President Obama has many names, but this week, as he reaches 100 donor events since announcing for reelection last April, he’s the “fundraiser-in-chief.”
According to several counts, the Big 100 will come Thursday when he does four fundraisers enroute to collecting and spending $750 million to $1 billion for his reelection. So far since April 2011, he has raised an estimated $82 million to $100 million at those events.
Former President George W. Bush, who in May 2003 announced his reelection campaign a month later than Obama at this stage of his presidency, had attended 56 fundraisers at this time, according to CBS White House Correspondent Mark Knoller, the unofficial keeper of White House statistics. In a tweet Tuesday, he added: “Pres Obama will do four reelection fundraisers in NYC Thursday, bringing fundraising total to 100 since filing for reelection last April.”
The Republican National Committee, which also closely charts the president’s totals, said that Knoller’s numbers are correct. And, they added, the total number of White House fundraisers is much higher when factoring in those hosted by first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. Both did a few last week alone.
An analysis of the fundraisers shows that Washington, San Francisco and New York have been the site of most of Obama’s events. Washington commuters had an up close meeting with the president’s efforts Monday when downtown traffic was stopped at 6 p.m. after he left the exclusive Jefferson Hotel after meeting with 25 supports who paid $35,800 each at the joint Obama for American-Democratic National Committee fundraiser.
Obama may be working fundraisers as hard as former President Bill Clinton, but the numbers aren’t fantastic. In January, he didn’t raise as much as he did in 2008, with contributions to Obama and the Democratic National Committee down 30 percent, according to a Boston Globe analysis. After those numbers came out, Obama flip-flopped and pushed donors to give to his “super PAC.”
