Fundraising Is The Focus Of Obama's Trip To The Bay
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – President Obama will be in the Bay Area Thursday to raise money for Democratic candidates, but the president will not do any public campaign events while he's here.
KCBS' Doug Sovern Reports:
President Obama will headline two private fundraisers in Silicon Valley, one at the home of an Apple executive for Kamala Harris, who's running for state attorney general, and then another for the Democratic National Committee, which will be hosted by former state controller Steve Westly at his home in Atherton. The president hopes this West Coast swing will give Democrats a boost, less than two weeks before the midterm election."It's about the money, but it's also about turnout - to rev up the base," said USC political scientist Sherry Bebich Jeffe.She says the president will headline a campaign rally Friday at USC, his only public stop of the California trip. Once again, the president will speak at a college campus, trying to reactivate the youth vote that helped Democrats do so well two years ago. But make no mistake, with many California Democrats in very close races; the main focus of this trip is fundraising, to pay for the get out the vote effort and a home stretch TV campaign."What money does for a candidate is allow them into the game, and that's critical," said Bebich Jeffe. "If you're not in the game, you don't have a chance of winning."
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