President Obama’s Super PAC, Priorities USA Action, gives lobbyists who wish to donate to his reelection campaign a place to contribute, since they are not allowed to give money directly to the campaign. However, the banned lobbyists have not been rushing to add to the president’s Super PAC war chest.
According to the Hill:
"Did a great ‘huzzah’ go up among lobbyists when it was apparent that although we can’t give to the Obama reelect directly, we can [give] to the super-PAC that shares that goal? No," said Robert Raben, the president and founder of the Raben Group and a former aide to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) …
Tony Podesta, the chairman of the Podesta Group and one of the Democratic Party’s biggest fundraisers, said he has no plans to fundraise or contribute to the pro-Obama super-PAC.
"I may well give to them, but the fact the president now wants me to doesn’t incent me further," he said.