Use of commas with "and"

Hello everyone,

I want to write a sentence like the following:

1. The president, and a coalition of his most loyal followers, are trying to get the measure passed.

To my mind this looks much better than either

2. The president, as well as a coalition of his most loyal followers, is...

or

3. The president and a coalition of his most loyal followers are...

However, I can't make up my mind whether the commas in version 1 are kosher. Something in the back of my mind is telling me that they make "and a coalition of his most loyal followers" into a parenthetical phrase, meaning that I should either use the singular verb "is" (with or without "as well") or should remove the commas altogether.

I know the rules regarding commas for "and" as a conjunction. I also know the rules about serial commas. But this particular use of "and" seems to be a blind spot of mine. Is version 1 permissible, in your opinion?

Thanks!
Commatically Perplexed