Obama SF event pulled in $7.8 million tonight. wow.

[dkf]

I met Obama Tonight, and he is no John Kerry
by DanK Is Back
Sun Aug 17, 2008 at 09:48:15 PM PDT

Barack Obama came to San Francisco tonight for a fundraiser, probably his last visit here until the election. So I scraped together the price of admission and went to see him. And had a few words with him. Again.

First, let me say that the event raised a record $7.8 million, the most ever raised at a single San Francisco event.

Second, he made it clear in his speech that he knows what he's up against ("The Republicans are meeeeean" was the way he put it), and he is going to be fighting back HARD. He's heard the hand-wringers and the doomsayers (gosh, d'you think he reads dKos?) and in so many words he was telling them not to worry, he knows how to fight. The GOP knows they can't win on the issues, he said, so they have to fight dirty. And he is ready for them.

For the rest of it, come below the fold.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/18/02517/3345/961/569570

[FrenchieCat]

1. Good story there at KOS.

Obama is a mensch, DanK says. :)

[dkf]

4. I had to go look up mensch :)

Sounds like a wonderful compliment indeed.

[LonelyLRLiberal]

2. Every time McSame talks, I want to give money to Obama.

Glad there are people who are actually able to give the big bucks.

[FightingIrish]

3. Great story at this link

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/17/MNCI12CVH8.DTL

[dkf]

6. Thanks for the link. Gosh I'm beginning to get that feeling again.

:)

[FrenchieCat]

7. Great lengthy article!

Later, speaking to a dinner crowd of about 350, Obama sought to reassure Democrats, whom he said typically "get nervous and skittish right around this time" and worry that attacks and mudslinging will begin in the final weeks of the presidential race. Obama campaign workers said the $7.8 million tally was a record for a political fundraiser.

"They say, 'Oh no, here the Republicans come,' " he said, adding that some think "it's hard enough - Obama, it's a funny name, and who knows what they're (the Republicans) going to do?"

The Hawaii-born Obama's references to his mixed heritage - he is the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas - comes just a week before the Democrats open their national nominating convention in Denver and after weeks of increasingly tough attacks from the campaign of Republican John McCain. Just weeks ago, McCain's campaign accused Obama of playing the race card for mentioning his race at a campaign event. Obama's appearance drew a total of about 1,800 people. He ended the evening with an address to a large crowd in the hotel ballroom. Fresh from a forum with McCain at the Saddleback Church in Orange County on Saturday night, Obama hit San Francisco in the late afternoon for the fundraisers before heading off to New Mexico for more campaign events.

Among those at the Fairmont were House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Reps. Barbara Lee, Anna Eshoo and Mike Honda as well as San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, real estate mogul Walter Shorenstein and former California state controller Steve Westly.

"This will be a historic fundraiser, one of the largest in San Francisco ever - if not California," said Westly, a key Obama fundraiser in California. "We're very proud of what Senator Obama's doing tonight. ... This month, we've gotten 65,000 new donors ... and now, we're going to take it to a whole new level."
snip
At the dinner later, Obama assured donors he would run an aggressive campaign, telling them, "we've got 79 days before we're going to change the country."

"I don't need to convince this room of the nature of the changes that are needed. ... We've got an economy that is not working," an energy policy that is "killing the budgets off American families," and "a foreign policy that has been based on bluster and bombast.

"We are going to go out there and run the best presidential campaign that you have seen ...we are going to win this election. We're going to change the country and we're going to change the world ... so keep your stress to a minimum."

[writes3000]

10. EVERYONE needs to read the last line of your post, Frenchiecat. EVERYONE. nt

[EFerrari]

13. I don't understand. The writer is being ironic.

Peter Shah, a certified public accountant from Salinas - and one of the Asian Pacific Islanders who paid $14,000 to meet Obama, said he made the investment because he is still undecided in the race.

"I want to look into his eyes, and make sure ... maybe God will give us a president who will help the common man," he said.

Whatever. I'm glad he raised all that money. But I have to wonder, who is buying our next president.

[writes3000]

15. I meant the last line of Frenchie's post.

Thanks for pointing out the error on my part.

[EFerrari]

30. Thanks. I misunderstood. n/t

[my3boyz]

24. I know. Just reading that lifted me up. I trust him. nt

[mrs_p]

5. awesome story

whenever the negative nancies start getting me down, it's these personal anecdotes that bring me back up... thanks!

[writes3000]

8. As I've said, Obama and his team will fight like hell. The big guns will come out in the fall. nt

[writes3000]

9. And $7.8 million is an amazing haul. California wants Obama, dammit. nt

[EFerrari]

11. $2300 to get in and he didn't even wave to the crowd of his supporters

outside who'd gathered to welcome him. :shrug:

[senseandsensibility]

12. We received an e-mail to greet him as these supporters

did but couldn't make it. Then I saw on the local news that he didn't even drive by them.

[EFerrari]

14. Right. He went in a back way. Did he have to do that?

It's tacky.

[senseandsensibility]

16. Were you there?

I know people who were, and I feel bad for them.

[EFerrari]

17. No, but it was reported in the local news.

Those people looked very disappointed and that's just needless. :(

[writes3000]

19. Sounds like a campaign planning error. I doubt it was done on purpose.

I've read too many stories of Obama greeting people who came to see him but who couldn't get into events. This sounds like an error.

[EFerrari]

32. I used to produce events here and you're right, stuff happens

no matter how hard you try to cover all the bases and their million details.

[Diane R]

18. I doubt he was driving his own car.

[Kahuna]

22. You're tacky. I'm sure there were logistical considerations that you

are not aware of.

[EFerrari]

28. LOL. That's the ticket.

[Shakespeare]

31. It's not tacky; it's almost certainly a matter of security.

Most high-profile people like Obama don't just stroll into the front entrance.

[EFerrari]

34. Please. Choices between leaving yourself open to harm

and ignoring your supporters -- whaddya think? One, two, any?

It is tacky to leave people waiting like that and giving the "news" stations rolls of film of sad people.

Yes, very tacky.

[Shakespeare]

35. OMG. I can't believe you're seriously outraged by this. n/t

[EFerrari]

37. It's not outrage, it's more like regret. A lot of people watched

that newscast.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

36. Obama's supporters don't mind.

At least his real supporters.

Feel free to be outraged.

[EFerrari]

38. You know, between black and white, there is a whole rainbow. n/t

[mikehiggins]

21. Nits to pick, anyone?

[EFerrari]

26. Politicians coming to San Francisco to fill their wallets w/out

bothering to wave to voters is not change, is it? Not to mention, it gives the rw teevee stations the opportunity to show footage of disappointed people giving up on even seeing Obama. :hi:

[my3boyz]

25. I absolutely do not believe that. During the primaries he gave two speeches

so that he could reach more people. I don't believe he would just walk by without waving or saying a word.

[EFerrari]

27. He didn't "walk by". He was driven around to a back entrance. n/t

[Hope And Change]

20. K & R.Thanks for posting!

[my3boyz]

23. Hope they checked everyone for recorders this time. Everytime I think

of San Francisco fundraiser I think of the bitter crap.

[jakem]

29. 'SF Event'? c'mon. we know your sneaky code words...

oh, wait... it was in SF? nevermind!

:sarcasm:

[AtomicKitten]

33. Great story! Thanks for posting this.