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Oprah-pa-looza, Part 2

October 08, 2008 10:37 AM

Talk show legend Oprah Winfrey will headline a two-day fundraising weekend for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., this weekend.

Aimed at female donors, the Chicago event Friday and Saturday will bring visits from Obama and his wife Michelle, as well as Sen. Joe and Jill Biden.

Interestingly, Sen. Obama and Oprah are not anticipated to appear together at any point. Obama will make remarks at the event on Saturday evening in Chicago (no cameras allowed). Michelle Obama and Oprah will appear together on Friday night; a cocktail reception with the two grande dames is only for donors who give $28,500 or more.

The Obama campaign, along with the DNC Women’s Leadership Forum, is hosting the “National Women’s Leadership Initiative” –- aimed to “recruit and engage women leaders from across the country to work together and raise money in support of Sen. Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.”

The campaign says the multiple events will “highlight the role and significance of women’s leadership in electing Barack Obama, present important policy and campaign strategy updates and provide field tools for women to take back to their communities.”

There are multiple levels of tickets for the event that the campaign has high hopes for raking in big bucks, from "National Chairs," who raise $100,000 for this event by October 5th or contribute $57,000, to "State Co-Chairs," who raise $50,000 for this event by October 5th or contribute $28,500, and so on.

The event will take place at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers. Other events feature former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin; Laura Tyson, former National Economic Adviser to the president; Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.;
Lilly Ledbetter, Plaintiff, Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.; and former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright.

-- Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller

October 8, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (103)

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former soviet:

Let McCain get elected and you might see the same thing happen here that you saw in Russia, read about the "New World Order".

Not only that you maybe drafted to go fight a WWIII against your family.

Just my thoughts.

Posted by: Underdog | Oct 8, 2008 5:36:35 PM

I love it accept: Madeleine K. Albright.

Obama better steer clear of Madeleine, she is bad news. She is the one who told Clinton that the Genocide in Rwanda was not in America's best interest to stop.

In other words let them die, 800,000 and a million people died, and we proud Americans stood by and said and did nothing.

Posted by: Underdog | Oct 8, 2008 4:55:42 PM

Hillary and Bill are publicly doing what they have to, but we all know they are voting McCain/Palin in the booth....she wants another go at it in 2012.
HILLARY SUPPORTER FOR McCAIN BEFORE HE EVEN PICKED PALIN.....OBAMA UNACCEPTABLE.

Posted by: hanna | Oct 8, 2008 4:15:37 PM

Meanwhile Carville says if Obama goes into this thing with a 5 point lead and loses, we're are in for a scene like we've never seen (paraphrase).....threatening riots?

Posted by: hanna | Oct 8, 2008 4:13:12 PM

hanna,

Okay, you hate Oprah. But show me the similarities in Hillary's and John McCain's policies, judgement, and temperment that convince you John McCain is the right person to lead this country and take it in a new direction? If you can still support McCain then you were never a Democrat. A Clintonite maybe but not a Democrat. Even Hillary and Bill have moved on...

Posted by: indy_voter | Oct 8, 2008 4:00:39 PM

"Her popularity has crashed with this election"


That reasoning isn't good enough for the Florida Federation of Republican Women, which has launched a nationwide boycott of all things Oprah.

It doesn't seem to be working.

An Oprah spokesperson tells CNN the show's ratings have been climbing all year and issues of O, the host's magazine, continue to fly off newsstand shelves.

Posted by: Ryan C | Oct 8, 2008 3:59:37 PM

I wish I had $28,500 to spare. I would love to be a part of that scene for a couple of hours.

Oh well, I donated $275.00 and got a couple of t-shirts, an Obama water jug and a nice union made tote bag (that all my co workers are jealous of)........

Posted by: Truth Matters | Oct 8, 2008 3:56:23 PM

The vomit comes up in my throat when I read this, as our country is in an economic crisis, but clearly not Obama's celebrity crowd. Oprah won't have Gov. Palin, I stopped watching Oprah the day she endorsed BO....me and thousands of women who put her where she is. Her popularity has crashed with this election, but she still has her money......HOWEVER SHE HAS LOST OUR RESPECT AND VIEWERS....HER NUMBERS ARE DOWN EVERYWHERE.
HILLARY SUPPORTER FOR McCAIN PALIN!!!

Posted by: hanna | Oct 8, 2008 3:53:37 PM

I'm an Obama supporter, but I would not pay one cent to attend this event.

