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High-Dollar Donors Bankrolling Obama

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The New York Times

Published: August 6, 2008

In an effort to cast himself as independent of the influence of money on politics, Sen. Barack Obama often highlights the campaign contributions of $200 or less that have amounted to fully half of the $340 million he has collected so far.

However, records show that one-third of his record-breaking haul has come from donations of $1,000 or more - a total of $112 million, more than Sen. John McCain, Obama's Republican rival, or Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his opponent in the Democratic primaries, raised in contributions of that size.

Behind those larger donations is a phalanx of more than 500 Obama "bundlers," fundraisers who have each collected contributions totaling $50,000 or more. Many of the bundlers come from industries with critical interests in Washington. Nearly three dozen of the bundlers have raised more than $500,000 each, including more than a half-dozen who have passed the $1 million mark and one or two who have exceeded $2 million, according to interviews with fundraisers.

Although his campaign has cited its volume of small donations as a rationale for his decision to opt out of public financing for the general election, Obama has worked to build a network of big-dollar supporters from the time he began contemplating a run for the U.S. Senate. He tapped into well-connected people in Chicago prior to the 2004 Senate race, and once elected, set out across the country starting to cultivate some of his party's most influential money collectors.

He courted them with the savvy of a veteran politician, through phone calls, meals and meetings; he wrote thank-you cards and remembered birthdays; he sent them autographed copies of his book and doted on their children.

An analysis of campaign finance records shows that about two-thirds of his bundlers are concentrated in four major industries: law, securities and investments, real estate and entertainment.

Lawyers make up the largest group, numbering about 130, with many of them working for firms that also have lobbying arms. At least 100 Obama bundlers are top executives or brokers from investment businesses: nearly two dozen work for financial titans such as Lehman Bros., Goldman Sachs or Citigroup.

The biggest fundraisers include people such as Julius Genachowski, a former senior official at the Federal Communications Commission and a technology executive who is new to political fundraising; Robert Wolf, president and chief operating officer of UBS Investment Bank; James A. Torrey, a New York hedge fund investor; and Charles H. Rivkin, chief executive of an animation studio in Los Angeles.

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