Orlando Sentinel: Inside Obama’s Maitland Fundraiser

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Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and University of Central Florida President John Hitt were front and center — literally — at Wednesday night’s Barack Obama presidential fundraiser in Maitland.

Dyer managed to be one of the first to shake Obama’s hand when the Illinois Sentaor walked into the private reception for folks who ponied up $1,000 or more to get an up close look at the candidate. And Hitt managed to be one of the first in line when the grip-and-grin photo session with Obama started up.

Neither gave any money, but instead were there at the invitation of other fundraiser heavyweights, such as Greater Homes founder Bob Mandell. Among the other notable attendees: Jim Pugh, a deep-pocketed downtown arts patron who also is an early Hillary Clinton campaign backer. And Marc Watson, a prolific Republican campaign fund raiser, who by virtue of being on the host committee, pledged to raise at least $10,000 for Obama.

The event raised $475,000 among 900 donors, and attracted several hundred people to the event.

Orangizers claimed — and it’s hard to confirm — this was the largest single haul for a Democratic presidential fund-raising event in Central Florida history.

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