Just nine months into his presidency, President Obama has appeared at 23 Democratic fundraisers, including the two he attended Tuesday night, compared with George W. Bush, who did six political fundraisers, and Bill Clinton, who did five, during their first year in office.
When it comes to making appearances at political fundraisers, President Obama apparently can’t say no — especially when compared to his two predecessors.
Just nine months into his presidency, Obama has appeared at 23 Democratic fundraisers, including the two he attended Tuesday night, according to Mark Knoller of CBS News, who keeps a detailed log of presidential activities.
By comparison, George W. Bush attended six political fundraisers and Bill Clinton went to five during their first year in office.
“That’s a clear disparity,” said Pete Sepp, vice president for policy and communications at the National Taxpayers Union.
But when it comes to raking in the cash for fellow party members, Bush appears to be the fundraiser-in-chief.
He raised $48 million in those six fundraisers, while Obama raised $21 million in his first 20.
Obama’s whirlwind fundraising tour is far from finished. This week he’s going to a rally for New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, who’s locked in a tight race with Republican challenger Chris Christie; he’ll visit Boston to raise money for Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who is up for re-election in 2010; and he’ll be at a fundraiser for Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, who is facing a tough re-election next year.
Next week, leading up to the Nov. 3 election, Obama will campaign for R. Creigh Deeds, who trails Republican Bob McDonnell in the race for Virginia governor.
There’s plenty at stake for Obama, who is the Democrats’ top fundraiser. Dollars aren’t materializing as much as expected for Democrats. And, two weeks before off-year elections, Democrats are facing the prospect of losing the hard-fought gubernatorial race in Virginia and perhaps even in New Jersey. They are contests that depend on the Democratic base and to a certain degree are shaping up as a test of Obama’s political strength.
It’s not just this year’s races that are at issue but also the broader state of the Democratic Party — from cash-flow to enthusiasm — heading into next year. In the 2010 elections, Democrats will try to defend their majorities in Congress and seek to pick up governor’s seats in many states.
The party that controls the White House typically loses congressional seats in a president’s first midterm election. Obama wants to avoid the fate of Clinton, who like the current president swept into office with youthful energy, only to see his party lose control of Congress two years later.
Obama is calculating that he can’t afford criticism from the Democratic Party’s base supporters that he’s not helping candidates. But there also are risks to full-throttle campaigning.
“If governors and members of the House and Senate come to the conclusion that Obama’s personal support is not transferrable or that his supporters have not remained mobilized, the impact of his personal charisma will be seen as more limited than it was a year ago,” said Kenneth Sherrill, a political science professor at Hunter College in New York.
“All in all, he gets more credit for making a public effort than for sitting on the sidelines and watching Democrats at risk fend for themselves,” Sherrill said.
The circumstances were quite different for Obama’s predecessors.
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