Obama's California Fundraisers: How Much Money Exactly?

This story comes to us courtesy of California Watch.
Story by Chase Davis

The next federal deadline for candidates to submit their campaign finance reports will be upon us at the end of this week, and in this quarterly ritual of political posturing, it seems President Barack Obama is flexing the biggest fundraising muscles by far.

Obama's campaign manager, Jim Messina, announced yesterday that the president raised $86 million during the last three months, combining his own campaign and joint efforts with the Democratic National Committee. Obama's fundraising filing is expected to total 15,000 pages -- about 5 feet tall when stacked together.

By comparison, the entire field of Republican challengers is expected to raise less than $35 million, with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney expected to maintain his fundraising advantage.

We've spent some time over the last couple of weeks talking about how friendly California has been to Romney and his fellow Republicans. But perhaps nobody has benefited more from Californians' largesse than Obama.

During his 2008 campaign, 97 wealthy Californians served as bundlers for Obama, helping pull together at least $15 million -- and probably much more. California was easily Obama's largest source of bundled cash, just a few million less than New York and his home state of Illinois combined.

Bundlers typically are wealthy, well-connected donors who collect campaign contributions from close friends and associates and deliver them to a candidate as a bundle. The arrangement allows a donor to present more money to a candidate than campaign contribution limits typically would allow.

Many of Obama's bundlers later were rewarded with plum appointments, stimulus money or other perks, according to published reports.

As he did during the last election, Obama has promised to once again release a list of campaign bundlers along with the campaign's second-quarter fundraising reports.

The willingness of California bundlers to fundraise with their same 2008 zeal should become more clear as those reports are released. Several big donors, such as movie executives Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, already have held fundraisers for the president within the last year.

A complete list of Obama's California bundlers from 2008 follows. We'll be keeping track to see which ones are back for another round this year.

The data comes from the Center for Responsive Politics, which saved Obama's bundling reports from the 2008 campaign. Disclosing bundlers is not required by law, so the campaign disclosed the bundled contributions only in ranges.

Comments

[supergenius02]

04:14 PM on 07/16/2011

Too bad Obama spends more time raising money to retain power than doing his job to help America. He traveled across the country to attend 35 fundraisers in the first 6 months of this year alone. That's more than 1 per week. He simply is not going his job and it is no wonder today's Gallup poll has his approval down to 42%.

We all hear about Obama inheriting a bad economy but he made it worse. He inherited a unemployment rate of 7.2% and now it is 9.2%. He inherited a black unemployment rate of of 10.2% and now it is 16.2%. Obama can raise all the money he wants by liberal millionaires and billionaires but there is not not enough nearly wealthy liberals alone to re-elect him. Obama will need the votes of the average Americans he is clearly ignoring. Obama simply had not earned the right to be re-elected and all the money in the world won't buy him the votes to win.

[zetacplus]

04:11 PM on 07/15/2011

California republicans are so angry they want to break the state into. That is epic.

[Awake-and-Sing]

01:40 PM on 07/15/2011

With reapportionment, California Democrats are expected to pick up at least 3 congressional seats from Republicans and may even drive Republicans down to below 1/3 of the representation in the state legislature. We also had a progressive landslide in 2010.

It feels good to be a Californian.

[Angie Tyne 1]

03:41 PM on 07/15/2011

Not to mention getting rid of the 2/3 budget approval nonsense.

[ko2ko2]

12:44 PM on 07/15/2011

I like to see stories like this where the average joe is helping out the president

[hardrain77]

01:31 PM on 07/15/2011

Like Rahm Emanuel's brother. A real blue-collar kinda kid.

[Maezeppa]

01:33 PM on 07/15/2011

Like all of us.

[jg6544]

12:25 PM on 07/15/2011

I'm hardly in that class, but in 2008, I gave Obama more money than I have ever given to a politician in my entire life. This time - not one thin dime. I contribute only to Democrats from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.

[AlexLiveFree]

12:48 PM on 07/15/2011

Yup. The other day, I though that Obama had finally stopped caving (when he told Cantor to not call his bluff). Today, he began his ritual of caving in once again.

[Maezeppa]

01:34 PM on 07/15/2011

He's not caving. Watch and learn. What he's doing is genius.

[Chris Andoe]

01:44 PM on 07/15/2011

Obama would be in a much stronger position right now had Democratic voters not been so fickle during the midterms. If the plan is to "send him a message" in 2012 by not voting, not working, and not contributing Rick Perry or one of these extremist nuts will have the last laugh at all of our expense.

[Pema]

03:03 PM on 07/15/2011

i dont think it was the dems. it was inde's very very few blue dogs would pull the level for a pubbie. thats who we target in campaigns.

[jg6544]

04:10 PM on 07/15/2011

And Democratic turnout might have been better had Obama not systematically p*ssed-off the left wing of his own party. Remembrer, Republican Presidents fear their base; Democratic Presidents hate theirs.

[Toasty J]

11:40 AM on 07/15/2011

How sad that we are posting political fundraising totals like they are box office receipts.
What a complete waste of money and resources.

[Bullitt08]

08:53 AM on 07/15/2011

This is exactly why B H. O should have let the Bush tax cuts expire, and exactly why he didn't.

