Is this why Barack opted out of Public Campain Financing?
By
“While his campaign has cited its volume of small donations as a rationale for his decision to opt out of public financing for the general election, Obama has worked to build a network of big-dollar supporters from the time he began contemplating a run for the U.S. Senate.
He tapped into well-connected people in Chicago before the 2004 Senate race, and, once elected, set out across the country starting in 2005 to cultivate some of his party’s most influential money collectors. He courted them with the savvy of a veteran politician, through phone calls, meals and one-on-one meetings; he wrote thank-you cards and remembered birthdays; he sent them autographed copies of his book and doted on their children.
The fruit of his efforts has put Obama’s major donors on a pace that almost rivals the $147 million that President George W. Bush’s Pioneer and Ranger network raised in $1,000-and-larger contributions in 2004 during the primary season.
Given his decision not to accept public financing, Obama is counting on his bundlers to help him raise $300 million for his campaign for the general election and another $180 million for the Democratic National Committee.
An analysis of campaign finance records shows that about two-thirds of his bundlers are concentrated in four major industries: law, securities and investments, real estate and entertainment. Lawyers make up the largest group at about 130, with many working for firms that also have lobbying arms. At least 100 Obama bundlers are top executives or brokers from investment businesses – nearly two dozen work for financial titans like Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. About 40 others come from the real-estate industry.
The biggest fund-raisers include people like Julius Genachowski, a former senior official at the Federal Communications Commission and a technology executive who is new to big-time political fund-raising; Robert Wolf, president and chief operating officer of UBS Investment Bank; James Torrey, a New York hedge fund investor; and Charles Rivkin, an animation studio head in Los Angeles.
“Big donors are the key to Obama’s record haul”
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/05/america/bundlers.php
Tribeca – I thought Obama didn’t want to be beholden unto special interests? Just because he is purportedly not taking money from registered lobbyists doesn’t mean when you have half of your contributions coming from 4 industries that there won’t be expectations……
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2 Comments
October 28th, 2009 at 7:17 am
Kansieo.com
Apparently so.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:59 am
investments Los Angeles
If I donated money to someone and they didn’t win I’d want that money back.