Monday, September 15, 2008

Streisand to croon for Obama at Hollywood fundraiser

Oscar-winning singer and actress Barbra Streisand will perform at a glittering and lucrative Hollywood fundraiser for Democrat Barack Obama Tuesday, aides said.

The White House hopeful will host a dinner in Beverly Hills costing attendees 28,500 dollars each and Streisand will then sing at a reception at the swanky Beverly Wilsher hotel, campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday.

Streisand supported Obama's party rival Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries but is now backing the Illinois senator in his hard-fought campaign against Republican John McCain for the November 4 election.

Obama aides declined to say how many people were expected at the dinner and reception, nor which other stars might attend.

Politico.com said upwards of 250 high rollers would attend the events and they could raise nine million dollars, which would be the most amassed by any candidate in a single day.

At a Tinseltown event in late June, just after he eliminated Clinton from the race, Obama drew an all-star cast of supporters including actors Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, John Malkovich and Dennis Quaid.

The audience also included supermodels Cindy Crawford and Heidi Klum, whose husband, singer Seal, sang two songs to fire up the VIP crowd.

Tuesday's events in Beverly Hills come after Obama racked up a record-breaking 66 million dollars in fundraising last month, beating his previous high mark of 55 million in February.

In contrast to McCain, Obama has opted out of public financing so is keeping up a regular schedule of fundraisers to top up his coffers for the most expensive US election ever.

Donors Tuesday have to give 2,500 dollars to attend just the reception. Under US law, the first 2,300 dollars of donations can go to Obama's campaign and anything over that will go to the Democratic Party's election warchest.

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