Hollywood Gives to Obama



For $4,600 you too could have noshed on crabcakes and shrimp dumplings with Senator Barack Obama and David Geffen and Jennifer Aniston. From Matthew Most of The Washington Post:

"Hollywood has always gravitated to the fresh face, so the crushing turnout there yesterday at a rally and a series of fundraisers for presidential contender Barack Obama followed a familiar Tinseltown story line.

"The Democratic senator from Illinois drew thousands to a South Los Angeles park, then headed to Beverly Hills for a fundraising double feature that organizers said yielded him an estimated $1.3 million.

Movie stars Tom Hanks, Jennifer Aniston and Denzel Washington wrote checks, and scores of producers and agents paid $4,600 per couple -- the maximum allowed -- to jam a hotel ballroom for a two-hour, closed-door cocktail reception hosted by entertainment moguls Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.

"Those who collected $46,000 in checks for the event, which attracted 300 people, were invited to Geffen's house for a more intimate sit-down dinner with Obama."

The V-VIP room (The Corsair nods his head all-too-knowingly). But not everyone is in the champagne roomAnd, from those intrepid Page Sixxies:

"NOT everyone was psyched for last night's highly anticipated fund-raiser for Barack Obama, held by DreamWorks founders David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg. A source with close knowledge of the event said Obama's fellow front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton, was furious at the three, who she thought were her friends, for supporting her rival. According to our source, an angry call was made to Geffen by someone in Clinton's office. 'They were very angry [the movie moguls] were holding this event,' our source said. 'They calmed down after an assurance was made that there would still be support and money left over for [Clinton].' A rep for Clinton said, 'No one spoke to [Geffen].' Clinton is having her own funder on March 24 and Spielberg has agreed to host another for her. Obama's event was so popular that it had to be moved from a restaurant that could hold 400 people to the Beverly Hilton, which can hold 600."