Hillraisers Donated Less Than $20,000 To Obama In June

***UPDATED BELOW***

By now, most political junkies know that Barack Obama raised a lot of money in June.

But his campaign's $52 million dollar take for the month becomes all the more impressive when considering the utter lack of help he received from Hillary Clinton's high-dollar fundraising machine. When comparing Obama's full FEC filing for June with a list of 311 "Hillraisers" -- or supporters who bundled more than $100,000 in contributions for Sen. Clinton -- the Huffington Post found only eight names in common between the two lists. Not all of those donors maxed out, either, making for a relatively paltry figure of $19,250 in direct, hard-money contributions from Hillraisers for the month.

That does not mean that only eight of Clinton's top donors have contributed to Obama since Clinton dropped out. Several dozen more Hillraisers are rumored to have donated in July, but those details will not be available until late August. Some other prominent Hillraisers, like Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, have hosted high-dollar events at their homes, drawing many more times the $4600 limit they each could have given individually by law.

But still, the fact that fewer than three percent of Clinton's donors have donated any money directly to Obama in his first month as presumptive nominee is likely to raise the eyebrows of some leaders in the Democratic Party who are hoping to see signs of unity. Clinton suspended her campaign in early June, and officially endorsed Barack Obama in a speech on June 7.

In addition, only a scattered few Hillraisers donated to the Democratic National Committee or its Victory Fund in June -- perhaps a more worrying development for the party as it tries to keep pace with its Republican counterpart. (Such checks to the party, however, can go as high as $28,500.)

A source close to the Clinton camp who spoke to the Huffington Post on background said the trend was not irreversible for the Obama campaign, however. "The best thing they can do to bring the Clinton people along is to hire Clinton finance staffers to work with their donors," the source said, adding that no high-level Clinton finance figures have been hired to work for the campaign. "There are some people [Hillraisers] who will never come over," the source conceded, "but some of the people just haven't been involved in the process [thus far]. ... And in a tight race, you need as many people as possible. It's a big deal."

The Huffington Post has reported previously on some of the most outspoken Hillraiser holdouts. And, it must be noted, the ultimate usefulness of some of these figures is not how much they donate personally, but whether they perform the hard work of organizing others to open their wallets. Still, individual contributions can be a sign of intent or enthusiasm.

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Judging by the latest figures, there isn't much of either among Hillraisers at the moment.

The complete list of names for Hillraiser donors in June is below:

Obama for America: 8 Hillraisers

Gary Gensler
John Graham
Lorraine Hariton
Laurence Humphries
Pat Maloney Jr.
Amb. Arthur Schechter
Ann Stock
Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis

Victory Fund: 6 Hillraisers

Mark Aronchick
Clarence Avant
John Emerson
John Graham
Chad Griffin
Marc Nathanson

DNC: 4 Hillraisers

Rashid Chaudary
Gary Gensler
Amb. Arthur Schechter
Maureen White

LATE UPDATE: The Washington Post's The Trail blog offers another dimension to the picture. Scouring the latest FEC reports, they discovered a total of 2,200 individual Clinton donors -- as distinct from the smaller group of elite Hillraisers we tracked -- who became first-time Obama donors in June, and who donated $1.8 million of the $52 million total (or approximately four percent of the campaign's June take).

As we reported, Clinton and Obama sources described to the Post the fact that some bundlers may help fundraise without writing checks themselves. However, during our own review, it was clear that many more Hillraisers also wrote personal checks to Clinton, in addition to their bundling, than have currently done the same for Obama.

Comments

[dcwblackhorse]

Yet they want those of us that support Obama to bail her out of debt after she did much of the republican's work for them? Strange thinking.

[Diplomacy]

Goes to show that Hillary Rodham Clinton's Campaign Fundraising machine is non-existant. They all were 'fair weather' friends who do not support her financially. Otherwise, Hillary Rodham Clinton would have already paid down her debt immediately upone exiting the campaign. Instead, she's had to add $1 million dollars of her own money, yet again to add to the $11 million she had already loaned her campaign.

So done with this NONSENSE!

