Thread: New Stable of Wealthy Donors Fueled Obama Campaign’s Recor

New Stable of Wealthy Donors Fueled Obama Campaign’s Record Fund-Raising Quarter
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
Published: July 16, 2011



President Obama recruited roughly 150 new elite donors, raising as much as a half a million dollars each, to help propel him to a large and early lead over his Republican opponents in the race for campaign cash, according to campaign filings released last week.


The new fund-raisers, including Silicon Valley executives, people active in gay rights causes and onetime supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton, dominate the list of top donors that Mr. Obama’s campaign released on Friday, according to an analysis by The New York Times. Known as bundlers, they are typically deep-pocketed supporters who tap friends and business associates to raise money for candidates.

Their presence, along with the names of more than 100 veterans of Mr. Obama’s formidable 2008 fund-raising operation, suggests that the president and his aides have moved quickly to replenish the ranks of top fund-raisers as he prepares for an onslaught of advertising next year mounted by independent groups in support of his Republican opponent.

More than half a million people have donated to the president’s campaign or his joint fund with the Democratic National Committee since Mr. Obama formally entered the race in April, and the two accounts gained a combined record-breaking $86 million for the campaign by the end of June. But Mr. Obama’s bundlers — 271 in all — accounted for at least 40 percent of the total, according to the campaign’s estimates.

Mr. Obama’s elite donor corps live in 26 states and the District of Columbia, though a vast majority live in the traditional centers of political fund-raising: Texas, Florida, California and, above all, New York.

Thirty-one of his bundlers collected in excess of $500,000 each in contributions, according to the campaign. They included the Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg; two hedge fund managers, Orin Kramer and Blair Effron; and Andrés W. López, a wealthy Puerto Rico lawyer and law school classmate of Mr. Obama.

Others who have bundled large checks for Mr. Obama include Andy Spahn, a close friend and consultant to Steven Spielberg; Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue; and Jon S. Corzine, the former New Jersey governor.

The newer generation of Obama bundlers reflects the Obama operation’s gradual absorption of the Democrats’ traditional large donors, some of whom did not raise money for him during the 2008 campaign. Some were prominent supporters of Mrs. Clinton, his primary opponent that year.

“These are the traditional large donors to Democratic candidates,â€

It is sad that the Presidency is viewed to be for sale to the biggest special interest fund raiser.