Beauty or brains: who does Obama fundraising better?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news-blog/2012/jun/14/barack-obama-new-york-fundraiser

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Who packs the biggest political punch: the geek, the chic or the Hollywood freak?

President Barack Obama is in New York City to shake down high-profile donors at a $40,000-a-plate fundraiser co-hosted by Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker and Vogue editrix Anna Wintour.

The event, which wags have already taken to calling Checks and the City, will be held at Parker's West Village townhouse, where she lives with Broadway star husband Matthew Broderick.

Obama may be the target of Republican jabs for hobnobbing with the leftie elite, but he's laughing all the way to the bank. Last month the president raked in $15m at a California fundraiser hosted by Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg at George Clooney's Studio City home, a record amount for a political fundraising event.

Can the fashionistas outdo the movie stars? The guestlist for Thursday night is a roster of A-list tog talent, including Vera Wang, Kenneth Cole and Millard Drexler of J Crew. Also on hand will be Meryl Streep and Bravo executive-cum-on air talent Andy Cohen.

Regular Joes won't be entirely shunned: one lucky online raffle winner will be selected from a pool of donors who have given a minimum of $3 (and who probably earn as much in a year as the other guests have pledged for their plates).

Obama and the first lady, who will first pay a visit to the World Trade Center site, are also scheduled to appear at a second posh Manhattan event, headlined by a Mariah Carey performance.

At last month's left coast event, Hollywood elite assembled at $40,000 a ticket in true Avengers fashion: The guest list ranged from actors Tobey Maguire and Salma Hayek to designers Diane Von Furstenberg and Trina Turk, to Barbra Streisand and Billy Crystal.<br /> <br />Glitz and glamour is all well and good. But don't count out the uber-brains. Obama made no fewer than three separate jaunts through Silicon Valley last year, including to an intimate gathering in the yard of Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg in September.

On hand was the usual khaki crew of valley wonks, sure, but so was little monster Lady Gaga. Guests, who were probably not Born This Rich, paid $35,800 per couple to breathe the same air as Gaga in a black, sleeveless gown and high heels, with her hair piled high. It is estimated the president added $3m to his coffers on that night alone.

The dinner chez Sandberg – Forbes' 5th most powerful woman in the world – came after the president made appearances at Google exec Marissa Mayer's Palo Alto house the previous fall (at a comparatively affordable $30k a pop) and attended an exclusive meetup in February at Kleiner Perkins venture capitalist John Doerr's house.

Guests there included a who's who of the Valley: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Apple's Steve Jobs, and chief executives of Yahoo, Cisco, Twitter, Oracle, Netflix and Google.

How does one up the ante? Well, hosting an event in New York is a start. Wintour perhaps dropped clue when she made an appearance in Chicago on Tuesday with Obama campaign manager Jim Messina. In the company of supermodel Iman and designer Rachel Roy, Wintour attended a "Runway to Win" event at Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Studios.

Will the all-powerful Oprah be on hand Thursday night? She does hail from the president's home state. And who wouldn't want her there to proclaim: "You get a second term! And you get a second term! And you get a second term!"