President Obama’s flip-flop on taking money from Super PACs—which he has described as a threat to democracy—was likely prompted by Priorities USA’s minuscule take last month. According to the Chicago Tribune:
[O]n February 6, the Obama campaign announced it would start supporting Priorities USA Action, the struggling Super PAC formed to help Obama. The move reversed a plan rooted in Obama's distaste for a Supreme Court decision that allowed such independent groups to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to try to influence elections.
If there were any lingering questions about why Obama's campaign changed course, they were answered late on Monday.
Priorities USA raised a paltry $59,000 in January, Federal Election Commission filings showed, and that amount came almost entirely from one longtime Obama supporter, John W. Rogers, who donated $50,000.
This also might help explain why Priorities USA hired fundraiser Diana Rogalle, as Mike Allen reported this morning. During the 2004 election cycle, she worked for the massive 527 organization, America Coming Together (ACT). ACT’s second biggest donor during her tenure there was Soros Fund Management, which gave $7.5 million.