According to the New York Times:
Fourteen months into a campaign that has the feel of a movement, Sen. Barack Obama has collided with the gritty political traditions of Philadelphia, where ward bosses love their candidates, but also expect them to pay up.
The dispute centers on the dispensing of "street money," a long-standing Philadelphia ritual in which candidates deliver cash to the city's Democratic operatives in return for getting out the vote.
Flush with payments from well-funded campaigns, the ward leaders and Democratic Party bosses typically spread out the cash in the days before the election, handing $10, $20 and $50 bills to the foot soldiers and loyalists who make up the party's workforce.
It is all legal -- but Obama's people are telling the local bosses he won't pay.
This is an obvious example of machine politics, the kind that Obama has pledged to eradicate. But if he does not pay, some operatives may stay away or even switch to Clinton. Obama knows this is the price he may have to pay if he sticks to his guns. And he is staying clean. This is what I call integrity.
Integrity is very hard to find in politics. It's a dirty business, people say. After the corrupt administration of George W. Bush, we are ready for a leader who is clean. If you want a more honest political system, vote for a man with integrity: Obama.
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