At the table, with Obama.
For $25, the American president raffles off diners for an anti-lobbyist dinner.
By Claudio Julio Tognolli – When Barack Obama and John McCain were running for president, this reporter contributed five dollars to each of their campaigns. The idea was to help a friend who was studying at Harvard and researching campaign donations. Our plan was this: to donate the money in the name of Juan Carlos Abadia, the Colombian mega-trafficker imprisoned in Brazil. We were dissuaded from the idea: donating with a false name and a real credit card could lead the FBI to investigate me – even knowing that US election campaigns don't check donations under $50,00.
What remains of this is that every week a message from Barack Obama arrives in my inbox. The message that arrived this Wednesday is curious: Obama, who calls the reporter by his first name, asks me for a donation of US$25,00 in exchange for the opportunity to have dinner with him. The president warns: the small donation is a way for him not to take money from lobbyists but from "real" Americans.
“Dear Claudio: I set aside time for just four supporters, like you, to join me for dinner. Many campaigns fill their dinners with a list of lobbyists, primarily those from Washington, who have special interests. We didn’t get here doing that, and we’re not going to start doing it now. We’re running a different kind of campaign. We’ve never taken money from lobbyists, and we never will,” Obama writes.
He continues: “We trust everyday Americans, who give what they can -- and I want to spend some time with a few of you.
So if you make your donation today, you automatically have the chance to be one of four supporters to sit down to dinner with me. Please donate $25,00 or more today:
https://donate.barackobama.com/Dinner-with-Barack
Obama offers more incentives: “We’ll pay for your flight and dinner—and all you have to do is bring me your story and your ideas on how we can continue to make this a better country for all Americans. It won’t be a formal meeting: it’s a simple meal among friends, so consider joining me. I’m not asking you to donate so you’ll have a chance to meet me: what I’m asking is that you believe in a politics that gives people like you a seat at the table—as if dinner with me at the table were a decision-making table about the kind of country you want. All this starts with a gift you can buy: donate $25,00 today and we’ll draw your name for the next dinner.”
https://donate.barackobama.com/Dinner-with-Barack
I've said before that I want people like you to shape this campaign from the start – and this is a chance for four people to share ideas with me. I hope to see you soon, Barack.”