Fund-Raising: Oprah's Obama Blowout

Newsweek:

Oprah Winfrey has said she's not interested in running for president--but can she help elect one? On Saturday afternoon, Winfrey will throw the flashiest fund-raiser of the 2008 cycle when she welcomes about 1,500 guests to her Montecito, Calif., home to support the candidacy of Democrat Barack Obama. Tickets are sold out at $2,300 each, the legal maximum for primary-campaign giving. Hollywood stars Will Smith, John Travolta, Jamie Foxx and Halle Berry are all on the guest list. Among the musicians who'll perform: Stevie Wonder and gospel singer BeBe Winans, a Winfrey friend.

A source close to Winfrey, who declined to speak publicly for fear of angering the TV star, says Oprah bonded with the Illinois senator in 2005 when the pair flew from Chicago to Houston together to visit Hurricane Katrina refugees. "I think Oprah got to see the genuine side of Obama ... and was just blown away," says the source.

Younger actors and executives in black Hollywood tend to support Obama; older figures support Hillary Clinton. But the Oprah ticket is so hot that some on the fence are contributing the maximum anyway. "Are you kidding?" says actress Holly Robinson Peete. "If she invites you somewhere, you go." Still, that doesn't mean all of Oprah's friends are attending. Producer Quincy Jones, a longtime pal who's even named a wing of his home after Oprah, is co-hosting a Clinton bash on Sept. 14 at Magic Johnson's place. "The house is incredible, and the food and music is going to be topnotch," Jones says. "But there is no competition here at all." Just tell that to the candidates.

Read the whole story: Newsweek

Comments

[Libsrule]

12:42 AM on 09/05/2007

Jeez, just shows Obambi is part of the Ivory Tower elite. Where else can anyone actually mingle with an actual candidate?

Oh yeah, just about anyone but Hillary and Obambi. It's nothing more than an ego trip for Opro. No one is allowed to drive to her 75 million dollar estate, they have to park down with the common folk and take a bus, A FUCKING BUS, to get to the event. Security will check everyone, no cameras, no cell phones, no nothing except bring a check.

Yep, good ol' Obambi, leaving out the real people just to hobknob with the elite...his real base. Can't wait until he makes the same statement as Shrub. "Others call you rich, I call you my base".

Hypocrite.

[Misanthrope2]

11:15 PM on 09/04/2007

Maybe her friend Michael Vick can attend.

[MetalCanuck]

08:00 PM on 09/04/2007

This is unfortunate. People do not understand what the CFR is. Look up CFR candidates on youtube or just on google. I promise you will not think the same about most of the Candidates again.

[drblack]

07:37 PM on 09/04/2007

It is to bad that oprah's ego isn't energy...we could run the whole country forever.
Why doesn't she skip the fund raiser and just give obama a copy of the secret?
No wonder bush is Pres and so many people think that Iraq had something to do with 9-11...insanity is the only excuse to let poor entertainers like oprah have so much influence.
I guess you gotta watch something before the tabloid shows come on.

[larry278]

05:58 PM on 09/04/2007

Ms Winfrey isn't wasting time crying about MoveOn being absorbed by DLC & of the establishment's annointing Hillary as the Democratic Party's candidate for POTUS. Ms Winfrey has established herself as a beloved, popular, de facto agent of change. Senator Obama, not Senator Clinton, is the best qualified to occupy the White House. Ms Winfrey is doing her damnedest to give the White House to Senator Obama & power to the people.

[Ashami]

03:22 PM on 09/04/2007

Boy, all those Hollywood types are going to be embarrassed when Edwards gets the nomination! :)

[RusStyles]

04:31 PM on 09/04/2007

You been drinking that Jim Jones stuff?

[SeanGardner]

02:22 PM on 09/04/2007

That's right ladies and gentleman.

Let's do the math together: 1500 people at Oprah's fundraiser paying the minimum 0f $2300 comes out to:

$3,450,000. That's roughly 3.5 million dollars.

And who knows: it could be 4 million or 5 million, because $2300 is only the minimum.

[starrianna]

03:00 AM on 09/05/2007

BIG DEAL!

Oprah poops that kind of money.
She makes $1 million per hour, even while you and I sleep.

Oprah is becoming "unhip" faster than she is making money. She's losing her edge to Ellen, which is sad but true.