Team Obama: We're just fine with small donors

[WI_DEM]

The New York Times reported this morning that President Obama's small donors, who were a major force in his 2008 campaign, appear not to be coming back in the same force.

But campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt insists that's not the case in an email to me:

"Unlike the Republican field, we don't accept a dime from special interests or Washington lobbyists and therefore we rely on contributions from individuals across the country. More than 552,000 Americans contributed to the campaign in the second quarter — more than in all of 2007 — including 260,000 who had never given before. That's evidence of a growing organization. 98 percent of contributions were in amounts of $250 or less compared to only 6 percent of the Romney campaign's total coming from small dollar donations."

Meanwhile, a source close to the campaign says the re-election effort is launching a drive to get 1 million donors in the next several weeks. That won't come before the close of the third fundraising quarter this week, but if successful, it will be ahead of February, which was the timeframe in the 2008 race.



Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/64420.html#ixzz1Z5vAAIug

[GSLevel9]

1. just to parse the language... a bundler is not a special interest? hmmmm ok. nt

[tblue]

2. " we don't accept a dime from special interests or Washington lobbyists"

Is that true? I know they have large corporate interests backing at least the previous campaign. This claim would be great if it were true, but it would leave a few questions unanswered:

How is "lobbyists" defined?

Are they not holding over $250/plate fundraising dinners?

Is $1B still the goal?

And what accounts for the soft-pedaling on various reforms?

[frazzled]

3. Lobbyists means registered lobbyists who work for firms that ...

work on behalf of interests (whether business interests, non-profit organizations, or even unions, all of whom hire lobbyists).

Rich people don't qualify as lobbyists. Matt Damon or Barbara Streisand, for example, would not be lobbyists.

[krawhitham]

4. DU will not let facts stand in the way of a topic to rip Obama on

[ellisonz]

5. A few loudmouths. The majority of Americans know what he's done...

...and where he stands. President Obama will sail to re-election this year unless we let the Republicans and their corporate media allies steal the election from us.

[MrTriumph]

6. A few "loudmouths"? Is this more 2010 berating of the "professional left"? Well, it won't work.

It won't work any better in 2012 than it did in 2010. Obama is clueless when it comes to leadsership.

[emulatorloo]

7. I notice lots and lots of original threads started by the same handful of DU 'ers

Perhaps that is what s/he was referring to.

As to "professional left"' that equals paid opinion makers, commentators, etc. AFAIK, there aren't many people on DU that are paid TV commentators or big ad dollar bloggers. I'm not one, are you? If not, you aren't a professional, so Gibbs comments were not addressed to you or me.

[ellisonz]

9. That was my intent. It's not just on DU either.

They will never be happy with Obama because he's not Dennis Kucinich, or John Edwards, or Hillary Clinton.

[MrTriumph]

13. I did not interpret Gibbs comments as you did. He was being petty.

Which is just another shortcoming of this current WH.

[CakeGrrl]

14. I wish more people understood what Professional Left actually MEANT

but then that would undercut the argument that the President keeps beating up on Progressives every chance he gets.

:eyes:

[bluestateguy]

8. I'll make this prediction

By the time the campaign is over he will have more small donors than he had in 2007-2008.

Bank on it.

[Dragonfli]

10. I guess Goldman Sachs is more like "family" than a special interest. Nice semantics /nt

[Cherchez la Femme]

11. Ramen!

I'm just waiting for Wormtongue to be hired as spokesperson... if you're going to say such bs, why not get the best?

[lib2DaBone]

12. Pres Obama is not going to be re-elected.. he has burned his base...

We need a primary challenge from the Dem Party.. and fast....

[CakeGrrl]

15. CNN poll this week has Lib/Dem job approval at 80%,

Lib/Dem belief that he should be re-nominated at about 75%.

Where are the numbers to mount a successful primary challenge?