I saw Obama last night

March 10, 2007
Obama’s Back Fund-Raising in New York, Not Quietly

By JEFF ZELENY

“We are here because the country is calling us,” Mr. Obama told a cheering crowd inside. “We are here because we are at a crossroads.” He added, “Every 20 or 30 years, every generation, a moment comes when we have to look up and ask ourselves, ‘Are we prepared to meet the challenges that this generation faces?’ ”

In the first quarter of the year, a period critical for fund-raising, presidential hopefuls in both parties have chased one another across the country in a furious hunt for contributors. Perhaps no other candidates have been competing as vigorously as Mr. Obama, of Illinois, and Mrs. Clinton, particularly for New York and Hollywood money and supporters.

Theodore C. Sorenson, one of President John F. Kennedy’s closest advisers, introduced Mr. Obama at one fund-raiser last night. He endorsed Mr. Obama’s candidacy, saying the senator was the only candidate he believed could restore the nation’s credibility around the world.

“It reminds me of the way the young, previously unknown J.F.K. took off,” Mr. Sorensen said in an interview, adding: “Obama, like J.F.K., is such a natural. He’s very comfortable with who he is.”

“I’m a New Yorker,” Mr. Sorenson said, “but I want to support the best candidate. I don’t dislike Senator Clinton, but I’m for Obama.”

While Mr. Obama has tried with little success to wrest away any of Mrs. Clinton’s most prolific fund-raisers in New York, the crowd walking into the Grand Hyatt hotel on East 42nd Street painted a picture of those the Obama campaign is hoping to reach: new political donors.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/10/us/politics/10obama.html

http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/03102007/news/nationalnews/real_deal_barack_take_big_n_y__pot_nationalnews_maggie_haberman.htm

'REAL DEAL' BARACK TAKE$ BIG N.Y. POT
By MAGGIE HABERMAN

March 10, 2007 -- Sen. Barack Obama hit Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's turf last night for a megabucks Midtown fund-raiser, where his wife made thinly veiled jabs at his rival's "in it to win it" campaign slogan and called her husband "the real deal."
"I know that Barack is in this not just to win," Michelle Obama told the crowd of more than 1,500 people at a $100-per-head event at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on East 42nd Street.

"This race is not about winning, because winning isn't enough nowadays. Winning without dignity, winning it without honor, winning without authenticity and truth is not winning at all, and we're not in it for that."

Earlier, Michelle Obama said, "Barack is the real deal . . . Barack is really exactly who he says he is. You know, there's no hidden agenda to this guy. He is decent, he is sincere, he is authentic, he isn't manufactured."

Several people in the crowd took the remarks as a reference to Clinton, whose out-of-the-gate comments when she declared her candidacy in January were, "I'm in it to win it."

Obama is often touted as authentic, while Clinton is frequently knocked as stiff and message-tested.

Michelle Obama also praised her husband as someone who could give people "a reason to believe again.