242 Barack H. Obama: The Unauthorized Biographybothered to vote for years at time. An article by Joshua Green on Hull, which appeared in the
Atlantic Monthly as his candidacy was cresting, was prescient: “Self-financed candidates are
usually facing media scrutiny for the first time. They are therefore more susceptible to
damaging revelations: a drunk-driving arrest, a history of domestic violence, an illegal nanny.”
The ubiquitous Hull television ads had given him far better name recognition than his obscure
opponents. But the footage of him chartering a bus to take Illinois senior citizens to Canada for
cheaper prescription drugs than they could buy in the U.S. did him no good once the divorce
story broke. Voters now knew one thing about Hull that didn’t come from his ads, and it made
even the least credulous suspect that the virtues and earnestness on display in the paid spots
were contrived. After the divorce story broke, Blair Hull posted a message on his campaign
website: “If voters want to judge me solely on the basis of my divorce, I’m willing to allow the
chips to fall where they may. However, what voters tell me they want this election to be about is
who has the independence to make health care more affordable, drive down the costs of
prescription drugs, get our economy moving and create jobs.” Jay Gatsby realized, finally, that
none of those people at his parties were his friends—they were just there for the food, the drinks
and the thrills. Blair Hull now knows that only a few of those earnest voters who spoke to him
were really interested in his gold-plated policy seminar. They wanted a tabloid story, and he
became it. (William Voegeli, “The Rise and Fall of Blair Hull,” The Claremont Institute, March
19, 2004)^98
Note once again that the demolition of Hull followed the guidelines suggested by the profile in
the Atlantic Monthly, which is today one of the temples of the Obama cult.
OBAMA’S CAMPAIGN “WORKED AGGRESSIVELY” TO SMEAR BLAIR HULL
As the 2004 Senate primary neared, it was clear that it was a contest between two people: the
millionaire liberal, Hull, who was leading in the polls, and Obama, who had built an impressive
grass-roots campaign. About a month before the vote, The Chicago Tribune revealed, near the
bottom of a long profile of Hull, that during a divorce proceeding, Hull’s second wife filed for
an order of protection. In the following few days, the matter erupted into a full-fledged scandal
that ended up destroying the Hull campaign and handing Obama an easy primary victory. The
Tribune reporter who wrote the original piece later acknowledged in print that the Obama
camp had ‘worked aggressively behind the scenes’ to push the story.^99 (emphasis added)^100
Even with the support of this profiling and scandal machine, Obama was only able to eke out
52.77% of the primary vote in a crowded field. The Obama campaign was deeply implicated in the
mudslinging.
THE ELIMINATION OF JACK RYAN
Now Obama had to face the Republican candidate, who was yet another multimillionaire, this
time with a glamorous actress wife who had been a star of the television series Star Trek. A
standard Internet reference work gives the following account of what followed:
Obama was then pitted against Jack Ryan, the winner of the Republican primary. Ryan
campaigned in favor of across-the-board tax cuts, school choice, and tort reform, an effort to
limit payout in medical malpractice lawsuits. Ryan spent his childhood in Wilmette, Illinois,
with his five siblings, and attended New Trier High School. He graduated from high school in
1977 and went on to Dartmouth College, where he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta