Heralded as he is for drawing a huge number of small donors to his presidential campaign, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is still collecting plenty of $1,000+ plus checks, as this story in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune explains. Obama was in the Minneapolis area for a big fundraising event, at which attendees ponied up $1,000 for dinner and $5,000 for a picture with the candidate. Not even Santa Claus charges that much.

For all the hype about small donors it's important to remember that high-dollar donors still rule the roost, accounting for 50% of Obama's campaign fundraising and for an increasingly large chunk of money raised by congressional candidates. Check out this report Public Campaign recently released to counter the hysteria about small donors.