Pro-Obama ‘super PAC’ to host event after speech

A meeting of the top fundraisers for President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign kicks off tonight in Chicago with a speech-watching party at Obama’s headquarters. Right afterward, the national finance committee members have been invited to another event – a reception hosted by Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney, two former White House aides who formed an independent “super PAC” to support Obama’s reelection.

The reception hosted by Priorities USA will be at the University Club, right down the street from the Palmer House Hilton, where the national finance committee members are staying and meeting Friday.

Super PACs, which can accept unlimited donations from individuals and corporations, cannot coordinate with candidate campaigns or political parties. Burton said Priorities USA did not communicate with the campaign to put together the event, which he said was organized independently.

“It’s not exactly a secret when a large number of Democrats get together,” said Burton, who described the guest list as “a lot of your typical Democratic activists and donors.”

“It was scheduled because it was a good opportunity to see folks who might be interested in what we’re doing,” he added.

Unlike his Republican rivals, Obama has revealed the names of the bundlers who are raising large sums for his campaign, so it is possible to glean much of the makeup of the campaign’s national finance committee, a network of 400 mega-bundlers who have each pledged to raise at least $350,000 this calendar year.