Washington Post: President Obama raised $53 million last month for his reelection, a substantial increase from the month before.
In February, Obama raised $45 million from 348,000 donors. This month he upped his total by $8 million, and increased his donor pool to 567,000.
…. Ninety-seven percent of donations to Obama’s re-election effort were for $250 or less, the Obama campaign said. The average contribution was $50.78.
As of mid-March the president’s campaign had close to $85 million in cash on hand, according to FEC filings.
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President Obama arrives at the White House from a summit with leaders from the Americas in Colombia, early Monday, April 16
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Buzzfeed: Former Governor Mitt Romney is already offering top donors access to a special “Presidential Inaugural retreat,” planned on the assumption that he will be elected president this November.
The offer, in a fundraising email circulated by a top Georgia supporter to fellow Republicans and obtained by BuzzFeed, is one of several goodies offered to those who contribute more than $50,000 to the joint fundraising committee known as “Romney Victory”….
Those donors will be named “Founding Members” of Romney Victory and invited to a California retreat with Romney and offered “yet to be determined access at the Republican National Convention in Tampa in August.”
They will also “have preferred status at the first Presidential Inaugural retreat,” the email says.
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A visitor pretends to talk on a phone alongside a wax figure of US President Barack Obama on the opening day of the new Madame Tussauds exhibition in Sydney on April 16
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ET: The rivalry continues! First Lady Michelle Obama and Ellen DeGeneres continued their playful trash talking after their highly publicized push-up contest.
….. Their lighthearted back-and-forth took place via satellite, as the First Lady sat in an audience of 600 military families and their daughters in Jacksonville, Florida while Ellen reached them from her studio in Burbank, California.
…. You can see their entire exchange on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Monday, April 16. Check your local listings.
More here
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Morning everyone 😉
The Obama Diary 
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