Obama Raises Record Amount at Thursday Fundraising Event

President Barack Obama came to the Studio City home of actor George Clooney Thursday evening for a fundraiser that brought in nearly $15 million for his re-election campaign, the most lucrative fundraiser for a U.S. presidential candidate, according to host Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Barbra Streisand, Robert Downey Jr., Tobey Maguire, Jack Black, Billy Crystal, Salma Hayek and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa were among the 150 people who paid $40,000 each to attend the event, benefiting the Obama Victory Fund, with funds going to Obama for America, his re-election campaign, the Democratic National Committee and several state parties, a campaign source said.

Two-thirds of the funds raised came from supporters who took part in a contest to win seats for the event.

The winners were Beth Topinka, a science teacher from Manalapan, NJ; and Karen Blutcher, a St. Augustine, FL, mother of a 5-year-old son with Down syndrome. Both winners brought their husbands—Jerry Topinka and Patrick Blutcher—along to the dinner.

Obama spoke for 19 minutes, giving his standard stump speech, recalling the difficult economic times when he took office in 2009, then touted recent job creation, the comeback of General Motors from bankruptcy, passage of health care legislation and doubling automotive fuel efficiency standards.

Obama said his support of same-sex marriage, which he disclosed Wednesday in an interview with ABC, was "the logical extension of what America is supposed to be" and "grew directly out" of the difference in vision between the Democratic and Republican parties.

"Are we a country that includes everybody and gives everybody a shot and treats everybody fairly and is ... going to make us stronger?" Obama said. "Are we welcoming to immigrants? Are we welcoming to people who aren't like us? Does that make us stronger? I believe it does."

The trip was Obama's 10th to the Los Angeles area since taking office, the seventh solely for political fundraising. Obama has spoken at political fundraisers during all but his first visit to Southern California as president.

Obama spent the night in Beverly Hills and is scheduled to leave Friday morning for Reno, NV.

A demonstration over the administration's policies on home-ownership issues was held near Clooney's canyon home. The protestors called on Obama to become aggressive about prosecuting banks and militating for principal reduction in mortgage payments, according to Peggy Mears of the Campaign for a Fair Settlement.

The protest staged dwelled on a theme that many of the president's supporters frequently return to—the perception that he has allowed banks to get away with misdeeds.

"Years after wrongdoing by the banks destroyed California's housing market, not a single banker has been prosecuted and the president has refused to dismiss the heads of Fannie and Freddie, who stands in the way of help for millions of Americans," Mears said. "It's time the president stood up for homeowners."

There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the Obama campaign.

Mears' group plans a series of protests at campaign events and fundraisers demanding that Obama act now to address the issue, she said.

Campaign finance reform is also an area where some supporters feel Obama has failed to fulfill his 2008 campaign promises—a complaint brought into focus for critics by the size of tonight's haul.

"We have been disappointed by his failure to follow through in helping rebuild the presidential public finance system,'' said Mary Boyle, vice president for communications of Common Cause, a nonprofit advocacy organization that describes itself as a watchdog against corruption.

In 2008, Obama became the first major party presidential nominee to opt out of the public financing system for the general election, which began with the 1976 campaign, correctly guessing he could raise more from the combination of small and large donors.

"He said he would like to work fix the system and that hasn't happened," Boyle told City News Service.

Tonight's event is an example of how "it costs an exorbitant amount of money to run for president of the United States," she said, complaining that "we have elected officials ... constantly worrying about fundraising instead of worrying about the country's problems or their constituents' issues."

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