Hillary, where exactly are you supporters? You tout 18 million supporters, but none of them are willing to donate $2. each? That should really tell you something about the REALITY of your supporters!

Please, please go home to NY and be a Senator. We are all tired of the CLINTON drama, including Hillary, Bill & Chelsea.

So, done with the DRAMA!

[rvn1965]

Great post! only16 years too late!

[08politicaljunkie]

I really don't understand why this is a surprise to anyone. Hillary couldn't raise enough money to cover own campaign. Otherwise, she'd probably be the "presumptive" Democratic nominee. [laughing]

[mimsnpips]

Oh Huff must you!?

[NoSpinTruthZone]

Hahahaha... As many Obama supporters have CLEARLY STATED, "We don't need you!'

So.. it looks like I, and about 15+ million others are not going to help one bit. :)

Good luck with everything!

Clinton/Webb in 2012!!

[knowhelpnow]

First of all Hillary and Bill have enough money coming in to pay off their own debts, please give us all a break and do it. Second if the Hillary supporters are going to support McCain they really are not Democrats in the first place or very sore losers. We really need to unit NOW our country and the earth can not afford 4 more years of this craziness.

[LynnDee]

I have been reading about the PUMA debate and Hillraiser stories for the last few weeks and really my take seems to be a little different than most.

What it boils down to for me is that the Hillraisers whether they are men or women, are really not concerned about FISA or any other issue that has been raised. It is the unspoken issue that has them scrambling and using propaganda against the O campaign. That issue is the fact they O has said he will raise taxes on the wealthy. Hmmm you think there might be some indigestion on that one for the wealthy that have given so much to the H campaign?? I truly feel that he will follow through on that policy and they are running scared.

The use of the other issues is just a smoke screen to pull in those of us who are not as wealthy and more than likely will not be affected by the tax increase. Yes I see entitlement and lying going on but it is heavily slanted in the direction of the H camp.

For me the middle class woman that I am, there are to many issues at stake in this election to fool around and play these very nasty games. I am asking that they look down from their stratosphere and consider the rest of us who will have to live with these decisions and don't have the money to create a buffer against the backlash.

[joeinvt]

Three things:

1. Bill Clinton had no trouble raising taxes on the wealthy. He has a proven record of doing what Obama promises (and I am sure will do once elected). So why should he or Hillary now act in ways that are contrary to their thirty plus years of public service? How does the fact that they have more money now change all that.?

2. When Obama takes office he will be a much wealthier man tham Clinton was when he took office, but I don't think he will basing his tax policies on what his best for him and Michelle. What evidence do you have that Hillary would? Hillary is open to legitimate criticism on many fronts so why make stuff up?

3. I was under the impression that Hillary's supporters were working class people whereas Barack has much more support among the elite.

[UnknownSoldier]

Ummm, I think you left out a few words in your description of Hillary's working class supporters.
1.) White
2.) Hard

White Hard Working Class people supported HIllary. That same group he listens to Rush and Fox News.

[Bettysdad]

Lady de Rothschild

Barbaralee Diamonstein-Speilvogel

Just 2 of the working class Hillary supporters.

There are hundreds more; the richest people you never heard of.

If Obama is getting an average donation of 68 bucks, how elite can his supporters be?

You've got it backwards.

More hype and BS from the Hillary camp.

[mairs]

That's ok. Let them pay off her debts. Those vendors need to be paid.

[rationalthought1]

If the Hillary donors don't want to help the democrats take back our country from the neo-cons then let them help clean up the financial mess that the Clinton's left behind in their scorched-earth campaign. Why the Clintons just don't pay everything off with the 108 + million they've taken in since his presidency - I don't understand. I'm just tired of all the hysteria and drama. I want to move on.

[CindyM2008]

Well well well, so the Cliton supporters actually gave 1.8 mil, as opposed to less than 20,000?
Looks like many within the party are actually looking to unite instead of divide. Good.

[Supercruize]

18 MIllion is a lot. If each one of them gave 2 dollars, that would be enough to get Hillary out of her debt and make a reasonable contribution to the Obama campaign. What they need to realize is that its all over. Hillary is out, Obama is in, Its time to unite and support the Democratic candidate. Move on people. Geez!!

