For Hollywood, there’s only one star left in the presidential campaign.
Barack Obama’s gala fundraiser tonight 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 Associated Press reports.
The party’s 2008 presidential candidates pocketed eight 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 Thursday in Washington and the two will campaign together for the first time 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.
