Obama attends non-fundraising events, although they look, smell and feel like fundraisers

From today's Wall Street Journal:

President Barack Obama’s re-election fund-raising effort kicks off — unofficially — on Wednesday when Democratic donors pour into Washington for a two-day meeting of the Democratic National Committee’s national advisory board, featuring appearances by the president, his chief of staff, his 2008 campaign manager and the man who will head his 2012 re-election campaign.

Democrats familiar with the event at the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington’s toney Woodley Park neighborhood stress it is not an official re-election effort. That would mean the president would have to jump through a series of legal hoops, including fund-raising reporting requirements. The speeches will be sufficiently broad and generic to not count as election stumping. There will be no OVERT requests for cash...

"There will be no OVERT requests for cash..." Wink, Wink...

But make no mistake, this is no ordinary DNC meet and greet.

The president will be introduced by White House senior adviser David Plouffe, who guided his 2008 campaign. Chief of Staff Bill Daley will address the monied crowd on Thursday. White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina, who will manage the re-election campaign, will give some variation of the presentation he’s been delivering all over the country, laying out the challenges facing the 2012 campaign, especially on fundraising. Democratic National Chairman Tim Kaine will also speak.

On Monday night, the president did some glad-handing with prospective Democratic donors at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington.

"Glad-handing", hmmm....

From the AP - Monday, March 14, 2011:

President Barack Obama is meeting with about 50 donors and potential donors to the Democratic National Committee as he gears up to raise money for the approaching 2012 campaign.

Party officials said Monday night's gathering at Washington's ritzy St. Regis Hotel isn't a fundraiser...

Monday evening's gathering sets the stage for fund-raising for his own re-election. The meeting will give the president face time with past supporters and potential supporters.

Obama raised a whopping $750 million for his 2008 presidential bid. His re-election campaign could raise in excess of $1 billion.

Monday evening's gathering wasn't a fundraiser for Obama's re-election campaign, it merely set the stage for fund-raising Obama's re-election campaign. It was 'broad and generic'; there were no OVERT requests for cash! PERIOD!

And just to confirm that all the above is accurate, we'll conclude with the following report from the Chicago Sun Times on Monday:

President Obama makes his first major fund-raising pitch for his 2012 re-election on Monday night when he meets with about 50 backers---some involved in his 2008 campaign and others who are considered potential major supporters.

Obama meets with the group at the St. Regis Hotel at 7:30 p.m. est at an event organized by the Democratic National Committee, which is the political arm of the Obama operation for now since "official" Obama re-election papers have yet to be filed with the Federal Election Commission. No money for the 2012 re-elect can be collected until Obama files with the FEC. Any pledges obtained at the DNC reception Monday night--it is a DNC event--goes to the DNC. But since the main purpose of the DNC at this stage is to support Obama's programs and re-election--it is a difference without a major distinction.

Okay, you got it now?: Obama is attending events - with his campaign manager, advisers, chief-of-staffs etc. - that look, smell and feel like campaign fundraisers, but they're not really fundraisers. That's right! He's simply setting the stage for funding his re-election campaign, but "these events are not really fund-raisers."

And although, non-overt [wink, wink] cash transactions, are likely to be transpiring at these gatherings, the collected money goes to the DNC first, and only then, does it find its way into Obama's campaign coffers. Hence, these events are not REALLY fundraisers - even if they may look, smell and feel like fundraisers.

And while we're on the subject of fund-raisers, there's an additional matter that needs to be clarified:

Although Bill Ayers [in 2008] wrote in a new afterword to his book, Fugitive Days, that "[Obama and I] knew one another as neighbors and family friends, [he] held an initial fund-raiser at my house, where I’d made a small donation to his earliest political campaign...,” it was not really a fund-raiser. As the Obama campaign explained at the time, it was a "neighborhood gathering" and a "coffee" event - defintely NOT a fundraiser - despite Mr. Ayers' claim to the contrary.

After all, who is more reliable and trustworthy? Bill Ayers, founder of the notorious Weather Undergound? Or, Barack Obama, the President of the United States - who, by some strange coincidence, just happens to be a friend of Mr. Ayers?

Hmmm?