“Political fundraising” on The Daily Caller

GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul’s fans gave him a big present for his 76th birthday this weekend. (more)

President Obama campaigned in 2008 on being an outsider to “politics as usual,” but a new report from the Center for Responsive Politics finds that one-third of the bundled donations raised for the president’s reelection campaign are coming from Wall Street bigwigs. (more)

For the first time in her career, Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine will face several GOP primary challengers. While the senator from Maine is out-fundraising those candidates so far, it is expected that her 2012 re-election bid will be up against a well coordinated Tea Party effort. (more)

GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Monday that his former campaign staff, which he characterizes as outside consultants, drove his campaign into debt. (more)

On Friday afternoon, heading into the holiday weekend, Tim Pawlenty’s presidential campaign announced that it raised $4.2 million in the second fundraising quarter that ended Thursday at midnight. (more)

Over the last year and a half, particularly since the labor dispute between the state of Wisconsin and its public employees, there has been a lot of effort at MSNBC aimed at casting the Koch brothers as billionaires trying to interfere with the democratic process. But a case could be made that MSNBC isn’t so far removed from money influencing the democratic process either. (more)

Fund-raising by the Republican presidential candidates appears to be off to a slow start this year, hindered by the struggling economy, the absence of a clear and compelling front-runner, and the desire of many of the party’s biggest donors to wait and see how the race develops. (more)

Supporters of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said they have raised between $25 million and $35 million in support of his presidential ambitions, a total that far outstrips his rivals and could further establish Mr. Romney as the Republican Party’s front-runner. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — As a supporter of presidential candidate Barack Obama, Cynthia Stroum was a superstar whose financial backing of the campaign landed her a plum diplomatic posting in Europe. (more)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Arnold Schwarzenegger landed in the governor’s office after announcing his upstart bid on late night TV and railing against government spending during raucous campaign rallies — at one playing a spirited round of air guitar to the rock anthem “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are aggressively recruiting a challenger to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, whose tenure as party chief has been marked by ill-chosen comments and questions about finances. (more)

NEW YORK (AP) — MSNBC says Keith Olbermann will be back on the air Tuesday, ending his suspension for violating NBC’s rules against making political donations after two shows. (more)

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A day after Gov. Chris Christie killed the nation’s largest public works project, an underwater rail tunnel linking New York City to its populous New Jersey suburbs, he said Thursday that it’s time to focus on badly needed improvements to the state’s roads and bridges. (more)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Michelle Obama is urging Americans to vote with an eye toward the future and with the energy of the past — two years ago, to be exact. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Grasping to keep control of Congress, Democratic leaders are turning their backs on some of their staunchest supporters in the House and propping up stronger candidates who have routinely defied them on health care, climate change and other major issues. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Grasping for the electric energy that propelled him to the White House, President Barack Obama whipped up young supporters at a rally Thursday night, where the boisterous crowd tried to shout down any talk of an “enthusiasm gap” among Democrats. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised four years ago that Democrats would lead “the most honest, most open, most ethical Congress in history.” (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — In one way at least, the fight for control of Congress is grossly one-sided. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a pair of town houses less than 10 blocks from where the Supreme Court gave his group a place in legal history, David Bossie is making movies and cutting a path for a new art form: the nonpolitical political ad. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama is jumping into the midterm political fray in a big way: She’ll headline at least nine fundraisers in six states next month for endangered Democrats. (more)