OT: Lebron Donates 20k to Obama

[UCFknight84]

LeBron James' boldest statement until now has been his obviously flawed choice in baseball caps. Even then, when the Cavaliers star wore a Yankees hat to an Indians playoff game last year, he only risked the boos and hatred of most of Cleveland.

Now, he's risking his popularity with the nation's Republicans.

James has lavished a little more than 0.1 percent of his 2008-09 salary of $14.4 million on the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, according to Federal Election Commission records. In June, the Cavaliers star donated $20,000 to the Democratic White House Victory Fund, a joint committee set up by Obama and the Democratic Party for the presidential race.

Supporting a political candidate is a risky move for an athlete who has a $100 million contract with Nike, and depends on shoe sales for part of his income. But in this case it's not foolish, according to one sports marketing expert.

http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/2008/0 ... ement.html

not only is he one of the best players of our generation but he hes also not a money loving conservative, props to him for making the right choice

[drsd]

The people who support Obama overlap significantly with those that by high-end sneakers: Youth and underprivileged minorities.

Michael Jordan routinely donated money to politicians, and that certainly never dented Brand Jordan.



It is interesting to think of $20,000 as 0.1% of one's salary

[trebone]

i dont like athletes getting into the political game, but maybe he is setting up his next career

[Gerhalt11]

i dont like athletes getting into the political game, but maybe he is setting up his next career

I usually don't, either, but it's not like he announced it to the world. As far as I can tell, this was an independent review of FEC records and Lebron's name just happened to come up. He's not wearing his politics on his sleeve. He just made a donation like any other citizen.

[Catledge]

What's wrong with athletes getting involved in politics? Isn't he just exercising his civic duty?

[craig01]

It's none of my business what he does.

[MagiChamps]

The people who support Obama overlap significantly with those that by high-end sneakers: Youth and underprivileged minorities.

Michael Jordan routinely donated money to politicians, and that certainly never dented Brand Jordan.

It is interesting to think of $20,000 as 0.1% of one's salary

*Removed*

Sorry, inappropriate.

Also, as preemptive move, let's keep this relevant to basketball and not turn it into a political debate/bashing/etc.

-Dev

[Howard Mass]

If you go to newsmeat and other websites you can see who donates to who.

Athletes and celebs give a lot of money to politicans.

[richboy]

All things that happened in the past went out the window when you have your first legit African American Presidential candidate. Even MJ might publically back him. Him winning would be the biggest thing to happen to the Black community since the Right to Vote and the End of slavery. As an African American that has me nervous of what might happen if he looses. I even know African American Republicans who will vote Republican on everything on there sheet except when it comes to vote for President. No shock that Lebron put his name behind Obama. It would have been a huge shock if he put his name behind McCain.

[ivDT]

lebron must've not gotten the memo about republicans wanting to cut taxes for millionaires...

[christian72589]

LeBron James' boldest statement until now has been his obviously flawed choice in baseball caps. Even then, when the Cavaliers star wore a Yankees hat to an Indians playoff game last year, he only risked the boos and hatred of most of Cleveland.

Now, he's risking his popularity with the nation's Republicans.

James has lavished a little more than 0.1 percent of his 2008-09 salary of $14.4 million on the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, according to Federal Election Commission records. In June, the Cavaliers star donated $20,000 to the Democratic White House Victory Fund, a joint committee set up by Obama and the Democratic Party for the presidential race.

Supporting a political candidate is a risky move for an athlete who has a $100 million contract with Nike, and depends on shoe sales for part of his income. But in this case it's not foolish, according to one sports marketing expert.

http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/2008/0 ... ement.html

not only is he one of the best players of our generation but he hes also not a money loving conservative, props to him for making the right choice

so only conservatives love money?.... unlikely.

[UCFknight84]

no stupid dont generalize statements im a money loving democrat that doesnt mean i think only democrats love money

[christian72589]

lol... well i am definately a conservative... sorry mods, i won't drag this out... but your statement would be the equivalent of me saying " at least he's not a tree-hugging democrat" or something... i'm just saying, slightly offensive. We clearly have different views, but thats all i have to say.

[UCFknight84]

im sorry for offending you, if i knew you had a soft spot for someone saying republicans love money i would have never said it

[christian72589]

honestly, this is a classic case of agree to disagree... as long as we can agree on one thing... the orlando magic... lol

[UCFknight84]

woo woo

[MoGrAdY]

This has nothing to do with basketball, and I might just notice it because I dont pay attention to everyones opinion. But I do alot of promotion on Myspace and I work with alot of rappers, as we all know most rappers are black. Anyways Ive noticed that about 95% of the black rappers / fans of rap I meet and talk to all support Obama. I support Obama myself, but Ive just wondered before if its possible some black ppl will vote Obama because hes black. I know there are plenty of black McCains supporters out there. Just something that made me kinda curious. Does it have anything to do with race or is just a huge coincidence? And Im not making tryin to bring up a "Race issue" with this because for a while I wondered if some women would vote Hillary just to have a lady President. Anyways just curious to hear from ppl who prolly pay more attention to the big picture then I do.

[UCFknight84]

just like how 9/10 black people are voting for obama theres a good portion in the mideast/midwest that support mccain just because hes white some people cant go beyond race and it seems to be the older generation that live on farmland.. not to stereotype but its sadly true..some people just live so far away from society they still are in that 1950's-1960's mindset of racism

[Stinko Malenko]

This has nothing to do with basketball, and I might just notice it because I dont pay attention to everyones opinion. But I do alot of promotion on Myspace and I work with alot of rappers, as we all know most rappers are black. Anyways Ive noticed that about 95% of the black rappers / fans of rap I meet and talk to all support Obama. I support Obama myself, but Ive just wondered before if its possible some black ppl will vote Obama because hes black. I know there are plenty of black McCains supporters out there. Just something that made me kinda curious. Does it have anything to do with race or is just a huge coincidence? And Im not making tryin to bring up a "Race issue" with this because for a while I wondered if some women would vote Hillary just to have a lady President. Anyways just curious to hear from ppl who prolly pay more attention to the big picture then I do.

Kerry got 90% of the black vote in 2004 I believe. Obama currently is polling around 95% of the black vote. The majority of Obama's black support has more to do with his politics than his race. If Obama was the Republican candidate I doubt the Democrat would lose much of the 90% Kerry got before.

[ivDT]

the republicans need to give alan keyes another shot at obama.

i doubt he'd run his campaign any worse than mccain's running his.

plus, he has those awesome fetus lapel pins.

i don't see mccain wearing anything like that...