by Jeff Davis
Even though the 2008 elections are still a year and a half away, already the political hogs are slopping at the financial trough, big-time. And it looks like Hillary has won the Hollywood concession and she may soon become the biggest hog of them all.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,261020,00.html tells us that Hillary toured the who’s who of Hollywood and walked away with a nice chunk of change. “Sen. Hillary Clinton hit Hollywood last night at the estate of grocery store mogul Ron Burkle, and took home $2.6 million for her presidential campaign. It was twice as much as Sen. Barack Obama raised last month at a similar fundraiser thrown by DreamWorks SKG’s David Geffen — a point that was made privately during the Clinton event by many of the fundraisers.”
The Usual Suspects were out in force. Fox reports “Clinton was seated at the head table with Barbra Streisand and her husband, actor James Brolin; Yahoo chief executive Terry Semel, who once was the co-head of Warner Bros. with Robert Daly; and Daly, with wife, songwriter Carole Bayer Sager. Hollywood was also represented by current Warner’s chief Alan Horn, as well as actors and longtime Clinton friends Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson; Entourage star Jeremy Piven; American Idol judge Paula Abdul; record exec Jeff Ayeroff; HBO chief Chris Albrecht; esteemed producer Norman Lear; and Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. Close Clinton friend Quincy Jones was absent, but sources said there was an unavoidable conflict.” (Maybe he was stuck in rehab.) “There were also cadres of agents from the various Hollywood talent agencies: Emmy-winner Christine Lahti; producer/billionaire Steve Bing; TV producer Peter Locke; and even iconic TV actress Catherine Bach, aka Daisy Duke from The Dukes of Hazzard.”Hillary doing well is to be expected. After all, it’s her turn in 2008. But surprisingly, a former political star, John McCain, is having problems. The http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2007/03/mccain_we_wont.html reports that “Sen. John McCain said his presidential campaign would not meet its fundraising goals this quarter, and his campaign advisers acknowledged that ex-MA Gov. Mitt Romney may wind up raising more….Some Republicans estimate that Romney, whose network of friends, business contacts and party donors is expansive, could accumulate more than $30 or even $35 million this quarter. McCain is not likely to raise in excess of $30M, according to Republicans outside his campaign who have been given the unofficial estimate. Neither Weaver nor any other McCain aide would hazard a guess about their first quarter tally.”
Hmmm…I wonder if the GOP has decided that McCain is too freezer-burned to make a credible fall guy in one of these Pro Wrestling style “elections” where it’s all very entertaining, but everyone knows the end result is rigged? I wonder if it might turn out to be Romney who gets the booby prize?