Obama turns to NYC celebrities for campaign cash

In this Feb. 25, 2010, file photo, President Barack Obama, not pictured, acknowledges actress Sarah Jessica Parker, as first lady Michelle Obama smiles in the East Room of the White House in Washington, before he presented the 2009 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal. / File,AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Updated 11:57 PM ET

(AP) NEW YORK - President Barack Obama soaked in the support — and the campaign cash — of Manhattan's elite entertainers Thursday as his re-election team sought to fill its fundraising coffers.

The president and first lady Michelle Obama made a rare joint fundraising appearance when they visited the home of actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick. The intimate dinner banked about $2 million, with 50 people paying $40,000 each.

The dinner was the Obama campaign's latest attempt to bank on celebrities for fundraising help in countering the growing donor enthusiasm from Republicans supporting Mitt Romney's presidential bid.

Speaking in a dimly lighted, art-filled room, Obama told supporters they would play a critical role in an election that would determine a vision for the nation's future.

"You're the tie-breaker," he said. "You're the ultimate arbiter of which direction this country goes."

Among the celebrities on hand to hear Obama's remarks were Oscar winner Meryl Streep, fashion designer Michael Kors and Vogue editor Anna Wintour, who moderated a private question-and-answer session between the president and the guests. Broderick, who was starring in a Broadway musical, was absent.

The president and Mrs. Obama also headlined a second glitzy fundraiser in Manhattan Thursday night that included a performance from singer Mariah Carey and remarks by singer Alicia Keys. The 250-person dinner yielded the Obama campaign at least $2.5 million.

While Democrats have long held political and ideological ties to the TV and movie industry, the dynamic is different this time for Obama. His own celebrity has faded a bit after more than three years in the slog of governing, and some reliable donors have gotten so used to seeing him, they want more — like a real movie star.

What's more, Obama's team is getting outraised by Republicans in a new, freewheeling environment, one in which wealthy donors can give unlimited amounts of money to outside political groups, known as super PACs, that can have huge sway over the presidential race.

As one counter-response, Obama is borrowing on the power of entertainers to give big bucks themselves and to encourage others to give what they can.

The strategy holds the potential for peril. It allows opponents to paint Obama as hobnobbing for dollars with middle-class angst riding high. The Republican Party lampooned Obama as tone deaf when his campaign promoted the Parker/Wintour event on the same day news broke of climbing unemployment.

Pressed about Obama's relationship with the stars, his spokesman, Jay Carney, fired back: "Two words. Donald Trump. Next question?" Romney has received fundraising help from Trump, the camera-finding real estate mogul whom Obama has dismissed as a carnival barker.

From Tinseltown to Broadway, Obama has surrounded himself with blockbuster names lately: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, Spike Lee, Will Smith, Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Cher and many others who make more in one year than most people do in a lifetime.

Obama played basketball with a Batman (Clooney) and a Spiderman (Tobey Maguire), all in one game. He held a private chat in Los Angeles with some of the town's younger stars last week, including Jessica Alba and Jeremy Renner. He has had some of the most popular musicians in the business perform at his fundraisers, such as Alicia Keys, Cee Lo Green, Dave Matthews and the Foo Fighters. For his gig with Obama, Jon Bon Jovi even caught a ride on Air Force One.

In a tough economy, one way Obama tries to make it work is by raffling access for smaller donors, both to dinners with the president himself and to private affairs like the one at Parker's house.

Robin Hunt of Baltimore won an online contest to attend Thursday's dinner. She brought her mother, Elvita, a voter in North Carolina, a key election battleground state.

The contests typically ask donors to give $3 or whatever they can spare.

The Obama campaign calls it a way to lure donors who may not otherwise be involved in politics at all.

But implicit in the arrangement is that access to Obama, the president of the United States, is not enough of a draw. Obama's campaign has gone so far as to make its next "Dinner With Barack" raffle more enticing by telling would-be donors that they can help pick Obama's guest — naming Clooney and Parker as examples.

All the star wattage comes as Obama's campaign is warning supporters that they need to give or Obama could lose. Central to Obama's strategy is having a larger number of people giving small-to-medium donations. His campaign says 98 percent of donations received in May came in amounts of $250 or less.

"The other side has the money," campaign manager Jim Messina said in one appeal to donors. "They know they can buy the election if they spend it."

[astrafly]

With so many likable and generous celebrity friends in the showbiz who
regard him as their icon, president Obama can absolutely do without the donation money from noncelebrities or Wall Street.

[lgccac]

Hearing this is a GREAT WAY to start your day. Look what we once had - - - - and then at what we have today.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/OvN1jTkzXbY?rel=0

[stormerF69]

Celiberties have too much money they might as well throw it away,on Campaign dinners for the Liar n Chief.

[Mays2011]

Liar in chief?...oh yeah, because all of the other politicians are so honest. i don't like Obama but he's definitely typical.

[2happy2ride]

"You're the ultimate arbiter of which direction this country goes."
Our fate resides in the hands of people more concerned about a pimple than the economy. GREAT!
A lot of butt kissing went on in that place. Hollywood & obama are a natural connection because his policies are like a movie set, they have no correlation to the real world & it's NOT what is...it's what they WANT you to think it is.
I never thought I'd live to see an American president with ZERO character, zero substance & the decorum & tactics of a street hood.

[grumpas]

The hate that flows out of the right wing for this President is toxic. But, then again, it was toxic for Clinton and he was white. It's just there movement that is built on hate that is toxic. And a lot of us are fed up with the nastiness. They would destroy the country with Bush on Steriods (Mitt) than see the country survive with Obama, that just how mean and nasty they have become.

[stormerF69]

Facts not hate,You disagree with the Messiah and your a racist,even if your a minority.Even the Clintons are standing away from Obama's message for America,wonder why?

[luadda22]

"destroy the country with Bush on Steriods (Mitt)"????

And you feel that your "hate" and "race-baiting" is not toxic?

[baileycccc]

Romney ain't so popular with the celebrity crowd. Our President is a Star. The election will be a reflection of the unpopularity of republicans in America.

[smittyc]

Hollywood is the land of make believe folks located in sunny Ca where the economy is worse than the rest of the country. NYC is not doing so great economy wise either, barely treading water. About the same can be said for Obama.

[stryker54]

Glad to see that Matthew decide that the show should go on, more than Obummer can do. He probably felt 40 grand was to much for dinner. Oh thats right, him and Jessica stop in at the WH. Actors should keep their voices out of politics, makes the people that work for a living want to throw up.

[boocbsboooooooooo]

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

[ugacrew]

The should be forewarned, you get what you pay for.