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Obama campaign machine raises $29 million in January
Obama also relies on an extended team of more than 440 supporters who help him raise money, including 61 people who each raised at least half a million dollars. Altogether, those top dollar fundraisers collected at least US$75 million last year to help Obama win a second term.
Presidential candidates must submit January fundraising reports to the Federal Election Commission on Friday. The Obama campaign’s full report is expected later in the day.
The January numbers were being reported as Obama concluded a three-day swing of California and Washington that included eight fundraisers, most of them high-dollar events. All told, the president was expected to raise more than SU$8 million during the trip.
Obama repeatedly tells his audiences of donors that this election will be more difficult and encourages them to rekindle the vigor of his supporters in 2008.
“And that’s not going to be easy because, first of all, I’m older and I’m grayer,” he told about 70 high-dollar contributors in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood Thursday night. “So it’s not as new, it’s not as trendy to be part of the Obama campaign — although some of you still have your posters, I’m sure.
“And part of it is we’ve gone through three tough years and so people want to hope, but they’ve been worn down by a lot of hardship.”
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
