Carney: Obama's time in campaign mode 'is still relatively small'

President Obama is spending a very small portion of his time in campaign mode, White House press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters on Friday.

The time the president spends on the campaign is "still relatively small," Carney said during the daily press briefing with reporters. "That's in part because he doesn't have a primary contest.

"That's a fact," Carney said.

On the heels of a string of campaign events Thursday night in New York and another campaign event in Washington on Friday, Carney refuted repeated claims that Obama is in full campaign mode.

Carney said "There will come a time" when Obama engages in more rigorous campaigning, compared to now, when "it's a relatively small portion of his time. That's a simple fact."

The spokesman said Obama is "fully prepared and looking forward" to hitting the campaign trail at a later date.

At one point in the briefing, after a string of questions on the campaign — including one about the optics of his events — Carney told reporters they were "obsessed with campaign politics."

"I did it," the reporter-turned-spokesman, who used to work for Time magazine, said. "It's fun to cover the campaign."

On Friday afternoon, Obama attended a fundraiser with about 20 supporters for at the Jefferson Hotel in Washington. Supporters paid $35,800 each to attend the roundtable with the president.

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