President Obama will arrive in his adopted hometown of Chicago Wednesday night, and after a birthday dinner with some close friends, he will move on to some serious fundraising.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Obama could raise as much as $2.5 million during his visit here. Following a stop at Ford Motor Co.'s plant on the South Side, Obama will head to the Palmer House Hilton--to give Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias some needed financial support.
"The President's visit will reinforce the importance of the clear choice Illinois voters face between Alexi, who supports helping the president move America forward and career Congressman Mark Kirk, who wants to go back to the same failed Bush policies that got us into this mess," Giannoulias campaign manager Michael Rendina said last month.
Giannoulias has been trailing Kirk in fundraising, and holds only a slight lead over Kirk in the polls. The Palmer House fundraiser is expected to bring in $1 million for Giannoulias, with tickets to the event costing $2,400 each.
Also on Thursday, real estate mogul Neil Bluhm is hosting a private birthday party for Obama at his home. The price to attend the intimate gathering? A reported $30,400 per person. That dinner is expected to raise $1.5 million for the Democratic National Committee, according to the Tribune.
Before he heads back to Washington, the president will also attend a $250-a-ticket reception at the Chicago Cultural Center.
While Obama's visit means big money for Dems, Republicans are trying to capitalize on the visit as well. The Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet reports:
On Wednesday, Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) quarterbacks a press conference call for the Republican National Committee to slap "Obama's visit to Illinois and the Obama Administration's "Recovery Summer" tour."
The RNC is also trying to inject convicted fixer Tony Rezko and Obama into the political conversation in the Illinois Senate race--for the seat once held by Obama--following a Sun-Times story headlined, " A new headache for Giannoulias? Another Rezko loan His family bank lent $22.75 million, in newly uncovered deal."
"Mr. President, do you think a $23 million loan to Tony Rezko and Nadhmi Auchi is a "sound loan" too, just as Giannoulias does," the RNC said in a release, trying to whip up some controversy.
"Congressman (Mark) Kirk seems to have misremembered that he is the only candidate in this race to take contributions from Rezko and his convicted associates, and that he also failed to return the donations until late 2006," a Giannoulias spokesman told Sweet.