Obama on Tuesday will motorcade to Washington's Mandarin Oriental Hotel for a reunion with selected members of his 2008 presidential Finance Committee at an event for the Democratic National Committee. A person I talked to familiar with the event said the invitees included Obama 2008 presidential campaign bundlers who produced the most campaign cash. This type of dinner could well be a precursor to Obama organizing his re-election campaign next year.
A bundler is a person who uses his or her personal contacts to raise money for a candidate. Individuals are limited on what they can give to a federal candidate -- someone running for the White House, Senate or House -- so a bundler is valuable because there is no limit on how much that person can raise from other people for a campaign. This event is not a formal fund-raiser; major donors have been invited to the dinner to rally the troops.
A Democratic party official explained, "The president will stop by a gathering of some of our strongest Democratic supporters and long-time friends." The president is not expected to deliver any remarks. The Obama White House usually allows a pool reporter to cover fund-raising events only when the president speaks.
Sweet's article goes on to detail other fundraisers Obama will be headlining in the coming days.
Almost all of these 2008 bundlers have been rewarded with Administration jobs. If he is meeting with government-employed bundlers to discuss campaign organization, it would be a violation of federal law. But then these are Democrats we're talking about here.