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By Peter Wallsten
April 6, 2009
Reporting from Washington — With the White House positioned to reshape the future of the auto industry, Republican Sen. Bob Corker was so concerned about the prospects for his home state of Tennessee that he delivered a personal warning to the administration’s point man on the issue.

Don’t keep plants open in Ohio and Michigan, which voted for President Obama last year, at the expense of a plant in Tennessee, which is solidly Republican, he said.

“I wanted to know: Would they employ a blue-state, red-state strategy?” Corker said in an interview, recalling his phone conversation last week with Steven Rattner, the administration’s top advisor on restructuring the domestic auto industry.

The question illustrates the new dynamic as Obama tries to balance the economic need to salvage a struggling industry that employs hundreds of thousands of people, and affects millions, against the needs of key constituencies and possibly his own reelection hopes.

Like Corker, all sides are attempting to decode messages from the White House.

The administration has sent reassuring signals to the United Auto Workers, a staunch campaign supporter of Obama, amid fears that union members and retirees will be forced to sacrifice more benefits.

By contrast, bondholders who are owed money by General Motors Corp. say they are still waiting to see whether the White House will consider their needs.

Corker would not divulge how Rattner responded to his concerns, saying only that he believed the White House would “try to do the right thing.”

But he added that politics could prove unavoidable, given the president’s ties to the UAW and his election campaign’s reliance on auto-heavy states such as Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.

“The administration owns this now,” Corker said. “They’ve taken over a private company, and in essence you can imagine the kinds of pressures on them as they move ahead.”

Rattner did not respond to requests for an interview.

A White House official, requesting anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations, said the president and his auto task force were focused on solutions that would save the industry — not on political calculations that pale in comparison with the larger risks awaiting Obama if the auto industry were to collapse.
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 BANGKOK, April 7 (Reuters) - Thai stocks are expected to
edge down on Tuesday because of domestic political tension
ahead of a big anti-government rally, as well as gloom on
overseas markets due to U.S. financial fears, analysts said.

 Thousands of red-shirted protesters, supporters of exiled
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, plan a big rally on
Wednesday, and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has vowed to
take firm measures to prevent bloody confrontation.
[nBKK442810]

 "Domestic politics remains the key risk factor for our
market, with investors likely to sell due to fears related to
the big rally on April 8," said Kosin Sripaiboon, head of
research at UOB Kay Hian Securities. "We will also track other
Asian markets lower."

 On Monday U.S. bank shares were dragged down after analyst
Mike Mayo of Calyon Securities warned of rising loan losses by
the end of 2010. [ID:nN06322858].

 Support on the main index .SETI is expected at 440 and
437 and resistance at 447 and 450, the analysts added.

 The Thai market was closed on Monday for a public holiday.
On Friday, it climbed 0.8 percent to 446.04, its highest close
since Feb. 16, cheered by improving U.S. data.

 Click [TH/TRADING01] for cumulative trading value by
investor type. ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 0124 GMT
------------

                 INSTRUMENT   LAST       PCT CHG   NET CHG
S&P 500             .SPX       835.48      -0.83%    -7.020
USD/JPY             <JPY=>       100.74      -0.28%    -0.280
10-YR US TSY YLD    <US10YT=RR>  2.9168          --    -0.015
SPOT GOLD           <XAU=>       874.4        0.64%     5.600
US CRUDE            CLc1       51.04       -0.02%    -0.010
DOW JONES           .DJI       7975.85     -0.52%    -41.74
ASIA ADRS           .BKAS      95.49       -2.05%      -2.00
-------------------------------------------------------------
MARKET SUMMARY > NYMEX-Crude stays above $51/bbl after 2.8 pct
fall       [O/R] > US STOCKS-Wall Street rally stumbles as bank
fears reemerge[.N] > FOREX-US dollar rises broadly as U.S.
stocks fall       [USD/] > TREASURIES-Bonds fall on concerns
over supply, Fed buying [US/] > PRECIOUS-Gold edges up as
market seen oversold; ETF stead[GOL/]

 STOCKS AND FACTORS TO WATCH

 - Thailand's economy will contract sharply this year,
largely because of the global recession, and low inflation
gives it room for further interest rate cuts, the International
Monetary Fund said. [nN06419616]

 - The global economic crisis and the security threat posed
by North Korea's rocket launch will grab much of the attention
this weekend when Asian leaders gather in Thailand for their
annual summit. [nBKK489993]

 - For the Thai press digest click on [PRESS/TH]

 - For Thailand's IPO diary click on <TH/IPOMENU>

 - For Thailand's stock exchange news click on [TH-SET]

 - For Thailand corporate earnings: [TH-RES-RTRS]

 - For Thailand economic forecast: [POLL-ECI-TH-RTRS]
 ($1=35.37 Baht)
 (Reporting by Arada Therdthammakun; Editing by Alan Raybould)

WASHINGTON — Political fund raising has suffered a rare decline since Election Day as corporate political-action committees have trimmed campaign donations amid an economic slump.

Contributions from company PACs fell 6% to $8.2 million in the first two months of the year, compared with the same period in 2007, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of the most recently available fund-raising reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

That contrasts with big increases in corporate PAC donations at the start of the previous three election cycles. PAC donations by businesses jumped 37% in the January-February period in 2007, compared with the same period in 2005. In the first two months of 2003 and 2005, corporate PACs’ contributions increased by about 50% over the previous elections.

Campaign contributions from companies don’t come from the corporate treasury, but rather from management-level employees who pool their personal funds into a single fund-raising account called a political action committee. Those pooled funds have declined as employees “looking to trim their household budgets cut out the contributions they make to the company PAC,” said Sheila Krumholz, the executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Corporate PACs saw a 14% decline in employee contributions to $16.5 million in January and February, compared with the same period in 2007.

Pfizer Inc. led other companies with a $141,000 decline in PAC donations to $87,000 in January and February, compared with the same months in the last election cycle. “Pfizer is committed to making our voice heard in our nation’s health-care debate,” the company said in a statement. “Our PAC is bipartisan, and we are committed to supporting comprehensive health-care reform.”

PAC donations were down 80% at Chrysler LLC; 89% at U.S. Steel Corp.; and 28% at General Electric Co., according to the data. Spokesmen for Chrysler and GE declined to comment; a representative of U.S. Steel didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Several companies that were among the major donors in previous years have either filed for bankruptcy protection or no longer exist in their current form, such as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos.

Companies that received funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program showed a sharp drop, including Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. PAC donations by J.P. Morgan were down 75% to $20,000 in January and February from $81,000 during the same period in 2007, according to the data. Bank of America, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan declined to comment.
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