Obama and Clinton to Work Hard For the Money
Fresh from their love-in at Unity, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton will collect cash together for his campaign and the Democratic National Committee in New York City next week.
Mr. Obama, who is in the midst of a spree of pricey fund-raisers across the country as he seeks to raise more than $200 million for the general election, will appear with Mrs. Clinton - once considered the top money collector in the Democratic Party before Mr. Obama shattered fund-raising records in their primary clash - on Wednesday and Thursday.
It will be their first events together since their highly choreographed appearance in Unity, N.H., on June 27, and the first time that Mrs. Clinton will officially begin working to fill Mr. Obama's coffers for his showdown with Senator John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee.
Obama campaign officials believe Mrs. Clinton's fund-raisers could raise $50 to $75 million for him in the coming weeks. Some of Mrs. Clinton's top money collectors met with Mr. Obama in Washington last month, but that event was billed more as a chance to get to know him and to offer Clinton supporters a sense of closure, as opposed to an official fund-raiser.
Mrs. Clinton, who is back to her duties as the junior senator from New York, will appear with Mr. Obama, first, at a dinner on Wednesday at the Regency Hotel with more than 150 supporters. The event was initially supposed to be at the Park Avenue home of Barbara Diamonstein and Carl Spielvogel, both former "Hillraisers" who raised over $100,000 for the Clinton campaign. The event was moved to a larger venue because of the number of people who wanted to attend. Other prominent Clinton supporters, including Steven Rattner, Maureen White and Blair Effron, are among those who are pitching in to bring the party'' big donors together for Mr. Obama. The price of admission is a $33,100 check written out to the Obama Victory Fund, the joint fund-raising committee that benefits both the Obama campaign and the D.N.C.
The following day, Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton will be together again at a breakfast at the New York Hilton and Towers that is being put on by Women for Obama and the D.N.C. Women's Leadership Forum, although men are invited as well. Organizers are expecting some 2,000 attendees. A range of ticket prices is available: $2,300, $1,000, $500 or $250. "Premium" tables for ten can also be purchased for $5,000; "preferred" tables for $2,500. Those seeking to be identified as table hosts are expected to raise or write checks of $23,000, $10,000, $5,000, or $2,500.
Expect more to come.


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