Obama bundlers slow to back Clinton super PACS

Fredreka Schouten and Christopher Schnaars | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Only a tiny fraction of the fundraisers who helped President Obama secure a second term have made significant contributions to the committee backing a potential run by Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

Of the 769 individuals and couples who raised money for Obama, just 54 people and firms have donated at least $5,000 to Ready for Hillary, the super PAC that has spent two years working to build grass-roots support for a Clinton campaign, according to the analysis.

South Carolina lawyer Richard Harpootlian collected more than $500,000 for Obama's re-election, according to figures released by the president's campaign. However, Harpootlian, a former two-time chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, is sitting on the sidelines in the early stages of the 2016 campaign. "I don't know that she has generated any sort of enthusiasm or excitement," he said of Clinton.

"In 2007, the Clinton campaign was more a corporate entity with layers and layers and layers of consultants — Clinton, Inc. — as opposed to a campaign," Harpootlian said, referring to the early months of Clinton's unsuccessful primary battle with Obama.

"I had hoped that this time around the Clinton campaign would be more agile. But there's no real feeling that there's a campaign. They are acting as if she's the nominee, which is what happened in 2007 — and good golly — that went wrong."

The reluctance of some of Obama's biggest backers to make significant early contributions to the Ready for Hillary super PAC underscores Clinton's slower-than-expected campaign start. The former secretary of State initially had signaled she might make a decision on the 2016 race as early as last month. More recently, the timetable for an announcement was adjusted to as late as July, Politico and other news media outlets report.

Ready for Hillary spokesman Seth Bringman said Obama's supporters are playing "an essential and inspiring role" in the super PAC's operations. Some of Obama's fundraisers have not written big checks themselves but have joined the group's "finance council" and are encouraging others to contribute, he said.

Ready for Hillary's ranks also include people who donated to Obama's campaign or the super PAC supporting him, but who did not have a formal fundraising role in his campaign.

David Garrison, a Nashville lawyer who raised money for both of Obama's campaigns, has not donated to Ready for Hillary. He said some of Obama's success relied on giving a broad group of party activists and fundraisers — many of whom were new to politics — meaningful roles early in his campaign. He hasn't seen those opportunities emerge so far.

"While the Clintons have established ties with Democrats in Tennessee and all around the country, what we haven't seen yet is a Clinton campaign that's built an infrastructure at all various levels of donors and activists," Garrison said.

"What she didn't do in 2008 — and she has to do now — is build a new coalition beyond the Clintons' storied history in the party," he said.

In a statement, Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said Clinton will "take nothing for granted" if she runs and will "fight for every vote."

As Clinton devises her plans, a crowded field of Republican candidates is jockeying for an edge. Several prominent contenders, including former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, launched their own fundraising committees in recent weeks.

The Republican National Committee has seized on Clinton's slower timetable. On Thursday, RNC operatives posted a mobile billboard at Vice President Biden's events in Iowa, arguing that Clinton's absence from the campaign trail demonstrates that she's "hiding from voters."

At the same time, squabbling in the network of groups preparing for Clinton's candidacy broke into public view this week when David Brock, a liberal activist who oversees several super PACs backing Clinton, resigned from the board of another pro-Clinton super PAC, Priorities USA Action, in a dispute over fundraising tactics. (Both sides sought to quickly defuse the situation, and Brock has said he will willing to rejoin Priorities' leadership.)

Priorities USA Action, which raised nearly $80 million to back Obama's re-election in 2012, was formally reorganized last year to support Clinton. The group raised virtually no money in 2014, which officials said was an intentional plan to avoid siphoning contributions from other Democratic groups working on last year's congressional elections. But it has been dogged by headlines in recent days that it is having problems securing financial commitments for the upcoming campaign.

Billionaire financier George Soros, a prominent Democratic donor, has been among the major backers of Brock's organizations. He's also donated $25,000 to Ready for Hillary but has not contributed to Priorities since it was reorganized to back Clinton.

Michael Vachon, Soros' political adviser, warned against reading too much into that. Soros will "enthusiastically support Hillary Clinton," he said.

"To what degree he will be involved in independent expenditures is not something he has yet considered," Vachon said, adding that Soros has spent the last year focused "almost exclusively" on the crisis in Ukraine.

Officials with Priorities USA Action — which includes a mix of veteran Clinton and Obama political operatives and supporters — insist they will raise ample money once Clinton's campaign to become the nation's first female president is in full swing.

"Make no mistake, we will have the resources we need to be effective and to work with our allies to help elect Hillary Clinton in 2016," Jonathan Mantz, Clinton's 2008 finance director and a senior adviser to Priorities, said in a statement.

The USA TODAY analysis compared the list of 769 individuals and couples who raised money for Obama's 2012 campaign with donors who contributed at least $5,000 to Ready for Hillary since the super PAC's launch in January 2013. The 54 matches include companies and spouses of Obama fundraisers that USA TODAY could identify.

As a super PAC, Ready for Hillary can accept unlimited funds but has capped its contributions at $25,000. It has built a list of 3 million supporters that will be a valuable asset for a Clinton campaign.

Jerome Pandell, a lawyer in Walnut Creek, Calif., who raised about $400,000 for Obama, has attended several Ready for Hillary fundraisers but has focused more on local races in the last year.

Although he has not written big checks yet, Pandell said he stands ready to help Clinton in any way he can. He also maintains that Clinton doesn't need to rush into the 2016 fray.

"She's a known quality," he said. "She doesn't have to introduce herself."