Facing an energized Republican Party and deep-pocketed conservative groups, President Obama is kicking off his 2012 reelection campaign with a concerted push for help from wealthy donors and liberal groups unbound by spending limits.
Trunk money will get spread among a half a dozen hopefuls, while Dim cash will go to one - or two.
The strategy - which could begin in earnest as early as Monday with the formation of an official presidential committee - suggests a notable shift in emphasis for a president who has long decried the outsize role of money in politics.
Looks different from the inside, eh?
Obama frequently points with pride to the role that smaller donors played in his 2008 election, when his campaign also openly discouraged spending by outside organizations.
Is Soros an "organization"?
But now Obama finds himself seeking out the kind of big-money donations he has often criticized while encouraging independent groups to raise and spend unlimited money on his behalf. Democratic strategists say the aggressive fundraising goals are aimed in part at intimidating Republican rivals, who bested Democrats in overall political spending in 2010.
Or maybe the WaPo is starting a rumor to influence Trunk donors?
[In 2008] Obama also formed a group of "bundlers" who collected checks from their friends and earned special access to him and his staff, just as previous candidates of both parties had done before, and he declined public financing to avoid spending limits.
Might that work in reverse? Say a big, formerly Jewish, eastern European billionaire spreads around a bunch of cash with the understanding that it goes to a certain candidate?
[However ...] The 2012 campaign will lack the combination of factors that animated the 2008 contest: a fresh-faced candidate who could be the first black president; polarizing opponents like Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sarah Palin; and the eagerness of Democrats to end Republican control of the White House.