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The Obama campaign has started raising money for the convention:
Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama has put his fundraising team to work helping raise unlimited donations from big donors for the cash-hungry Democratic National Convention.We've expected this for a while, especially after the Obama team increased the convention costs by moving the 4th night to Invesco.
Federal campaigns are not permitted to raise unrestricted amounts of money from wealthy donors, unions or corporations except when fundraising for the host committees that finance national presidential conventions.
Last month, the convention's Denver host committee reported an $11.6 million shortfall in its mid-June fundraising goal of $40.6 million.
Since then, Obama announced that he would give his nomination acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High stadium, significantly increasing convention costs. Convention organizers put the Invesco cost at $5 million-$5.5 million, but say that not using Pepsi Center on the fourth night will save enough to bring the overall increase closer to $4 million.
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In helping raise money for the convention, the Obama campaign can seek sums significantly larger than the $2,300 maximum donations allowed by individuals for his campaign.
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"We're still a little bit short, but I'm not worried about it," said the Rev. Leah Daughtry, CEO of the Democratic National Convention Committee. "The (Obama) campaign is on the ground, and they're helping out. And, you know, we'll have all the money that we need to pay everybody on time according to their contracts." - AP