Posted by: McHooverville | Oct 8, 2008 3:26:45 PM

"I'm still outraged about the stinking Missouri Truth Squad"

I'm sure you are. After all being a lemming for FoxNews while pretending to be a democrat carries some emotional baggage.

Posted by: Ryan C | Oct 8, 2008 3:20:28 PM

Ryan C: I've despised the way Obama cult supporters have conducted themselves since they trashed Hillary Clinton. I've seen your posts before that read a little bit of knowledge is dangerous. I also despised how Obama Democrats trashed Sarah Palin's family because she dared to speak out. The Obama Democrats are slowly but surely turning the party into a zero tolerance of anyone that disagrees with their chosen one. Well, he wasn't my chosen one. What used to be a party for the little guy has turned into lets squash anybody we think gets in our way. I'm still outraged about the stinking Missouri Truth Squad. I don't call that Democratic, I call it Communism. And Bill Ayers is right, the movement is moving.

Posted by: RL in Illinois | Oct 8, 2008 3:10:58 PM

"Wrong again, RyanC. I'm from St. Louis, live in S. Illinois(for the last 20 years) and am a fed up Democrat."

Yeah totally believe you are a Democrat when you spew right wing talking points.

ROFLMAO.

Why do right winger pretend to be Democrats?

Do they know that if they identified themselves as right wingers they woudl not be taken seriously? Is that it?

Posted by: Ryan C | Oct 8, 2008 2:24:47 PM

the University of Chicago hospital earned $121,910. In 2005 her salary rose substantially to $316,962.
What happened to merit such an increase?"

It brought her salary in line with other VPs in the hospital and was a reward for her work reducing emergency room congestion.

'In 2005 Barack Obama became a US Senator from Illinois, and he promptly earmarked funds for the University of Chicago Hospital"

The earmark was asked for in 2006.

The lesson as always, right wingers lie and do not care about lying.

Posted by: Ryan C | Oct 8, 2008 2:23:33 PM

"RyanC: when was the last property tax bill you've gotten here? You seem to always know everything."

I don't live in IL.

I looked up the tax burdens as calculated by tax organizations.

I prefer statistical analysis to made up right wing bs like you dish.

Posted by: Ryan C | Oct 8, 2008 2:21:16 PM

mhh, it is expensive when you lie.
Covering lies costs lots of money.

Posted by: Melody | Oct 8, 2008 2:07:28 PM

Wrong again, RyanC. I'm from St. Louis, live in S. Illinois(for the last 20 years) and am a fed up Democrat.

Posted by: RL in Illinois | Oct 8, 2008 2:02:13 PM

Ryan C--“Even more interesting, in 2000, Obama went to the Democratic National Convention in CA. When he got to the airport, his credit card was declined because he had been using it to fund his run for Congress. When he got to the convention, he couldn't get credentials and get in.
A mere 6 years later, he and Michelle bought a house for $1,600,000. What changed? He got elected to the Illinois Senate, then the U.S. Senate, a job that pays $165,200.
It is interesting that in 2004 Michelle Obama as an employee of the University of Chicago hospital earned $121,910. In 2005 her salary rose substantially to $316,962.
What happened to merit such an increase? In 2005 Barack Obama became a US Senator from Illinois, and he promptly earmarked funds for the University of Chicago Hospital".

Posted by: reality801 | Oct 8, 2008 2:01:22 PM

Oprah has lost 1000s of viewers and the respect of 1000s more. Those of us with jobs don't watch her anyway. She will still have the unemployed she can cry for.

Posted by: ubu1991 | Oct 8, 2008 1:57:44 PM

RyanC: when was the last property tax bill you've gotten here? You seem to always know everything. Truck drivers PASS THROUGH Illinois for gas. I noticed you didn't dare comment on the rest of the post. Did you see that the ethics bill got passed after they got the word from O?....Long after he's been gone. Kinda wanted to hurry up and make THAT call since Tony's been talking to the Feds. Only makes sense that his sentencing "just happened" to get delayed. Wouldn't want anything messy to come out days before the election.

Posted by: RL in Illinois | Oct 8, 2008 1:56:23 PM

Ryan C---FYI---About Michelle and her hospital and how they treat poor people who don't have insurance--- "David Axelrod's firm did polling and found that some of the university's primary-care doctors feared the hospital was turning its back on surrounding poor neighborhoods, according to a May 2007 report the firm gave the university.

Axelrod's firm also suggested the program's name be changed. "Some participants view the word 'urban' as code for 'black,' " according to a poll the firm commissioned."

Posted by: reality801 | Oct 8, 2008 1:56:22 PM

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