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The Wall Street Journal

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Hollywood's moguls compete to raise cash for Democratic candidates. Whose house is better?
By JOHN R. EMSHWILLER and MERISSA MARR
March 17, 2007; Page A1

Los Angeles

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The entertainment industry is one of the biggest sources of political donations and is also one of the few that tilts heavily Democratic. For now, Messrs. Geffen and Katzenberg, whose DreamWorks studio made hits such as "Gladiator" and "American Beauty," are Mr. Obama's de facto team captains in the movie industry. Their longtime political consultant once worked with another political wunderkind, Gary Hart... Producer Steven Spielberg... is now planning a Clinton gala. Messrs. Geffen and Katzenberg won't be helping. Haim Saban, an Egyptian-born billionaire who made his fortune in children's television, notably the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," has pledged to raise $1 million for Mrs. Clinton this year. He's vying for top billing with supermarket mogul Ronald Burkle and movie financier Stephen Bing, an investor in Warner Bros.'s "The Polar Express."

Just this week, the Clinton campaign added to its fund-raising firepower when News Corp. president Peter Chernin decided to back Mrs. Clinton. Landing big "gets" like Mr. Chernin is of vital importance to the campaigns. Given restrictions on individual donations, campaigns need "bundlers," connected people who not only write their own check, but also turn around and get friends and associates to do the same. This frenetic maneuvering has been enhanced by a favorite movie subplot: an established, if slightly aging star being challenged by a brash and talented newcomer. In the real world: Mr. Obama is making a run for Bill and Hillary Clinton's decade-long domination of the local political firmament. Upping the dramatic tension, Mrs. Clinton has some formidable advantages, including a top-notch local organization, deeper connections and a supporting cast that includes her husband.

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Around the nation, the 2008 presidential race is shaping up as a historic fund-raising melee, with candidates each trying to raise as much as $100 million for a primary season that doesn't officially begin until next January. All the major candidates are eschewing public funding, a move that effectively removes the limits on how much money they can raise. For this year, political handicappers in Los Angeles estimate that candidates will need to raise more than twice what their peers collected in 2003, the last comparable year in the election cycle. That's partly due to the increasing cost of running campaigns as well as the wide-open races on both sides. In 2003, Democratic front-runner Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor, raised $41 million nationally.

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One of the biggest dramas of the political season here involves Mr. Geffen, who became a billionaire founding record labels that backed groups including the Eagles and Guns N' Roses. Once a big Clinton supporter, Mr. Geffen's relationship with the former president soured in the 1990s. One cause, Clinton backers contend, was the former president's sleeping preferences. For a time, during his visits to L.A., Mr. Clinton stayed either at Mr. Burkle's 40-room Beverly Hills mansion, known as "Green Acres," or at Mr. Geffen's nearby 10-acre spread, a mansion once owned by movie mogul Jack Warner that's filled with valuable modern art. Over time Mr. Clinton started spending more time with Mr. Burkle, whom the former president described in his memoirs as "one of my best friends." Mr. Clinton has traveled so often on Mr. Burkle's private jet that he once referred to it as "Air Force Two." Mr. Burkle has an investment company that counts Mr. Clinton as an adviser and business partner. The Geffen camp says housing had nothing to do with the split. They say Mr. Geffen had become increasingly disenchanted with Mr. Clinton over events such as the Monica Lewinsky affair. The breaking point came when the president pardoned fugitive financier Marc Rich but declined to free imprisoned Native-American activist Leonard Peltier, whose cause Mr. Geffen had taken up.

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[Capn Sunshine]

1. Let's not forget Spielberg broke ranks and supported Arnold

In a now famous imitation of Brutus v. Caesar late in the voter cycle this past election.

I'm not casting aspersions at Hillary, but this is where her support in Cali is coming from. SThere's a pretty large split in the state party between the progressives and the status quo forces. Status quo is part of what we are fighting here and in DC.

To answer another thread's question here, the perception of Hillary being a Status Quo candidate is why many here vituperate her.

Change is called for. Just my opinion.