Ari Emanuel Throwing An Obama Meet and Greet



Always bet on Gold -- Ari Gold, that is. The inspiration for Jeremy Piven's cacophanous Ari Gold character on "Entourage," Ari Emmanuel, one half of Those Fabulous Emmanuel Boys, is throwing a little shindig -- and lining up the Hollywood bigmoney -- out in Hollywood for Senator Obama Barak, potential candidate for Leader of the Free World. From NYDailyNews:

"Hollywood has been a cash-spewing ATM for Sen. Hillary Clinton, but Sen. Barack Obama may challenge her top billing when it comes to Tinseltown cash.

"Powerhouse agent Ari Emanuel, whose client stable includes A-listers like Michael Douglas, Martin Scorsese, Larry David and Paris Hilton, is set to throw a sure-to-be-star-studded bash for Obama (D-Ill.) next month.

"A spokesman for the Endeavor agency head confirmed Emanuel 'will be doing some sort of event [for Obama] in February.'"

This comes as a curious development considering that his brother is the ULTIMATE Clinton loyalist. After taking over George Stephanopoulos' position in the Clinton's second term in office (Gerorgie had a rash), Emmanuel then ran an uphill but eventuially successful race for Congress in ... Illinois. That's right, THE Illinois of Barak Obama. Poor dude. What does he get for being Brigadier General of the Democrats House victory? Another imbroglio that could either bring his great political bounty or -- maybe just maybe -- demolish his rapport with his electorate. According to the ChicagoTribune: "'I'm hiding under the desk,' said the Chicago Democratic congressman. 'I'm very far under the desk, and I'm bringing my paper and my phone.'"

So, are Those Emmanuel's hedging their bets to cover all the bases?

Another angle which Defamer's Lisanti hipped us to is "The Geffen Factor" (The Corsair *shudders*). Spielberg and Geffen are the 800-lb gorillas in Tinseltown, bestriding The Ivy with all the sangfroid of Billions in the Bank. While Spielberg hasn't made any commitments yet (AKA The Wait-and-See-Approach), Geffen, evidently, has thrown his support on the DL to Obama. Scandalous!

We won't even entertain the possibility that these two straight shooters might be in political collusion. Heaven forfend!