Obama Visits Midtown, Buckhead on Fund-Raising Trip

So, did you pay a reported $10,000 to meet President Barack Obama during an early Friday evening reception at the Sherwood Forest home of campaign contributor and entrepreneur Mac Wilbourn? Or were you at a dinner with the president at the Buckhead home of TV/movie producer Tyler Perry?

Or did you merely take the economical route, waiting outside on the streets for the chance to catch a glimpse of the president or maybe shake his hand?

Obama cruised through the city on a Friday fundraising blitz and much like GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney did last month, the president made sure to make a Midtown stop and a Buckheadstop to collect campaign financing help.

Bloomberg Business Week reported Saturday that Obama raised more than $5 million on Friday during re-election fundraisers in Atlanta and Chicago. According to the Federal Election Commission, the president had raised $140 million for his re-election campaign through January 2012.

11Alive News reported the president told supporters outside the Wilbourn home, "Don't push, don't push," as they closed in for photos and a closer look at Obama.

The president also made a stop at the 200,000 square-foot Tyler Perry Studios where general admission into the Obama campaign's African American Leadership Council's gala began at $250 with VIP tickets reaching $10,000.

Later, forty or so guests paid $35,800 each to have dinner with the president at Perry’s mansion in Buckhead near the Chattahoochee River and Vinings. Oprah Winfrey was one of the guests helping raise money for the Obama Victory Fund.

Overall, Obama was in Atlanta for about five-and-a-half hours. To read more about his visit, see The Atlanta Journal-Constitution article here.

So again, did you make a special effort to see/meet the president? And just for conversation, if you had the opportunity to communicate a two-to-three sentence of what was on your mind to Obama, what would that be?

Also, take the Buckhead Patch poll on whether money places too big a place in politics now.