Obama Rakes in More Than $3 Million For DNC in Star-Studded LA Affair

[dinojen]

President Obama attended two star-studded fundraisers in Los Angeles for the Democratic National Committee Wednesday night, raising an estimated whopping $3-4 million.

Celebrities were plentiful in the crowd at the Beverly Hilton -- Marissa Tomei, Kiefer Sutherland, Jamie Foxx, Ron Howard, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Antonio Banderas, Melanie Griffith, Holly Robinson Peete, Tyler Perry, Nicky Hilton, Seth Rogin, Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., among many others. A concert was headlined by Chicago's own Jennifer Hudson and Earth Wind and Fire.

The president ticked through what he believes his administration has done in the four months that he has been in office, and gave a progress report of sorts, prompting a bold declaration about what he believes his administration's progress has been.

“I would put these four months against the four months of any prior administration since FDR,” a confident president said, referencing legislation his administration has signed.

The president said that he’s confident in the future but much more work remains to be done.

The concert portion of the fundraising night had ticket prices ranging from $1,000 and $2,500. The dinner fundraiser sold tickets for $30,400 for a couple. This marked the third fundraiser the president has had in two days during his swing out west.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/05/obama-rakes-in.html

Be really wonderful when the campaigning is over and get that much needed stimulus bill he pushed through to start showing some results, JMOOC.. also enjoyed this one comment from readers of the article I linked to... it was the first thing I thought of... guess there is no such thing as tightening your belt when you have the Air Force at your service.. just add it on to the taxpayers tab.


So he took this trip to raise money for the DNC. We, as tax payers got to pay for 97% of this trip and the DNC paid 3%. Aren't we ALL supposed to be tightening our belts??? Isn't that what he told his cabinet and the American public? And where is the openness? How much did this cost the taxpayers? I don't care if he takes these trips but if 60% of the time was to raise money for the DNC, then the DNC should pay for 60% of the trip. And the same thing goes for all the other politicain, Dem or Rep or Indep.


Cannot agree more with the above statement.. JMHO

[dinojen]

George Bush and Dick Cheney did this all the time for 8 years.

Not to mention George W Bush fund raising in Los Angeles and AZ when New Orleans was drowning.

What hypocrisy !

All offical business ofr the Prez is paid for by the American taxpayer, all partisan political business is paid for by others. The President's family pays for their own meals in the White House.


No hypocrisy at all... Obama campaigned on CHANGE.. on TRANSPARENCY.. so far I can't see the dome of the capitol in DC between all the smog of politics.

Have no problem with who does what as far as fundraising.. I just don't think the taxpayer should be footing the bill... let the party that is doing the fundraising pay for the cost of having the POTUS attend.. secret service, multi planes to carry his vehicles..

Oh one more thing.. hopefully we won't be hearing for the next three and a half years.. what Bush did.. his presidency is over... it's on Obama's tailcoats now.. time to get past what others have done and concentrate on what the current dude in charge is doing.. JMHO

[dinojen]

:rolleyes: too funny in regards to posts about blogs..

Like HuffPuff isn't a blog and isn't consistently used to link to the charms and capabilities of Pres. Obama.

Can't have it both ways.. blogs being okay being they high five your candidate or choice of president.. but a blog questioning his motives or actions isn't right... alrighty then...:rolleyes:

When I posted the "statement".. I specifically stated it was a comment by a poster in regards to the article... it's really not that hard to understand is it?

Oh here's the link again... abc news... I would think it be no different that MSNBC, CNN, or FOX political web pages...

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/05/obama-rakes-in.html

[dinojen]

Unlike your source, which are ALL letters to the editor, Huffington post has real credible writers who go by first and last name.

You mixed opinions of several letters to the editor of ABC as is if were ONLY ONE source.... failing to name any of the writers.... no where did you do anything to state these were letters from anonymous sources. Try again to misrepresent, and we will catch it, because we READ sources.

You want names... here you go...

ABC News' Sunlen Miller reports:

President Obama attended two star-studded fundraisers in Los Angeles for the Democratic National Committee Wednesday night, raising an estimated whopping $3-4 million.

Miller is a regular on-air contributor to ABC NewsNOW, the network's broadband entity, and files regularly for ABCNews.com

Since starting at the ABC News Washington bureau in 2004, Miller has worked at a variety of platforms at ABC News, including "World News with Charles Gibson," "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" and ABC NewsNOW's "Politics Live."

Raised in Richmond, Va., Miller graduated from George Washington University with a bachelors degree in International Affairs and Media and Communications.

She wrote the article.. anything else you would like to know?

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=7010414&page=1

Just goggled Huff Puff..

They call themselves.. and I do quote..
The Huffington Post
The Internet Newspaper - News Blogs Video Community.

And the difference would be what?

[TBIBeg]

Unlike your source, which are ALL letters to the editor, Huffington post has real credible writers who go by first and last name.

You mixed opinions of several letters to the editor of ABC as is if were ONLY ONE source.... failing to name any of the writers.... no where did you do anything to state these were letters from anonymous sources. Try again to misrepresent, and we will catch it, because we READ sources.


Who is 'we'? (groupthink?)

Are you saying that the fund raiser and it's costs didn't happen?

[dinojen]

Cost of presidential and vice presidential flights to campaign-related events in 2002. (not a presidential election year) It does not take into account Secret Service costs, the costs of food and lodging for additional staff, the costs of backup or additional passenger planes that accompany the President, motorcade costs, or the costs of helicopter transport.


From Jan. 1, 2002 through Nov. 5, 2002, the President and Vice President made a total of at least 83 campaign-related trips, involving at least 168 campaign-related stops, at an estimated cost of $6.5 million in flight expenses.

Political campaigns reimbursed the government for only an estimated $198,000 of these costs. The taxpayer paid an estimated 97% of the flight expenses, an estimated net cost of $6.3 million.

During the 2002 campaign year, the President took at least 46 trips involving at least 82 destinations to conduct campaign-related activities, at an estimated cost of over $4.7 million in flight expenses. The net cost to the taxpayer for these flights was an estimated $4.6 million.

During the 2002 campaign year, the Vice President took at least 37 trips involving at least 86 destinations to conduct campaign-related activities, at an estimated cost of $1.8 million. The net cost to the taxpayer for these flights was $1.7 million.

For the 2006 campaign year, (again, not a presidential election year) the projected cost for presidential and vice presidential campaign-related travel was $7.2 million.

http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20060316113550-47530.pdf


Thank you for the information... but being the current president campaigned on Change and Transparency.. don't you think he would change from what was done in the past? Instead of just researching what happened once again in the BUSH years.. lets go back to Clinton, Reagan, Bush #1..

Time to tighten the belt.. especially when the taxpayer is footing the bill. Time to quit using Bush as an excuse for everything and time to move forward and "change" things.

And no I'm not defending GWB.. never voted for the dude either time.. just sick of him being used as an excuse for every single thing and the house and senate who played a big part in a lot of this mess getting a free pass.

All jmho

[Philly]

I, for one, am glad they had the fundraiser and that it was successful.

[daniel green]

I, for one, am glad they had the fundraiser and that it was successful.

Me, too!!!

The President has proven what an amazing fundraiser he is!