Obama Steps Up 2012 Hollywood Fundraising

“We were discussing the new season of Glee,” tweeted Modern Family‘s Jesse Tyler Ferguson about what he and President Obamasaid to one anotherlast night at the Sunset Strip’s House of Blues. It’s where the actoremceed one of twoHollywood fundraisers for Obama’s re-election campaign Monday. According to a White House pool report, Obama greeted Ferguson, turned to the microphone, and said, “I was telling him that Michelle and the girls love them some Modern Family.” Some in the crowd chanted “Four more years”, roughly 900people paid ticket prices starting at $250 and as much as $10,000 (to secure aphoto with the president). The second fundraiser cost $17,900 for each of the 120 people in attendanceatMelrose Avenue’sFig & Olive restaurant. Theprivate event’sco-hosts included Hollywood producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, his longtime political adviser Andy Spahn, and Tennis Channel CEO Ken Solomon. “I’m going to need your help, so don’t get tired on me now,” Obama was quoted by a pool report as telling showbizattendees like Judd Apatow, Aaron Sorkin, Jamie Foxx, Jack Black, Eva Longoria, Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, and Jon Landau (producer of Avatar and Titanic). I urge some of you to watch the Republican debates, Obama added. Obama received a standing ovation from the industry types seated at round tables with white table linens. But news of the president’s impending Hollywood fundraisingwas punctuated by several media articles proclaiming that Tinseltown support for him haderoded greatly since 2008.Recently Democratic activists like Robert Redford, Matt Damon, and Michael Moore have criticized Obama’s inability to stay the liberal course. Katzenberg seemed to address that disappointmentwhen heintroduced Obamaby saying, We must keep fighting for him so he can keep fighting forus.”Katzenberg also noted, “I have a dependency on President Obama. He inherited a crashing economy and two wars and opponets who questioned if he was even board. Yet he kept us moving forward.He was dealt adversity on all fronts, but he maintained his stature. … We must keep fighting for him so he can keep fighting for us.” Katzenbergis leading the Hollywood”bundlers” for the president’sre-election campaign.(Bundlersusetheir substantial personal connections to haul in money for candidates.) Campaign finance reports must be filed by Sepember 30th, and latest3rd-quarterfundraising totalsreleased onOctober 15th. These will reveal who in Hollywood is andisn’t donating this time around toObama. “For better or worse, I’ve maxed out giving to Obama. Though it’s not the smartest use of my money,” one unenthusiastic movie mogul tells me. He’s likea lot of Hollywood Democrats including Steven Spielberg, Peter Chernin, George Clooney, Tom Hanks, and Will Ferrell who have maxed out at $35,800 apiece for the Obama Victory Fund 2012.That’s thejoint account of the Democratic National Committee and Obama For America. The campaign gets the first $5,000 of an individual contribution. A $5K contribution would account for both a primary and general contribution and be the max an individual could give the campaign for the cycle, while $30,800 is the maximum an individual can give to a campaign committee per year.

Watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows For Free