Obama releases new list of elite fund-raisers as GOP rivals refuse to disclose. Raised $68 million last quarter

TAMPA, FL.–The Obama team raised $68 million in the last quarter of 2011 and

released its latest list of bundlers on Tuesday–its elite fund-raising corps of people who raised at least $50,000 tapping their networks to get people to donate to a candidate.

The GOP White House hopefuls have refused to make public their major donors–and front-runner Mitt Romney has an elite finance committee, just as President Barack Obama does.

The $68 million total comes from money collected for the Obama 2012 re-election campaign based in Chicago and the Democratic National Committee in Washington. The two groups as a practical matter function mainly as one when it comes to fund-raising to re-elect Obama.

The bundler list, current to Dec. 31, 2011, the latest available is at http://www.barackobama.com/pages/volunteer-fundraisers-Q4

From the Obama 2012 campaign: “In the 4th quarter of 2011, $68 million were raised to help reelect President Obama. 583,000 donors gave to the campaign in q4, 200,000 of whom had never given before, even in 2008. The average contribution this quarter was $55, and 98 percent of our contributions were $250 or less.”