MA Dems. pull in $600,000 from Obama fundraiser

Boston (AP)  -- President Barack Obama's visit to Massachusetts is proving lucrative for Gov. Deval Patrick's re-election campaign.

Steve Crawford, a spokesman for Patrick's political committee, said the Friday fundraiser at the Westin Copley hotel will bring in about $600,000 for Patrick, Lt. Gov. Tim Murray and the Massachusetts Democratic Party.

Crawford estimated that about 400 people had given the maximum donation of $500 to Patrick in order to get into the fundraiser. Another 100 to 130 individuals paid $6,000 to get into a small reception.

The $6,000 includes $500 donations to Patrick and Murray and a $5,000 donation to the party.

The cash will come in handy for Patrick, who had just $523,000 as of Sept. 30. Murray had just over $1 million.

Earlier in Cambridge, President Barack Obama visited M.I.T. to say passage of comprehensive energy legislation is key to America's future success and that those opposing it are using "cynical claims" to stop it.

Obama said "the closer we get the harder the opposition will fight."

But Obama says he believes a consensus is growing. He says the nation's economic future is tied to its environmental promise and describes innovation as key to righting a flagging economy. Using familiar refrains from his campaign, the speech was designed as a nudge to lawmakers to act on a top priority of the president's.

Listen to the president's speech at M.I.T.:


 

The visit to Boston has the potential to wipe out Gov. Patrick's fundraising disadvantage in one fell swoop. The incumbent governor has trailed both his peers and rivals in raising money to date.

Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray, supposedly Patrick's second-fiddle, has outraised the governor 2-to-1, with over $1 million in the bank to Patrick's $523,000, as of Sept. 30.

Republican Charles Baker, a former Harvard Pilgrim health care executive just returning to state politics, reported having $461,000 on hand, while fellow GOP candidate Christy Mihos reported $35,000, although he is a millionaire who could commit significant personal funds to his campaign.

Treasurer Timothy Cahill, a former Democrat now running for governor as an independent, leads all candidates with over $3 million in the bank.

Fundraiser attendees can give up to $500 per calendar year, allowing Patrick to bank donations in 2009 and still have the option of calling Obama back in 2010 to attract another round of donations during the re-election year.

Like Patrick, Obama has urged his critics to put politics aside even as he has ramped up his own political activity. On Tuesday alone, he raised an estimated $3 million for the Democratic National Committee during a series of appearances in New York City.

And besides his stops in Massachusetts and Connecticut, the president also is campaigning this week in New Jersey, Virginia and Florida.

All told, Obama will have headlined 23 fundraisers in the first nine months of his presidency, according to CBS News reporter Mark Knoller, who keeps a detailed log of presidential activities. Former President George W. Bush had only six events during 2001, his first year in office, though all politicking was muted in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The 2010 midterm elections loom large for Obama, since Democrats have the barest filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and risk giving up a more sizable majority in the House. The Massachusetts race also has the potential to presage 2012 presidential campaign themes.

The state has struggled to keep up with the rising cost of its universal health care program, something Obama is trying to emulate at the national level.

And the low-tax, anti-government campaign of Mihos is being spearheaded by GOP strategist Dick Morris, a conservative columnist and commentator at Fox News, which the Obama administration has attacked for supposed political bias in recent weeks.

In a recent video to his supporters, Patrick previewed his own re-election themes.

He said, "The Obama administration has looked to the commonwealth for ways to move this whole nation," including its universal health care plan and emphasis on green technology jobs.

His three opponents, he said, "want to move Massachusetts back."