Feb 21, 2007 8:45 am US/Eastern
Obama, '08 Candidates Head To California
Hollywood Stars Turn Out For Presidential Hopeful - Gathering Reportedly Doesn't Sit Well With Clinton
LOS ANGELES (CBS News) ―
-
-
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) appears at his first campaign rally in southern California since announcing his presidential candidacy Feb. 20, 2007 in Los Angeles, Calif.
David McNew/Getty Images
Jennifer Aniston, Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy were just some of Hollywood's hottest celebrities who forked over campaign dollars at a fundraiser for Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama.
Tinseltown's s embrace of the Illinois senator didn't sit well with his main rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, according to New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd.
"Hillary loyalists have hissed at defecting donors to remember the good old days of jumping on the Lincoln Bedroom bed," Dowd wrote.
"Hillary is livid that Obama's getting the first big fund-raiser here," she quoted a friend of Clinton as saying.
Dowd sized up the situation thusly: "Who can pay attention to the Oscar battle between 'The Queen' and 'Dreamgirls' when you've got a political battle between a Queen and a Dreamboy?"
Clinton and husband Bill Clinton have long-standing ties to the entertainment industry.
The star-studded, private fundraiser raised $1.3 million for Obama.
Obama banked checks from stars such as actors George Clooney, Barbra Streisand, and Morgan Freeman, Natalie Maines of the Grammy-winning Dixie Chicks, and director Ron Howard at a private fundraiser at the Beverly Hilton Hotel attended by 300 contributors who donated at least $2,300 each.
"He's lovely," Aniston said of Obama.
The Beverly Hills fundraiser, arranged by three of the entertainment industry's biggest names — DreamWorks studio founders Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen — was a reminder that there would be fierce competition among candidates for Hollywood dollars.
Geffen, an Obama backer,slammed Clinton, according to Dowd: "Not since the Vietnam War has there been this level of disappointment in the behavior of America throughout the world, and I don't think that another incredibly polarizing figure, no matter how smart she is and no matter how ambitious she is — and God knows, is there anybody more ambitious than Hillary Clinton?" — can bring the country together.
The DreamWorks mogul also had harsh words for Bill Clinton, Dowd reported, calling the former president "a reckless guy" who "gave his enemies a lot of ammunition to hurt him and to distract the country."
A Clinton spokesman fired back: "While Senator Obama was denouncing slash and burn politics yesterday, his campaign's finance chair was viciously and personally attacking Senator Clinton and her husband. If Senator Obama is indeed sincere about his repeated claims to change the tone of our politics, he should immediately denounce these remarks, remove Mr. Geffen from his campaign and return his money."
The entertainment industry is a perennial source of cash for Democrats, with big names often donating to multiple campaigns while withholding formal endorsements until later.
Clinton is counting on a Hollywood windfall next month, when a major fundraiser is scheduled at the home of supermarket tycoon Ronald Burkle, a longtime friend and fundraiser for her husband.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
Slideshow: 2008 Presidential Hopefuls
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments