Obama Solicits Top Donors for 2012

President Obama isn’t waiting for a GOP frontrunner to emerge before gearing up for 2012. Former White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina and Hollywood producer-turned-fundraiser Rufus Gifford have been hitting up big donors from Obama and Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaigns. For $61,600 per year per couple, which would go toward Obama’s reelection effort, donors can join the “National Finance Council.” Other Democrats aren’t pleased. Individuals can legally contribute a total of about $71,000 to committees, campaigns, or PACs, so a big donation to Obama’s campaign this early in the game risks freezing out Democratic congressional candidates who haven’t started campaigning yet. So far, the fledgling campaign has been run out of the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters in D.C., but that will change in three weeks when Obama approves the creation of his new campaign committee.