How That Streisand Endorsement Came About (Hint: Not Like Buttah!) :: Hillary's people polled it. [View All]

[jefferson_dem]

How That Streisand Endorsement Came About (Hint: Not Like Buttah!)
By David M. Halbfinger

<SNIP>

As the dust settled Wednesday, Ms. Streisand’s people were insisting that the timing was entirely accidental, and acknowledging privately that the comparison wasn’t exactly welcome. But they insisted that Ms. Streisand’s endorsement was a mightier weapon in a Democratic primary than one might guess after scrolling through some of the more vicious rantings about her that surface in comment sections of blogs like this one.

<SNIP>

Ms. Streisand, like many others, has spread her money around this year, writing checks to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, John Edwards and Christopher Dodd. She had resisted pleas from the Clinton campaign to come out publicly for the senator months ago, said two associates (who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge such things), and she met with Mr. Obama recently. But Ms. Streisand’s ties to the Clintons go way back, and it was no surprise when she finally made up her mind to come back into the Clinton fold about three weeks ago.

Ms. Streisand’s aides quickly contacted the Clinton campaign to arrange the details, the associates said, and the diva began drafting her own statement, which then went through several iterations, as did a news release announcing it. To avoid its getting missed over the holiday weekend, the campaign determined to announce the endorsement the Monday after.

But Mrs. Streisand’s evacuation from her home in Malibu during the weekend’s fires there set those plans back one more day.

Word of Ms. Winfrey’s plans to campaign for Mr. Obama, which came early Monday, caught Ms. Streisand’s aides by surprise -– and they quickly guessed how it would look.

“We didn’t know the Oprah thing was happening,” one insisted. “These conversations were going on with the campaign for weeks and weeks now.”

Still, the singer’s value to Mrs. Clinton shouldn’t be scoffed at, another Streisand associate said on Wednesday.

“We would’ve low-keyed it,” the associate said. “But the campaign says it’s a net plus. They polled it. Among Democratic primary voters, even in places like Iowa, they love Barbra. By the way, she just sold out concert tours around the world. And she’s great for fund-raising. In fact, a fund-raising letter signed by her went out this morning.”

<SNIP>

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/how-that-streisand-endorsement-came-about-hint-not-like-buttah/