However, in “Double Down,” a new book about the 2012 race, authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann write that the event was actually a function for Priorities USA Action, a super PAC backing Obama’s reelection. Katzenberg, an early and generous patron of Priorities USA, “pitched the lunch to invitees as a once-in-a-lifetime experience – what he called ‘unobtainium,’ ” the authors write. “He recommended that they donate $1 million to Priorities, and bagged three checks in that amount just the Friday before.” To attend an official Priorities USA event would have been a substantial about-face for Obama, a vociferous critic of outside groups. The president was reluctant to endorse the efforts of the super PAC when it was launched by two of his former White House aides. And when he finally gave the group his blessing, campaign manager Jim Messina stressed in a blog post that Obama, Vice President Biden and first lady Michelle Obama would steer clear of Priorities events.
‘Unobtainium’ and the blurry lines of campaign finance law