[BigMike75]

The question I still ask of the vaunted "Hillraisers" who seem to have the ability to pull money out of the air, why is Senator Clinton still in debt?

[markkraft]

A few points here, for Obama supporters who might be overly concerned about this story...

1> Insulting Hillary's bundlers and supporters is counterproductive. We're here to heal divisions, and to work towards achieving a victory for *ALL* of us.

2> This race isn't just about Obama winning... it's about Democrats winning across the country. Obama would be the first person to say that this is ultimately about us, and our wishes for a better future. Don't forget it, and don't let your feelings get the better of you.

3> This story shows the same baseless media skepticism we've seen throughout this race. Clinton's bundlers had only 20 days from the time of Hillary's concession to do fundraising, and much of that was a "waiting period", when people wondered if Hillary would support Obama. Bundlers need time to organize fundraisers, collect checks, and get paperwork in order before turning in contributions. Give them time to do their jobs.

4> Bundlers are contacted by Hillary, her people, and by Obama staffers. It would be hard to believe that these bundlers would refuse personal requests to hold fundraisers for either Obama or for the DNC, both of which equal victories for Democrats. Many might prefer raising money for the DNC, before shifting their fundraising towards Obama, to give the rift a bit of time to heal.

Have a bit of patience. Fundraising for Democrats is what these people do, and it's what's expected of them.

[sherardg]

Well said. We got to be united. I was always an Obama supporter but I thank Mrs. Clinton for her support. She seasoned the media and Mr. Obama and helped prepare him for things to come.

[theplaintrutho1]

This is a very telling story, what's funny about it is, H supporters keep bragging about how much the 1.8 M financial supporters average out to, $818.+ change, which is mere speculation.

I can get out my PC calculator an speculate as well. Eighteen Mil supporters times the max-out amount of $2,300.00 each = $41,400,000,000.00. That's a pretty big number if they all maxed-out, for anyone to be $20 Mil in debt.

What's wrong with this picture?

[UnknownSoldier]

Yes, you are right but you are make a huge assumption that 100% of the people who voted for her contributed to her campaign. Less than 10% of voters contribute money.

Hillary mismanaged her funds which is one major reason she should not be the head of the executive branch. Obama was better able to manage his funds and he was successful in part because of that.

[theHardTruthFairy]

Is this the biggest campaign debt in the history of the universe?

I swear I can't recall any of the dozens of men who have lost presidential primaries having such a problem. I didn't hear this from Dean in 2004 and I'm not hearing it from Edwards and Kucinich now.

If Hillary wants to dig herself out of the debt she created by running (the most?) financially irresponsible primary campaign in history, the plan was laid out back in June ... both sides agreed to swap payments (since some Hillary supporters had hit the legal limit of contribution.)

If $18 million were sent to Obama, the $18 million would flow back and her debt would be retired. The pact was sealed with Barack and Michelle's own personal checks to HRC's campaign.

Despite, Obama's fundraising efforts (including a big event in NYC earlier this month) it appears that the Clinton side of the agreement is falling flat.

Why? My guess is that it's half vendetta against Obama and half strategy to force Hillary onto the ticket as the VP. With that sort of attitude, the Hillraisers can add themselves to the long list of Hillary supporters (Mark Penn, Bill Clinton, Geraldine Ferraro, etc) who have led her down the wrong path.

[Conservalib]

This debt of Hillary Clinton's is a pretty good indication of what a lousy president she would have made. Even when the math said she couldn't win, she racked up millions of dollars of additional spending which is now a burden on all the Demos. My contributions to Obama have dwindled because I have read that they may be used to pay HER DEBT! How is paying Hillary's debt going to help America? That's what this election is about. Based on this debt, I hope he does not appoint her VEEP as her judgement appears riddled with hubris and arrogance.

[ADVOCATE4ZPG]

By that standard ("hubris and arrogance"), she would be a perfect fit for the OBAMEE compaign which is largely based on HIS PERSONA and his proposals increasing a tainted brew! The Clintons should shoulder their own debts; they seem to have the cash flow.......!??!