Obama in Harvey, Illinois, on Martin Luther King Day.Photo: Getty Images
Add to Barack Obama’s list of marquee New York donors — and former Clinton supporters — the name of Orin S. Kramer. Kramer is an enviro-friendly financier and author who has been a stalwart in Clinton money-raising quarters for years. He played a key role in the Al Gore and John Kerry presidential campaigns, serving as New York co-chair for both. A domestic-policy staffer in the Carter White House, Kramer is currently the general partner of Boston Provident, L.P. He’s the latest fund-raising coup for the Obama camp, which also picked up support from lefty billionaire George Soros earlier this week. How did Kramer reach the decision to leave team Clinton? “I ran up against my pain threshold,” he said. “I have unalloyed respect for Senator Clinton. She is eminently electable, and some of my closest friends are major players in her universe. But despite being a dinosaur, I’m drawn to a different kind of political experience. Whether large numbers of people will see the world that way, we’ll see.” —Geoffrey Gray
