Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Clooney to host $6 million fundraiser for Obama

Win Mcnamee / Getty Images file

By Jordan Zakarin, The Hollywood Reporter

President Obama hosted George Clooney for dinner, and now Clooney is returning the favor.

The Oscar-winning actor and longtime Democratic activist will host?a 150 seat, $40,000-a-plate fundraising dinner in honor of the President's re-election campaign at his home. The event will be co-hosted by?Dreamworks CEO?Jeffrey Katzenberg; the exec was slated to host the party, but his $35 million new home was not finished in time, which led to the search for a new location.

Clooney?sat just a few seats away from the President at the recent White House State Dinner in honor of British Prime Minister David Cameron and?has attended two other major Hollywood fundraisers for Obama in Los Angeles already this year. The news of the upcoming fundraiser was first reported by Entertainment Tonight.

Clooney will also attend the White House Press Correspondents Dinner as a guest of Time Magazine.

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Obama's campaign has made a concerted effort to woo major Hollywood donors after a dip in support as compared to the industry's enthusiasm for his 2008 run. Harvey Weinstein hosted a fundraiser for Obama in New York in March, while Michelle Obama was feted at a Robert De Niro-hosted dinner. The President has flaunted some of his celebrity connections, as well, including giving Aziz Ansari a shoutout in a speech that has since become a staple of late night conversation.

Clooney, who has been vocal about his continued support for Obama, recently gave the campaign a bit of publicity advice -- he does know something about public relations, after all -- when he told the President to run on his accomplishments.

"The Democrats are just very poor, in general, at explaining what it is, when they accomplished something, I think they?re pretty bad at it, and Republicans are very good at it," Clooney told Meet the Press host?David Gregory. "If I was a Republican, and Obama was a Republican, I would be selling all of the, you know, he saved the auto industry and he got Osama bin Laden. He passed a health care bill that no one could pass -- if that was a Republican issue. I would be able to sell his presidency as a very successful one. But Democrats are bad at that, we like to pick each other apart."

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