Politics | Barack Obama Obama Network of Big Donors Rivals Bush's Bundlers chip in large portion of Obama's record haul By Kevin Spak Posted Aug 6, 2008 11:55 AM CDT Copied Barack Obama gets off the plane at South Bend Regional Airport in South Bend, Ind., Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Barack Obama likes to point to the avalanche of small-money donations that account for a full half of his record $340 million haul. But he has also been carefully cultivating a network of big-money bundlers since his earliest days in the Senate, the New York Times reports. As a result, Obama’s fleet of boosters are on pace to rival even George W. Bush’s vaunted “rangers” and “pioneers.” Obama has 500 bundlers that have collected at least $50,000 each; more than a half-dozen have passed the $1 million mark. Roughly two-thirds of the money can be traced to four industry groups: law, investment, real estate, and entertainment. “It's fairly clear that this is being packaged as an extraordinary new kind of fundraising,” said a campaign finance expert. “But it's also clear that many of the old donors are still there and important.” Read These Next A Texas man's disappearance is fodder for true-crime mania. Kerr County considered a flood warning system years ago. See the best BBQ cities in the US. Cancer claims the life of an MLB champ at 44. Report an error