How many donors did obama have

Of those invitations, a dozen were for small gatherings with the president and fewer than 30 attendees at the White House. Visitor logs show the Simons family was invited to a smaller event with Obama at the White House for the first time in March -- a dinner with Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, Google parent company chairman Eric Schmidt, and a handful of prominent scientists and mathematicians. Marilyn Simons had not been invited to the White House before March , visitor logs show.

While the Obama Foundation discloses the exact amount a person donates in its annual tax returns, it does not do so on its website. Skip to content News Data Improved! Search news articles:. He's a firm backer of marriage equality and gay rights. Eccentric founder of GoDaddy. He's also a longtime donor to LGBT causes. The following are Obama For America's top billionaire 'bundlers', who've fundraised from their wealthy networks rather than given directly to any super PAC or other outside group.

Obama's campaign team provides a range rather than actual numbers. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook. This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here. More From Forbes. Mar 5, , pm EST. Nov 9, , pm EST. These included a speech beside the palm trees and swimming pool of wealthy Cuban American businessman Jose Mas Santos, and another poolside event to support Florida senator Bill Nelson. Democratic party officials defended Obama's fundraising spree, and blamed Republican intransigence in Congress for driving it.

Campaign finance experts say the unprecedented burst of presidential solicitation during a non-election year reveals how fundraising has become a dangerously permanent feature of modern political life. Second terms were once a respite from the need to seek re-election finance, but are increasingly dominated by party fundraising in the first and second years, followed by a search for donations toward presidential libraries in the final two years of office.

Jessica Levinson, a campaign finance researcher at Loyola Law School who has studied the growing influence of wealthy donors, says recent efforts in the supreme court to remove campaign finance limits for individuals are likely to exacerbate the trend. It's an imperfect use of his time. Obama has been heavily criticised in recent weeks for not paying enough attention to crises such as the launch of his flagship health insurance website or the surveillance activities of the National Security Agency, and several of the trips have clashed with key moments in both sagas.

But the office of president also provides enviable logistical support for such efforts, allowing Obama to travel, for example, from Washington to fundraising events in both Boston and Miami and back on one day in June.

While his public speaking engagements provide ordinary voters with little more than a handshake opportunity, many of the 3, people in attendance at Obama's 30 private fundraising events this year often get one-on-one time with the most powerful elected official in the world.

He's out there listening to the views of those who can afford to give him lots of money," added Levinson. Obama's fundraisers have included trips to the homes of the heirs to the Getty and Levi Strauss fortunes, four fund managers, Dallas trial lawyers and film producer Harvey Weinstein. Kiely says Obama has also been active in backing political action committees, known as Super Pacs, that support causes aligned to Democrats running for office.