President Barack Obama is swooping almost literally into Republican Linda McMahon's backyard Thursday to raise money for the wrestling maven's opponent at a big-money fundraiser in Connecticut's richest town.
Obama is joining Attorney General Richard Blumenthal at a fundraiser in Stamford and then at a $30,000-per-person dinner at the 20-acre estate of affordable housing developer Rich Richman. Richman's palatial home is not only in the same neighborhood as McMahon, but it is also within the same gated Conyers Farm development in Greenwich's famed "back country'' neighborhood.
The minimum lot size at exclusive Conyers Farm is 10 acres under deed restrictions sought by former property owner and developer Peter Brant, the polo kingpin and paper-selling magnate who has generated his own headlines recently with a high-stakes, big-money divorce from Victoria's Secret model Stephanie Seymour.
The star-studded dinner, which raised $1 million for the Democratic National Committee, included longtime Greenwich director Ron Howard, "Doonesbury'' cartoonist Garry Trudeau, and his wife, television journalist Jane Pauley. Blumenthal was seated near the back of the vaulted-ceiling dining room at the $16 million mansion, while Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dannel Malloy was seated toward the front.
At the earlier fundraiser at a Stamford hotel, Obama immediately talked about McMahon's plans to spend as much as $50 million in a campaign that includes a constant television and direct-mail advertising blitz.
"Dick, she has more money than you - just in case there was any confusion,'' Obama said to Blumenthal as the crowd laughed.
Obama then compared professional wrestling to the ongoing brawls in the U.S. Senate and said they weren't all that different - prompting more laughs from the crowd.
Obama then turned more serious and said, "But the truth is, and Dick understands this, public service is not a game. At this moment, we are facing challenges we haven't seen since the Great Depression, and facing serious challenges requires serious leaders - leaders who are willing to take on the status quo, leaders who are willing to take on special interests, leaders who are willing to fight for our people and our future. And Dick Blumenthal is that leader. And that's why I need all of you to make him your next United States Senator. That's the choice in this election.''
He added, "I need you to knock on some doors for Dick Blumenthal. We need you to write some more checks for Dick Blumenthal. ... The only way we'll match their millions of dollars is if we've got millions of people [across the country] making their voices heard. None of this will be easy. It will be hard.''
Obama ended his remarks in Stamford at about 7 p.m. by saying, "So help me get Dick elected, and let's keep on moving forward! Connecticut, thank you very much. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.''
McMahon's campaign fired back, directly at Obama, with an e-mail to her supporters.
"Today, our opponent is chasing down Washington's seal of approval to help prop up his stalled campaign,'' McMahon said in an e-mail. "He's turning to the same people who failed to turn our economy around and who are heaping trillions in new debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. Send a message to the career politicians that you want a different kind of Senator. Make no mistake. Washington insiders are rushing to protect one of their own because they're scared of our growing momentum and message of putting an end to politics as usual in Washington. ... It's time for something different in Washington, and together we will deliver it.''
With more than 300 hard-core supporters in attendance, the Blumenthal campaign anticipated raising about $400,000.
View pictures from the fundraiser here.
The second event - the dinner at Conyers Farm - cost $30,400, which is the maximum contribution to the Democratic National Committee. The invitation to the dinner, which went to some attendees via e-mail, mentions the price-tag and says there will be "a small dinner and discussion'' with Obama that is a "personal dinner with no more than 50 guests.''
The e-mail says "I hope you can show support'' for Obama, the national committee, and Organizing For America, a pro-Democratic organization.
Richman and his wife, Ellen Schapps Richman, have been prominent fundraisers for many years and have hosted Teresa Heinz Kerry - the wife of then-presidential candidate John Kerry - at their home. Rich Richman has contributed to many of the best-known Democrats across the nation, including Obama, U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, Hillary Clinton, Barney Frank, Al Franken, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, and Charles Rangel, the embattled House member who won a primary on Tuesday night in his home district of Harlem. Richman, 63, has also contributed to U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, who held the Congressional seat in the Fourth District in lower Fairfield County until being defeated by Democrat Jim Himes in 2008.
Neil Vigdor of the Greenwich Time, who was in the dining room, reported that Obama thanked the Richmans for their longtime support and noted that the couple had been contributors since "before people could pronounce my name."
For those who cannot afford the dinner with Obama at $30,000 per person, there was a $1,000-per-person fundraiser at a Stamford hotel. For $12,400, attendees could have their picture taken with the president.
The national pool report, by White House correspondent Margaret Talev of McClatchy newspapers, said that Air Force One arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City at 5:14 p.m., and then Obama took the Marine One helicopter to Stamford. The motorcade to the Marriott, in the rain, went past multiple onlookers, and Obama arrived at the hotel at 5:53 p.m.
By 6:15 p.m., it was raining heavily outside the fundraiser. The torrential downpour was so hard that it largely dispersed both the supporters and opponents of Obama who had gathered outside the hotel.