February 20th, 2007
Barack Obama million dollar star in Hollywood
Edition number 21 in this Digital Markets Blog presidential campaign 2008 series on what I am calling “User Generated Politics”
“Got $2500? Mingle with Obama, plus Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen” I pointed out last week.
I uncovered eBay seller ki-moon’s offer for an “exclusive” ticket to a star-studded Barack Obama fundraiser slated for tonight in Hollywood.
At $2500, it certainly represented a significant investment in what I am calling “User Generated Politics,” in particular due to a $200 mark-up on the ticket! Hollywood insiders are attending at the more “affordable” price of $2300, the maximum individual donation to a federal campaign.
Who is readying for a gala evening in the company of Steven Speilberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen, to rub shoulders with guest of honor Barack Obama?
Tom Hanks has bought a $2,300 ticket. So have Jennifer Aniston, Eddie Murphy and Denzel Washington. Also on the attendee list: Peter A. Chernin, chairman and chief executive of News Corporation’s Fox Group; Ron Meyer, the president of Universal Studios; Richard Cook, chairman of Walt Disney Studios; and Brad Grey, chairman of Paramount Pictures. according to The New York Times.
Obama is expected to ring up a total of a cool million dollars tonight from up to six hundred Hollywood movers and shakers. Not only is the mega evening a first for Obama, the star-studded financial affair marks the first Hollywood style “User Generated Politics” fundraiser for campaign 2008.
So goes Hollywood, so goes the country? Obama undoubtedly is hoping so.
According to political operatives in Los Angeles cited by the New York Times, the scale of the event amounts to a coup, since even veteran senators seldom take more than $50,000 to $100,000 from fund-raisers this early in the campaign cycle. Former Senator John Edwards, a frequent Los Angeles visitor, raised about $100,000 at a much smaller reception on Wednesday, for example, and the entertainment-industry contingent headliners included the creator of the TNT show “The Closer,” James Duff, and the actor Gary Cole, who played a vice president on “The West Wing.”
In “User Generated Politics,” every voter counts, but so does every dollar.
Andy Spahn, adviser to Spielberg and Katzenberg:
We’ve turned down people who asked to bring a guest. There will be no comps. Celebs are writing checks. Everybody’s writing.
ALSO: John McCain announces McCain Space! Republican ‘User Generated Politics’ campaign 2008
STAY TUNED TO THIS DIGITAL MARKETS BLOG FOR CONTINUING COVERAGE OF WHAT I AM CALLING “USER GENERATED POLITICS” 2008
More in this Digital Markets Special Series:
John Edwards meets Bill Maher: ‘User Generated Politics’ TV campaign stop and
YouTube: Must see TV? ‘User Generated Politics’ presidential campaign 2008 and
Is Obama’s social network anti-social? and
Hillary Clinton trumps Barack Obama, on eBay! and
Yahoo: 36,147 people tell Hillary Clinton what to do and
Joe Biden has 226 MySpace friends: Can he connect?
