California Gives Most to Obama Camp

LOS ANGELES — When Barack Obama shattered records with a $150 million windfall in contributions for September, his campaign took great pains to point out that the average donation came out to well under $100. But here’s an asterisk:

The Obama Victory Fund — which takes in high-dollar checks divvied between the campaign and the Democratic National Committee — raised $69 million last month, with more than half of the donations coming from people giving over $4,600 and nearly a quarter from donors contributing $28,500 or more, according to campaign fundraising reports.

In California, where much of this cash haul was generated, a team of widely disparate personalities coordinates Obama’s fundraising activity. A TV cartoon executive, the daughter of a soul music giant, the head of a Silicon Valley law firm, a former Clinton justice department official and a gay couple who call Southern California the “pot of gold” form the nucleus of his west coast money-raising group, which so far has amassed tens of millions for the campaign – including $16 million in the last month alone, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“California has raised more than any other state, and the campaign has organized a fantastic organization here,” says one of Obama’s top bundlers, who requested anonymity. “The team significantly outraised Hillary during the primaries, and [did] the same against McCain. California was not viewed as a grassroots effort – it’s a finance operation.”

The organization includes pros who brought in about $10 million for Obama’s back-to-back appearances at a Beverly Hills mansion and an intimate Barbra Streisand performance last month, along with many more millions during events held at Oprah Winfrey’s Montecito estate, the L.A. home of actor Samuel L. Jackson, and the Billionaire’s Row mansion of Ann and Gordon Getty in San Francisco. Not that the grassroots are being ignored: This weekend, just in case supporters aren’t max’ed out, there’s an event referred to as “The Last Great Obama Fundraiser” in Silicon Valley, as well as dozens of smaller bake sales, pumpkin carving parties and other events throughout the state.

With Obama able to raise between $5 million and $10 million in just a few hours by dashing in and out of Los Angeles or San Francisco, he’s made the two towns into quick ATM stops for his campaign. Over the summer and fall, his campaign team has deposited him here time and time again for a routine of cocktail hours, grip and grin photo lines, gourmet dinners and short speeches. His wife Michelle and running mate Joe Biden also raised between $1 million and $2.5 million during their west coast city sweeps.

Well-known politico and Code Pink radical activist Jodie Evans — an Obama bundler along with her ex-husband, longtime Democrat supporter Max Palevsky — was initially a bit hesitant to join the Senator’s fundraising effort. But Evans says she’s been surprised by the way the candidate and his team have “honored” donors with plenty of face time, great food and other tokens of personal care and attention.

The campaign’s major California check-collecting champs — two staffers and four state finance co-chairs — help steer millions to the candidate, yet are barely known outside to outsiders:

• JEREMY BERNARD and RUFUS GIFFORD. This professional fundraising couple has been the subject of glowing profiles in political and gay magazines, with website washingtonblade.com praising their “golden Rolodex.” Organizational wizards, the team constantly strategizes with the four California finance chairs (below) to split up territories, plan events, and target new donors.

• CHARLIE RIVKIN. Chief executive at kid-friendly L.A. animation company Wild Brain, the former Chicago native previously headed the Muppets empire as CEO of the Jim Henson Co. A Yale undergrad and Harvard M.B.A., Rivkin comes from a family of Democratic insiders – his father, an attorney, was tapped as ambassador to Luxembourg under JFK and later, under LBJ, became ambassador to Senegal and Gambia. As Obama’s Southern California finance co-chairman, Rivkin collects donations in L.A., Orange County, San Diego and complements his counterpart . . .

• NICOLE AVANT. The feisty, spirited daughter of legendary Motown Records chairman (and longtime Democratic powerhouse) Clarence Avant grew up in Beverly Hills. She watched her parents back Dems from Maxine Waters to Jimmy Carter, applying her father’s smooth-talking skills and fundraising talents to Harold Ford’s unsuccessful Senate bid in Tennessee. Teased with a possible gig as “Paris ambassador” by Terry McAuliffe if she’d work for Hillary, Avant chose to become a finance chair for Obama instead.

• JOHN ROOS. The CEO of Palo Alto tech-centric law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati helped Obama reach Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and engineers, tapping into a geek power structure filled with wealthy web moguls who are now delving seriously into politics. As Northern California finance co-chairman, Roos worked closely with . . .

• TONY WEST: A former assistant U.S. attorney in the Clinton administration, the cyber crime-savvy West successfully prosecuted the infamous 1996 “Orchid Club” internet kiddie porn ring. Both West and Obama are African American Harvard grads who can mix as easily with the downtrodden as with gilded age elites. Working four blocks from the San Francisco Embarcadero, West has represented former Oakland Raiders tight end Marcus Williams as well as John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taliban” captured in Afghanistan shortly after 9/11.

According to a top Obama bundler, who would speak candidly only if not quoted by name, the finance co-chairs meet regularly with professional fundraisers Bernard and Gifford to coordinate events and target potential donors in all industries, ranging from banking and finance to entertainment and high-tech. “These guys are always on the phone with each other, always at lunches courting prospective donors. They’re a team that works like the gears on a finely-tuned precision watch,” the bundler said.

How important is California? Nearly 100 Obama bundlers make their homes in and around Los Angeles or San Francisco, and 12 out of the roughly 45 bundlers who have raised more than a half-million dollars for Obama’s campaign hail from the west coast. In addition, Obama has a strong following among the entertainment community, with such studio execs as Michael Lynton, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Tom Rothman serving as big-money bundlers, in addition to William Morris Agency chief Jim Wiatt, director James Mangold, political consultant Andy Spahn, and producers Lawrence Bender, Paula Weinstein and Mike Medavoy.

Entertainment may be the sector with the highest-profile, but Obama’s fundraisers also have reaped huge rewards from the legal profession, banking barons, real-estate moguls and manufacturing executives.

For further proof of California’s predominance in the fundraising follies, compare the average U.S. zip code (where donors gave $44,100) to the 94025 zip code of Silicon Valley’s vaunted Sand Hill Road, or the glittery movie star area known as Beverly Hills 90210. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, for residents of the 94025 area, political contributions this year were 71 times higher than the average zip – around $3.14 million, campaign giving records show. In Beverly Hills, the amount was even more staggering, with residents of 90210 dolling out $6.4 million -- twice as much as the high-tech moguls up north and 145 times more than the national average.

The L.A. Times reported that about $16 million -- nearly half of the $36 million Obama received last month from the joint account that he shares with the Democratic Party -- came from well-off Californians who donated up to $61,100 each. Although direct donations to presidential campaigns are capped at $4,600, a loophole allows combined accounts with each candidate’s political party to accept larger contributions that can be used to support its nominee.

California contributors to the so-called Obama Victory Fund include musician Herb Alpert ($57,000), Harrison Ford and George Clooney ($30,800 each) along with $28,500 donations from fellow actors Jennifer Aniston, Denzel Washington, Larry David, Tom Hanks, and others. The Victory Fund eschews donations from lobbyists, but welcomes checks from attorneys, financiers, and, obviously, entertainers.

The varying amounts of money can be difficult to discern, but generally individuals are limited to donations of $2,300 for a candidate’s primary run, another $2,300 for the general election, $28,500 towards the candidate’s joint fundraising group with their national party, and smaller amounts for certain state party committees and other organizations, such as legal compliance funds. In all, the giving can top $60,000.

“’Tapped out’ and ‘max’ed out’ are expressions that don’t mean much,” the Obama bundler observed. “It doesn’t mean $2,300 – it means $66,500, and so there are a lot of ways to contribute, and most people haven’t written those kind of checks.”

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