Obama Cranks Up the 2012 Money Machine

Some of Barack Obama’s top operatives have embarked on a cross-country “listening tour,” pumping top donors for big 2012 donations, Politico reports. They’re asking donors who maxed out on donations to Obama and Hillary Clinton in 2008 to join a new “National Finance Council,” for the low-low price of a $61,600 donation per couple per year to the Democratic National Committee.

Asking for so much money so early has annoyed the Democrats’ congressional committees, who fear being left with scraps, since individuals can only donate $71,000 to committees and campaigns. “It’s just like them to think about themselves first,” said one congressional fundraiser. But lobbyist and fundraiser Tony Podesta disagrees. “It’s not a big deal, and in line with what everyone would expect,” he says. Besides Obama donors can recruit “their older children” to donate to the congressional cause, “or maybe their former spouses.” (More Obama 2012 stories.)