Obama reaps big bucks at S.F. fundraisers

Obama reaps big bucks at S.F. fundraisers: "Obama reaps big bucks at S.F. fundraisers

Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer

Monday, August 18, 2008

Obama reaps big bucks at S.F. fundraisers

Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer

Monday, August 18, 2008
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(08-17) 20:39 PDT -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama used his own name and heritage to make a point about change at a fundraiser that raised a record $7.8 million for his campaign in San Francisco Sunday.
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The Illinois senator said it is "a testament to the American spirit that I'm even standing here before you" as the Democratic Party's presumed nominee, because some Americans are "still getting past" his name, which he said some consider funny.

"Change is always tough, and electing me is change ... and it means that people are going to hesitate a little bit," Obama told a crowd of about 200 deep-pocketed supporters at a VIP reception for South Asian and Pacific Islander supporters at the Fairmont Hotel.

Later, speaking to a dinner crowd of about 350, Obama sought to reassure Democrats, whom he said typically "get nervous and skittish right around this time" and worry that attacks and mudslinging will begin in the final weeks of the presidential race.

"They say, 'Oh no, here the Republicans come,' " he said, adding that some think "it's hard enough - Obama, it's a funny name, and who knows what they're (the Republicans) going to do?"

The Hawaii-born Obama's references to his mixed heritage - he is the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas - comes just a week before the Democrats open their national nominating convention in Denver and after weeks of increasingly tough attacks from the campaign of Republican John McCain. Just weeks ago, McCain's campaign accused Obama of playing the race card for mentioning his race at a campaign event.

Obama's appearance Sunday drew about 1,800 people. He ended the evening with an address to a crowd in the hotel ballroom. Fresh from a forum with McCain at the Saddleback Church in Orange County on Saturday night, Obama hit San Francisco in the late afternoon for the fundraisers before heading off to New Mexico on Sunday evening for more campaign events. Obama campaign workers said the $7.8 million raised in San Francisco was a record for a political fundraiser.

Among those at the Fairmont were House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Reps. Barbara Lee, Anna Eshoo and Mike Honda, as well as San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, real estate mogul Walter Shorenstein and former California state Controller Steve Westly.

"This will be a historic fundraiser, one of the largest in San Francisco ever - if not California," said Westly, a key Obama fundraiser in California. "We're very proud of what Sen. Obama's doing tonight. ... This month, we've gotten 65,000 new donors ... and now, we're going to take it to a whole new level."

Sunday's eager donors included those who paid $2,300 for dinner - heirloom tomato salad, lavender salt-crusted beef tenderloin and carrot cake cream cheese mousse - as well as a group photo with the candidate.

Others wrote checks for as much as $14,000 for the special Asian-Pacific Islander VIP reception filled with CEOs, executives and spouses - a few in elegant saris - that included a meeting and individual picture with Obama.

Harris, the nation's first Indian American district attorney, said Obama's meeting was a landmark for the Asian-Pacific Islander community, which she said is increasingly involved in presidential politics.

Obama told the group - which included many Indian and Pakistani immigrants - that he is not only familiar with their cultures - but also proud of his lifelong association with them.

"Not only do I think I'm a desi, but I'm a desi," he said, using a colloquial term that describes South Asian immigrants. The remark was greeted with laughs. "I'm a homeboy."

He said that when he went to Occidental College, his first roommate was Pakistani. And in his dorm, he said with a laugh, "Indians and Pakistanis came together under one roof ... to cause havoc in the university."

To applause, he said he became an expert at cooking dal and other ethnic dishes, though "somebody else made the naan," the trademark Indian bread.

"Those are friendships which have lasted ... for years, and continue until this day," he said. "I have an enormous personal affection for the people of South Asia."

"I've also had an orientation toward Asia and a recognition ... that over time we are going to see ... more economic growth" and an economic partnership with the United States that is strategic.

Obama told his supporters that "we have an economy that, frankly, for the last eight years, has been focused on the very few, and we have not seen economic growth from the bottom up."

But "the only way we are going to move beyond these current challenges ... is not to try to prevent further immigration and integration of our communities," but "to recognize that you are the future."

At the dinner later, Obama assured donors he would run an aggressive campaign, telling them, "We've got 79 days before we're going to change the country."

"I don't need to convince this room of the nature of the changes that are needed. ... We've got an economy that is not working," an energy policy that is "killing the budgets of American families" and "a foreign policy that has been based on bluster and bombast."

"We are going to go out there and run the best presidential campaign that you have seen. ...We are going to win this election. We're going to change the country and we're going to change the world ... so keep your stress to a minimum."

Peter Shah, a certified public accountant from Salinas - and one of the Asian Pacific Islanders who paid $14,000 to meet Obama - said he made the investment because he is still undecided in the race.

"I want to look into his eyes, and make sure ... maybe God will give us a president who will help the common man," he said.

E-mail Carla Marinucci at cmarinucci@sfchronicle.com.