Anyone who has $100,000 and up to contribute to a political campaign isn't being taxed enough.

[slocomgp]

09:44 AM on 07/15/2011

I seem to remember that being a negotiating tool for the cons to approve an unemployment extension. Kind of like they have done with the debt ceiling, except this one the GOP is losing. Your memory seems a little off.

[Littlewords]

10:06 AM on 07/15/2011

Off by convenience. It's a core trait of Righties who do the same with their application of the US Constitution.

[Pema]

12:03 PM on 07/15/2011

and these people know he wants to raise their taxes so i am not sure what point you were trying to make.

[slavetohumanity]

01:50 PM on 07/15/2011

I can't say for sure, but I would hazard a guess that most of the people on this list will not be affected by any tax increases. Therefore, they could care less if Obama wants to raise taxes on the average joe and josephine citizen. Most of these people (bundlers) - on both sides of increasingly narrow political divide - contribute their time and money for one of two reasons: access and/or status.

[rsunday]

06:20 AM on 07/15/2011

Candidate Obama 2008 turned out to be a whole lot different then Candidate Obama 2012; most progressive promises broken. . . lots of people that donated in 2008 aren't going to do it again. I assume that Code Pink (see chart above) won't be donating to Obama's campaign this year, the anti-war candidate turned out to be another warmonger President like Bush-Chaney.

[rinpochet]

09:51 AM on 07/15/2011

After seeing what not being involved did for us in 2010, I doubt that we will be sitting on the sidelines again.

[Littlewords]

10:12 AM on 07/15/2011

Exactly. While there will be many struggling with the transformation of Obama from his 2008 Hope campaign, to neglect the attention and responsibility of voting has dire consequences.

The Righties are counting on a low Dem turnout in 2012 and that (along w/ no taxes of any kind along with no help to create jobs) is one of their top areas of fever pitched activity (see McConnell's regular comments about taking down Obama).

The consequences spill into the Supreme Court, Fed Agencies, and a plan to do absolutely h0rrific things like stifling all forms of organized labor along with selling off SSI and medicare to wallstreet and the banksters that brought us the economic calamity of 2008 which still plagues us today.

[Toasty J]

11:42 AM on 07/15/2011

Lon Chaney ran with Bush?

[lucky-dog]

04:02 AM on 07/15/2011

Being an Obama supporter and also from california, I still think that radical campaign finance reform is long over due. Half a million here and there could be put to much better use.

[Lleah]

02:56 AM on 07/15/2011

So proud and grateful to be from California.......

[pthompson13]

09:39 AM on 07/15/2011

Amen sister! This is were pragmatism was born :)

[ko2ko2]

12:45 PM on 07/15/2011

Ya we got the cash to throw away

[ImWideAwake]

01:57 AM on 07/15/2011

..mmm a donor from 'code pink' donating to the war President?

[scottishboy]

01:05 AM on 07/15/2011

The people who support the Peoples Republic of California. How nice.

[AllowMeToObserve]

01:56 AM on 07/15/2011

Choke.on.it.

[scottishboy]

02:24 AM on 07/15/2011

It's okay. You folks on the far left have converted me. I'm all for taxing every single progressive alive, and some that are dead also. After all, it's fare, isn't it?

I'm with you dude, where can I send my two cents.

[rinpochet]

09:57 AM on 07/15/2011

"The people who support the Peoples Republic of California­. How nice. " Much preferable to our corporations which support the Peoples Republic of China.

Assume you will NEVER support these people by going to see another movie. You should also toss that computer out of the window. So much that you would have to give up if you were principled and wanted to not benefit from anything out of California but I doubt that is going to happen any time soon. Much simpler and convenient to trash California while benefiting from all that has been given to the country by this state.

[scottishboy]

10:48 AM on 07/15/2011

I’m confused, what does going to a movie, or using a computer have to do with the socialist/progressive government in Sacramento? FYI, The Peoples Republic of California maybe the most debt ridden state in the nation! But that’s not the point.

I’m not sure if you live in The Peoples Republic or not but I do right now. Planning to leave here ASAP but that’s another story also.

[lawdood]

12:45 AM on 07/15/2011

Wait a sec, I thought wealthy business people hated Obama and only unions supported him? That's what Faux News has been telling me.

[slocomgp]

09:46 AM on 07/15/2011

Fox News where you will NEVER find the truth.

[RF5401]

10:20 AM on 07/15/2011

The truth is there, You just cannot handle the truth.

[rinpochet]

10:02 AM on 07/15/2011

That's why they call it "Faux" News.

[javajava]

12:41 AM on 07/15/2011

Every time he rolls through Northern California all he hits is Pacific Heights or some place in Woodside/Atherton. I know that those folks write the checks but it would be nice if they gave just plain folks a nod occasionally.

[goodog]

12:39 AM on 07/15/2011

"Obama's fundraising filing is expected to total 15,000 pages -- about 5 feet tall when stacked together."

Given Herman Cain's 3 page limit, you gotta wonder why he's trying.

[1logicalthinker]

02:09 AM on 07/15/2011

he kneads the dough :)