Ethel Kennedy hosting a huge fundraiser for Obama and the party at Hickory Hill.

madfloridian

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Wed Jun-18-08 02:57 PM
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Ethel Kennedy hosting a huge fundraiser for Obama and the party at Hickory Hill.

Ethel Kennedy to host $6 million dinner for Barack Obama

Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Senator Robert Kennedy, is opening her Hickory Hill home in Virginia for a fundraiser featuring Barack Obama that is expected to swell Democratic campaign coffers by almost $6 million.

Tonight's $28,500-a-plate dinner represents the latest effort by the Kennedy family to help elect Obama, who was described by Caroline Kennedy as offering "the same sense of hope and inspiration" as her father, the late President John F. Kennedy.

Caroline Kennedy is helping vet prospective vice- presidential nominees, while Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts delivered his endorsement of Obama in January.

Obama and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean will headline the event, which is expected to draw 200 people, Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. Donations will go to the Obama campaign.

But here is a better explanation of how the donations will be divided up. A healthy sign for our party overall.

After a day of serious policy, Sen. Barack Obama has an evening of serious fundraising tonight. He's heading to Hickory Hill -- the famed Kennedy homestead in McLean, Va. -- for a party that costs $28,500 per person to attend.

Obviously, only $4,600 of that can go to the Obama campaign -- $2,300 to his primary fund, $2,300 to his general election fund. The rest goes to the Democratic National Committee, whose chairman, Howard Dean, is also headlining the event.

Dozens of Kennedys are expected to be on hand for the fundraiser, at the home of Ethel Kennedy, widow of the late Robert F. Kennedy. Obama is scheduled to arrive around 5:30 p.m. Other hosts listed on the invitation are: Megan and Don Beyer; Rachel Goslins and Julius Genachowski; Betsy Katz and Reed Hundt; Deborah Kennedy and Bill Kennard.

There is also an interesting article about the Democratic Convention funding at DemConWatch today. Note that corporate donations largely fund that event...the opposite of how Obama's campaign is being run.

Obama and Convention Funding

Corporate contributions overall to the two parties' conventions amounted to just $1 million in 1980 and $8 million in 1992. The amount rose to $56 million in 2000 and $142 million in 2004, according to the Campaign Finance Institute's report. This year, the report says, these contributions are expected to total $112 million but could go higher.

..."In a statement provided Tuesday to The Times, Obama campaign spokesman Hari Sevugan said: "Moving forward, one of Sen. Obama's reform priorities will include changes in the way party conventions are funded to assure they can be run without dependence on soft money," the loosely restricted corporate and union donations that constitute most of the funding for conventions.

Just some interesting tidbits. I am glad to see the donations heading the DNC's way...I am still angry with my state for its efforts to crash the fundraising of that group.

And I still get upset thinking that it was the grassroots and small donors who got Dean elected as chair, and then those groups fail to come up with the small donor fundraising. Sometimes you have to put your money where your mouth is. We could have been the change we were begging for.