The Obama campaign is hoping unions will help shore up the funds needed to pay for the three-day event in Charlotte later this summer, reports Bloomberg. Unlike the GOP convention, the Obama campaign has refused to allow corporate donations, which Republicans are using to help fund their event.
From Bloomberg:
Democratic officials gave representatives of the major U.S. unions, including the AFL-CIO, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the United Auto Workers, a tour of the convention sites in Charlotte, North Carolina, April 23 in advance of a request for donations, according to the two people, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss internal strategy.
The three-day convention will culminate in Obama’s re- nomination in Bank of America Stadium on Sept. 6. So far, the host committee in Charlotte is roughly halfway to its $36.6 million goal.
Four years ago, unions contributed more than $8 million to the Democratic convention in Denver, according to financial disclosure reports.
Jeff Hauser, a spokesman for the AFL-CIO, declined to comment on the new request.
The Republican National Committee has not imposed a similar ban on corporate donations for its convention, scheduled for Aug. 27-30 in Tampa, Florida. It has secured contributions from companies including AT&T Inc. (T), Microsoft Corp. and Coca-Cola Co. (KO), to meet their $55 million target, said Aileen Rodriguez, spokeswoman for the Tampa host committee.
“They are great supporters of the host committee,” she said.
Update: A Democratic Convention staffer tells TPM that there was no direct “ask” for money during the meeting with union officials Monday and that fundraising is on track. The staffer said that the point was to provide a “briefing on convention planning” and to answer questions on a number of issues, including fundraising.
