(Image Credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo)

President Obama heads west today for a three-day, three-state swing aimed largely at filling the coffers of his re-election campaign and honing his message to supporters in key states.

Obama will headline eight fundraisers across California and Washington through Friday night. The events are expected to net at least $8.6 million for the Obama Victory Fund - a joint fundraising account for Obama and Democrats in the 2012 election.

On the way there, the president will stop in Milwaukee  for an official event at a Master Lock facility, where he will tout a resurgence in American manufacturing and his plan to keep up the momentum. He'll reprise the message at a Boeing factory in Everette, Wash., on Friday.

But much of Obama's focus will be on mingling with some of his wealthiest - and most famous - supporters in Los Angeles and San Francisco, who will play a key role in underwriting his bid for a second term.

Obama will appear with the Grammy Award-winning Foo Fighters at an outdoor  reception in Los Angeles this afternoon where 1,000 guests are expected. General admission tickets were $500 apiece, according to a campaign official.

Later he'll dine with 80 donors - each forking over $35,800 - at the home of Bradley Bell, a soap opera produer-writer whose wife, Colleen, is also an Obama bundler.  Actor and comedian Will Ferrell is  expected to attend.

On Thursday, Obama will lunch in Corona del Mar, Calif., at the home of real estate developer Jeff Stack. Tickers for each of the 125 guests start at $2,500, officials said.

The president then flies north to San Francisco, where he will attend three more fundraisers. Up  first is an intimate event at the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel with 20 supporters. Each paid $35,800 - the legal maximum combined donation to both the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Then, Obama dines with 70 supporters at the residence of novelist Robert Mailer Anderson and wife, Nicola Miner.  Tickets are again $35,800 apiece. (Singer Al Green will reportedly attend. No word on a possible Obama-Green duet.)

Obama will wrap his evening in San Francisco with a large crowd fundraiser at the Nob Hill Masonic Center with 2,500 guests who will pay $100 and up to attend. The event includes  a musical performance by Soundgarden's Chris Cornell, a campaign official said.

From San Francisco,  Obama heads up the coast to Washington state  Friday, where 65 guests will pay $17,900 each to attend a private lunch, and later, at a hotel in Bellevue, 450 guests will each pay $1,000 for a performance by Head and the Heart.