Obama’s Money Pump for 2012 Re-Election Bid Primed by Chicago

Les Coney, an executive vice president at Chicago-based Mesirow Financial, will take a seat at two of three hometown events Barack Obama is scheduled to headline today as the president kicks off fundraising for a re-election bid that might cost as much as $1 billion.

Raising money may be tougher than four years ago, Coney said, partly because Obama was mostly a blank slate then, engaged in a historic quest to become the first black president.