President Barack Obama will headline the first fundraiser of his presidency this month, appealing to donors large and small even as the economy struggles through the worst recession in generations. Obama's appearance at the Democratic National Committee's March 25 event at the Warner Theatre in Washington, with tickets ranging from $100 to $2,500 per person, will be an early test of his ability to keep up the record-breaking fundraising he achieved during the campaign.
Interregnum performance check at "only 50 days" in office.
Yet Obama isn't the first president facing a crisis at home or abroad who has had to balance his role as commander-in-chief with the demands his party places on him. "We had the same problem," said Dave Carney, who was political director for George H.W. Bush during the Persian Gulf War and the 1991 recession. "There's just something unseemly about raising money for partisan purposes when you're engaged in an act of war or an economic recovery." Still, there are ways that the Democrats can soften the partisan edges of Obama's fundraising activities, such as offering some tickets to smaller-dollar donors. "You don't want him to be just seen with fat cats," Carney said.
"We had the same problem," said Dave Carney, who was political director for George H.W. Bush during the Persian Gulf War and the 1991 recession. "There's just something unseemly about raising money for partisan purposes when you're engaged in an act of war or an economic recovery." Still, there are ways that the Democrats can soften the partisan edges of Obama's fundraising activities, such as offering some tickets to smaller-dollar donors. "You don't want him to be just seen with fat cats," Carney said.
Punchline through group cohesion
The message, said Steve Grossman, a former Democratic national chairman, is that "by supporting the DNC, you are supporting the president's goals and objectives and you're making possible the type of grassroots organizing that will help us win in 2010."
