Bad-weather-preventing car update: After Democrats tried to sell access to the president, they're trying to avoid the *appearance* that they tried to sell access to the president

Plug is pulled on electric car booster's meeting with Obama - latimes.com

So when an email invitation arrived for Friday's Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Santa Monica — with a $32,400 donation opening the door to a special reception and a few minutes of face time with the president — Scott thought about it a little. He'd given a few hundred dollars before. This time, he decided to go all in.

It was an outsized play for a guy who earns $50,000 to $60,000 a year and doesn't have a huge savings account.
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USA Today and several automotive publications picked up the story. That, in turn, provoked a second wave of interest from conservative commentators. Their focus was on the appearance that the Democrats were selling access to the president.

Conservative firebrand Michelle Malkin's website headlined: "Electric car advocate pays $16k a minute to personally ask Obama to push carbon tax." The story blew up online when it was picked up by the Drudge Report.

On Monday, Scott received another email from the Democratic National Committee, informing him he was no longer welcome at the luncheon and his $32,400 would be returned. "They insinuated that I did it to gain media attention," Scott said.