seven other watchdog groups asked both campaigns for more information on small donors. The Obama campaign never responded.”

In a piece entitled Morning Bell: The Most Fraudulent Election Ever The Heritage Foundation offers a possible explanation for why the Obama Campaign chose to forgo public financing in this election, after promising to do so — known finance irregularities.

According to federal election law, any presidential campaign that participates in public financing is automatically audited after an election. When Barack Obama broke his promise to the American people by forgoing the public financing system, his campaign became the first since public financing became law to have a chance of not being audited. Federal law does still allow the Federal Election Commission to audit a presidential campaign that doesn’t participate in public financing, but at least four of the six FEC commissioners must first vote to pursue an investigation “for cause.” No doubt there is great “cause” to be concerned about Obama’s fundraising efforts.

Kenneth Timmerman of Newsmax.com has been investigating this story for weeks. TMR reported on his work on October 1, again on the New York Times non-response on October 12, and even leftist Maureen Dowd’s concerns about fraud in the Obama fundraising on October 25.

Timmerman reported that on October 8, an FEC investigation uncovered more than 2000 cases where individuals had donated well beyond the $2300 allowable by law. Two such individuals, Mr Good Will and Mr Pro Doodad, contributed totals of $17,375 and $19,500 respectively, mostly in small $25 donations.

One couple from Rancho Pales Verde, CA, Debra Myers and Woodrow Myers Jr, each contributed $28,500 to the Obama Campaign.

While the Obama campaign has promised to look into any possible campaign finance violations, their response has been sluggish at best, and it could be several months, if not years, before the actual violations are sorted out.

Stephen Weissman of the Campaign Finance Institute, a nonpartisan D.C.-based watchdog group, said, “It’s fairly clear that the Obama campaign has allowed certain donations to stand for certain periods of time that are dubious. What you have in back of this are politicians who don’t want a strong FEC,” he added.

There is much more (it’s fairly long) and delves deeply into illegal foreign contributions. Read the entire article here.