(Image Credit: Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)

President Obama will raise $716,000 for the 2012 campaign this afternoon during an exclusive fundraiser at the Jefferson Hotel in Washington, D.C.

After a midday news conference aimed at stealing some of the Super Tuesday spotlight, Obama will hobnob privately with 20 benefactors who each cut checks for $35,800, a campaign official told ABC News. That's the legal maximum combined contribution to the Obama Campaign and Democratic National Committee.

The closed-press event blocks from the White House is Obama's seventh at the Jefferson this year, part of a series of roundtable meetings with donors where, aides say, he doesn't make formal remarks.

Obama has set an aggressive fundraising pace during the first part of the year, raising at least $6 million for the Obama Victory Fund in the first week of March alone.

Today's fundraiser is Obama's 34th of the year and 101st since he announced a bid for re-election last April.