Obama Hits Up Big Dem Donors
Politico reports:
President Barack Obama’s 2012 fundraising team has begun nailing down major cash commitments from top donors during a coast-to-coast “listening” tour — the surest sign to date that the vaunted Obama money machine is back in business.
Former White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina, along with Hollywood producer-turned-Democratic fundraiser Rufus Gifford, has been aggressively recruiting big-money contributors who maxed out to the 2008 campaigns of Obama and Hillary Clinton, donors and party officials told Politico.
One of their pitches: an offer to join a new “National Finance Council,” which would entail a contribution to the Democratic National Committee of up to $61,600 per couple, per year. That money could be used to fund support operations for Obama’s reelection effort, in addition to smaller donations they would be expected to make directly to Obama’s as-yet-unincorporated Chicago-based campaign, according to donors.
The decision to ask for the DNC’s $61,600 up front, while hardly unprecedented, has taken some Democratic fundraisers by surprise. In part, that’s because it comes so early in the cycle — before any clear GOP frontrunner has emerged.
But that kind of commitment from wealthy donors could crowd out the party’s cash-hungry congressional committees, which are desperately competing for 2012 contributions, often from the same source.
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