Politics & Government

Even With Obama in Town, Bloomfield Spends More on Romney

It could change after the president's high-profile fundraiser in Bingham Farms today, but so far, Bloomfield Hills and nearby Birmingham are the top cash generators for Republican candidate Mitt Romney in Michigan.

President Barack Obama will be in Bingham Farms tonight , but when it comes to raising money, Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham are big cash sources for Obama’s Republican rival and Michigan native, Mitt Romney.

The Bloomfield-Birmingham area is full of deep-pocketed Romney supporters. According to a report in the Detroit Free Press, Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills rank as Romney’s top two Michigan cities for fundraising.

Bloomfield Hills, where Romney grew up, ranks at the top of the pack; $450,691 has been raised from Bloomfield Hills residents so far. Birmingham comes in second, where Romney has raised $188,400 since the beginning of the primary election.

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Obama will hope to turn that around beginning tonight with a private dinner event and cocktail reception at the Bingham Farms home of Birmingham businesswoman Denise Ilitch and her husband Jim Scalici.

Tickets for the evening reception, formal photo and dinner are $40,000, while the cost for the dinner and a candid photo is $10,000. Between that and a $5,000-a-person Democratic Party fundraiser at the Henry Ford in Dearborn late Wednesday afternoon, the campaign expects to generate close to $1 million, according to published reports.

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Thus far, Obama has been most successful raising cash in Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he received $243,603. According to the Free Press, University of Michigan employees account for more than one-fourth of Ann Arbor’s total contributions. Obama has raised a little less than $700,000 in Michigan overall

In total, Romney, the son of former Michigan Gov. George Romney who graduated from , has raised $1.1 million throughout Michigan.

In February's state primary, and again took the county by more than 20 percentage points as he did in 2008. Results show that he swept both Bloomfield Hills precincts in overwhelming fashion and finished with 79 percent of the city's overall vote. In Bloomfield Township, Romney took all 32 precincts for roughly 71 percent of the total vote.

“It doesn’t surprise me” that Romney leads Obama in Michigan fundraising, former Gov. Jim Blanchard, a Democratic supporter of Obama told the Free Press. “Romney worked Michigan really, really hard in 2008.”

Individuals can give up to $2,500 to a candidate’s campaign in both the primary and general elections. The limit for giving to national political parties, however, is $30,800.


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