Hollywood digs deep for Obama with fundraiser netting $9m

BARACK OBAMA, with the help of singer and actress Barbra Streisand, raised $9 million (€6.4m) for his presidential campaign and the Democratic party as he partied with Hollywood celebrities on Tuesday night.

The night was split into two events, a reception and dinner costing $28,500 each at the Greystone Mansion, followed by entertainment by Streisand at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. About 250-300 people were expected at the dinner and about 800 at the entertainment, which cost $2,500 a ticket.

Dinner guests included Will Ferrell, Jodie Foster, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Lee Curtis and DreamWorks founders Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Obama spent more than an hour before dinner getting his picture taken with guests. He said later people had encouraged him to be tougher and had questioned why he was so calm in a close race against Republican John McCain.

“I’m skinny but I’m tough,” he said. “I’m from Chicago and we don’t play. Just keep steady.

“If we can cut through the nonsense and the lipstick and the pigs and the silliness, then I’m absolutely convinced that we are going to win,” said Obama.

“The reason I’m calm... is I’ve got confidence in the American people,” he said. “I really think they want to see us do better.” Standing in the courtyard of the palatial estate, he said his campaign was dedicated to people who need jobs and healthcare and worry about their pensions and sending children to college.

“It’s about those who will never see the inside of a building like this,” said Obama.

McCain told a rally in Vienna, Ohio, that Obama “talks about siding with the people, siding with the people just before he flies off to Hollywood for a fundraiser with Barbra Streisand and his celebrity friends. Let me tell you my friends, there’s no place I’d rather be than here with the working men and women of Ohio”.

A night earlier, McCain was with deep-pocketed donors in Florida and raised $5m, a fact noted by Obama’s campaign.