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Obama picks up about $9 million in Hollywood

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-17 15:27

BEVERLY HILLS, California -- Barack Obama partied with Hollywood celebrities Tuesday night and with the help of Oscar-winning singer and actress Barbra Streisand raised an eye-popping $9 million for his presidential campaign and the Democratic Party.

US Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) speaks in Golden, Colorado September 16, 2008. [Agencies]

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The night was split into two glitzy events, a reception and dinner costing $28,500 a person at the Greystone Mansion, followed by entertainment by Streisand at the nearby Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. About 250-300 people were expected at the dinner and about 800 at the entertainment, which cost $2,500 a ticket.

Dinner guests seen by reporters, or noted by waiters, included Will Ferrell, Jodie Foster, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Lee Curtis and DreamWorks founders Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Obama spent more than an hour before dinner getting his picture taken with guests. He said later that people had encouraged him to be tougher and had questioned why he was so calm in a close race against Republican John McCain.

"I'm skinny but I'm tough," he said. "I'm from Chicago and we don't play. Just keep steady."

"If we can cut through the nonsense and the lipstick and the pigs and the silliness, then I'm absolutely convinced that we are going to win," Obama said, referring to some of the offbeat charges raised against him.

"The reason I'm calm ... is I've got confidence in the American people," he said. "I really think they want to see us do better." Standing in the courtyard of the palatial estate, he said his campaign was dedicated to people who need jobs and health care and worry about their pensions and sending children to college.

"It's about those who will never see the inside of a building like this," Obama said.

He said the economic turmoil in recent days had been sobering for America. "It's reminded people that this is not a game. This is not a reality show, no offense to any of you," Obama said to laughter. "This is not a sitcom."

It was a day of contrasts for Obama. Earlier in the day, the Democratic presidential candidate spoke in Colorado about the public's deepening economic anxieties and portrayed Republican challenger John McCain as out of touch with the needs of hardworking people.

Then he flew to California for a night of hobnobbing with Hollywood notables.

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