According to Politico, President Barack Obama is looking to American ex-pats for $4.5 million in campaign contributions. Politico described these donations as "paltry compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars raised stateside." Obama has raised $255 million and spent almost $148 million, according to Open Secrets. Where else is the president getting donations for his campaign?
* In May, Obama took in $550,000 at a celebrity fundraiser hosted by George Clooney. The donors were TV, movie and music industry players, Open Secrets reported.
* Top contributions to Obama came from individuals or PACs associated with Microsoft, the University of California, DLA Piper, Google, Sidley Austin, Harvard, Comcast, Stanford, Time-Warner and Skadden-Arps, according to Open Secrets.
* Priorities USA, the top super PAC associated with Obama, has raised more than $14.5 million as of Saturday, according to Open Secrets.
* The top contributor to Democratic super PACs is studio executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, the New York Times noted. Other top contributors include Democratic fundraiser Barbara Stiefel; Franklin L. Haney, a Tennessee real estate developer; and Steve Mostyn, a Texas trial lawyer.
* Obama refuses direct contributions from lobbyists, but Priorities USA accepts them. Perennial Strategy Group forked over $500,000, while Gerald Cassidy of Cassidy & Associates donated $50,000, Open Secrets said.
* The legal profession is responsible for $1.3 million in campaign contributions to Obama, Open Secrets said, while educators provided $1 million.
* 1911 United, another pro-Obama PAC, raised only $111,274, Open Secrets records show.
* In 2008, Obama raised a $500 million online during his 27-month campaign, the Washington Post reported. In this election cycle, the New Yorker noted Obama has continued his strategy of seeking small donations from individuals online with 567,000 people making contributions in March.
