"OBAMA CHALLENGES HEDGE FUNDS"

Ari Berman (The Nation):

Barack Obama is the number one recipient of hedge fund money in the '08 campaign for president. Yet even Obama is aghast at his party's decision, under intense lobbying pressure, to exempt these lucrative firms from paying their fair share in taxes, as reported today in the Washington Post.

Here's what his campaign had to say this morning:

"If there was ever a doubt that Washington lobbyists don't actually represent real Americans, it's the fact that they stopped leaders of both parties from requiring elite investment firms to pay their fair share of taxes, even as middle-class families struggle to pay theirs. When I'm President, the American people won't have to spend record amounts on lobbying to get their voice heard in Washington. I will close tax loopholes for big corporations, provide 90% of working Americans with a tax cut, and pass the strongest lobbying reform in history."

Expect a similar release shortly from Clinton and Edwards. Kudos to Obama for being first out of the gate.

UPDATE: Edwards chimes in.

UPDATE II: Hedge fund tax comes up in GOP debate on economy this afternoon. Rudy Giuliani's response: "The market is a wonderful thing." Ron Paul counters: "This is not the consequence of free markets. It's a transfer of wealth from the poor and middle-income to the wealthy."