Obama Taps Hollywood for More Campaign Cash

For Hollywood, there’s only one star left in the presidential campaign.

Sen. Barack Obama’s gala fundraiser today will attract the mandatory lineup of big-screen talent and boldface names – actors Samuel L. Jackson and Dennis Quaid, model Cindy Crawford and boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard – and confirm again that the entertainment industry remains one of the most reliable and abundant sources of Democratic campaign cash.

The party’s 2008 presidential candidates pocketed $8 of every $10 coming from movie, TV and music businesses, and Hillary Rodham Clinton’s withdrawal from the race all but guarantees a Hollywood windfall for Obama as the party begins to unite around its presumed nominee.

The glitzy gathering will be an early test of Obama’s ability to enlist Clinton’s financial backers, many of whom are still nursing some pain from the grueling primary contest. Obama will meet with Clinton and some of her top fundraisers on Thursday in Washington, and the two will campaign together for the first time on Friday in New Hampshire. Meanwhile, Obama and his campaign have been coaxing Clinton’s numerous fundraisers to join his finance operation, which raised more than $287 million as of the end of May.

Among prominent Clinton supporters in Southern California, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa – a Clinton national co-chair – met with Obama in Miami on Saturday and has committed to work for his election. Director Rob Reiner has reached out to the Obama campaign. Ron Burkle, a close friend of former President Clinton known for holding lavish fundraisers at his Beverly Hills estate, "is happy to do whatever the campaign asks," said spokesman Frank Quintero.

The Los Angeles event comes days after Obama spurned the public financing system for the general election, opening the way for him to raise and spend hundreds of millions of dollars after the Denver convention in a race in which he’s already broken fundraising records.

Top tickets are priced at more than $30,000, with the money divided between the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

"There are a few Republicans in this town," said Chad Griffin, a Clinton fundraiser and Hollywood-connected political consultant, who is now supporting Obama. "I do not anticipate anyone in this industry supporting John McCain, regardless of whom they supported in the primary."

McCain has banked money from producer Jerry Bruckheimer and "Saturday Night Live" executive producer Lorne Michaels, but "Hollywood has already voted with its feet," said Clinton- fundraiser-turned-Obama-fundraiser John Emerson, alluding to the steady flow of entertainment money to Democrats in the primary season.

While wealthy celebrities often lavish money on multiple candidates, Obama’s donors already include Will Smith, George Clooney, Jennifer Aniston, Leonard Nimoy and singer Harry Connick Jr. Oprah Winfrey’s fundraiser for Obama at her Santa Barbara-area estate was one of the biggest events of the primary season, helping cement Obama’s position as a credible challenger to Clinton.

An analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, based on fundraising data released May 21, found Obama had collected more than $4 million from movie, television and music businesses during the campaign. Clinton had received $3.4 million.

McCain’s take: $636,000.