NEW YORK—Obama will host a fundraising dinner at Harlem’s Red Rooster, on Lenox Avenue, on Tuesday March 29 to the tune of $30,800 a head, as first reported by Politico.com. The beneficiary is the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
The Red Rooster dinner just about hits the cap for donations to political parties, explained Senior Editor of The Cook Political Report Jennifer Duffy. New York is one of a few major hubs for political contributions, along with cities like Chicago and Miami.
This would not be the first time Obama has solicited such exorbitant donations in New York City. Just last fall, in the pre-November elections fervor, Obama held two dinners in Manhattan at $30,400 a person to benefit Democrat candidates, according to a Politics Daily report from August. He is estimated to have garnered a combined sum of $3 million from a dinner at the home of Vogue Editor Anna Wintour, and a gathering at the Grill Room at the Four Seasons Hotel.
The guest list is often kept under wraps for such an event, explained Duffy. It usually includes business people, but local politicians may be invited free of charge as a courtesy. The restaurant is in Congressman Charles Rangel’s district.
Rangel’s office was uncertain whether he would be attending.
Timothy Stockton, an employee at the Harlem Studio Museum, where a reception is supposed to kick off the evening, knew nothing of the event.
“Maybe they’re keeping it under wraps because it’s Obama,” Stockton speculated. If so, he said he’s looking forward to it.
With the 2012 presidential campaign on the horizon Duffy pointed out that Obama “will soon be doing these events for his own campaign.”
The Red Rooster dinner just about hits the cap for donations to political parties, explained Senior Editor of The Cook Political Report Jennifer Duffy. New York is one of a few major hubs for political contributions, along with cities like Chicago and Miami.
This would not be the first time Obama has solicited such exorbitant donations in New York City. Just last fall, in the pre-November elections fervor, Obama held two dinners in Manhattan at $30,400 a person to benefit Democrat candidates, according to a Politics Daily report from August. He is estimated to have garnered a combined sum of $3 million from a dinner at the home of Vogue Editor Anna Wintour, and a gathering at the Grill Room at the Four Seasons Hotel.
The guest list is often kept under wraps for such an event, explained Duffy. It usually includes business people, but local politicians may be invited free of charge as a courtesy. The restaurant is in Congressman Charles Rangel’s district.
Rangel’s office was uncertain whether he would be attending.
Timothy Stockton, an employee at the Harlem Studio Museum, where a reception is supposed to kick off the evening, knew nothing of the event.
“Maybe they’re keeping it under wraps because it’s Obama,” Stockton speculated. If so, he said he’s looking forward to it.
With the 2012 presidential campaign on the horizon Duffy pointed out that Obama “will soon be doing these events for his own campaign.”
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