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Obama too has overseas fundraisers taking place in his absence. His surrogates have been seen at fundraisers in Shanghai, Paris and London. Next month, actor George Clooney will headline an Obama fundraiser in Geneva, Switzerland. Guests can attend for $1,000. A $5,000 donation includes a photo reception and a $30,000 contribution buys dinner for two. Obama has raised at least $2 million through nine expatriates who appear on his most recent list of bundlers
-- supporters who group together contributions from friends and colleagues. Five Americans with addresses in the United Kingdom are on the list, plus two from France and one each from China and Switzerland. Romney has not released a full list of his bundlers. U.S. law bans foreigners from contributing to political campaigns, but American citizens and green-card holders can legally donate regardless of where they live, subject to the $2,500-per-person contribution limit that applies to those living stateside. Campaigns, the parties and political committees are expected to review their donors and reject any ineligible contributions. Election law experts have warned that the proliferation of super PACs has made it impossible to tell whether foreign cash is flowing to the campaigns. The foreign money ban also applies to super PACs, but some of their money comes from vague corporate entities, obscuring the original funding source. Two percent of the money super PACs raised this year came in the form of so-called "secret money" that can't be reasonably traced, according to a preliminary analysis from an upcoming report by Demos and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. In addition to super PACs, nonprofit groups are also spending heavily on the 2012 race, campaign finance experts said, and those groups aren't required to disclose their donors as long as their political activities stay within certain limits. "As long as there is secret money sloshing around in our national elections, the public simply has no way of knowing if illegal foreign money is working its way into influencing our presidential and congressional races," said Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21, which advocates for campaign finance reform. An Associated Press review of donations to major super PACs this year found 55 contributions that either listed no address or were missing the U.S. state. The vast majority appeared to be oversights or sloppy bookkeeping, rather than foreign contributions. The Red, White and Blue fund, a super PAC that backed Rick Santorum's campaign, in February returned a $50,000 donation from a British securities firm that would have violated the ban on foreign funds.
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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