After everything the Tanning Bed Media has done for Barack Obama, they must believe that they’re owed at least some free access to The One on Election Night.  Instead, the TBM has discovered that they’re SOL unless they cough up some Dough-Re-Mi:

The best-funded political campaign in American history says news organizations will have to pay—in some cases almost $2,000 each—if they want to cover Barack Obama’s election-night celebration in Chicago.

Well, that’s only fair.  If Obama winds up getting elected because of the cheerleading of the national media –who vetted a plumber more harshly than a major-party candidate for President — they should start paying before the rest of us pony up.

A memo sent to news organizations on Tuesday by the Obama campaign says credentials will cost $715 to $1,815, depending on whether electrical and phone lines are needed and whether an indoor or outdoor seat is requested for the event, which is expected to be held outside the evening of Nov. 4 in Grant Park.

A little advice for my colleagues in the Tanning Bed Media: think of it as spreading the wealth.  Yes, I know it will go to Obama and his team, but that’s where the rest of the wealth will go, too, if Obama wins.

The only free admissions are for a “general media” area. But, the memo says, “Please note that the general media area is outdoors, unassigned and may have obstructed views . . . standing room only.”

The area also does not include access to top Obama campaign officials, whose statements likely are to be in hot demand on Election Night. They apparently will be available only in the “press file” tent, to which an additional admission fee of $935 per person is being imposed.

Sounds a lot like how government will treat its citizens in the Age of Obama.  If you want access to officials, be prepared to pay, just like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did with Obama, Chris Dodd, and Barney Frank.  Otherwise, get used to “obstructions” for the next four years.

Obama aides declined to answer questions about why a campaign that raised $150 million in the month of September is demanding such payments. But the memo already is drawing some protest.

Not only did they decline to answer questions, but right now they’re busy investigating anyone who still had the testicular fortitude to ask them after what happened to Joe the Plumber.  Expect to see information about tax liens, divorce records, and licensing appear in the papers by Thursday.

Don’t expect too much sympathy from us for the Tanning Bed Media.  The only reason why Obama’s in a position to demand tithes from the worshipping media is because journalists and editors didn’t do their jobs in the first place.

Update: I’ve explained Tanning Bed Media, but I don’t mind explaining it again.  When Sarah Palin got picked by John McCain for his running mate, the national media sent dozens of reporters to Wasilla and Juneau to dig up dirt on her — and only came away with the second-hand tanning bed she bought with her own money and put in the governor’s mansion.  The national media never bothered to put forth anywhere near that kind of effort to investigate Barack Obama or his connections to the New Party, Tony Rezko, the Daley Machine, the Strogers, William Ayers, or ACORN, and they had two years to do it.

Here’s a little clip that should get the Tanning Bed Media used to a prospective Obama administration. Coincidentally, this took place in a newsroom!