Hillary Clinton stood alongside Barack Obama at a women’s fundraising breakfast for the Obama Victory Fund. The minimum donation - $250. This after attending a $33,000/plate Manhattan dinner together the night before.

On her home turf, Clinton urged her supporters to get behind Barack Obama’s campaign. Republicans, as much as they should, she said, will not “go go gently into that good night.”  She continued, “No matter how self evident it is to us that this is the man, this is the candidate, this is the one we should be voting for, working for and making our president – there are millions of your fellow Americans who aren’t there yet, so we have to really be engaged and that’s what I’m asking you to do.” Besides, she noted, Tthe Democratic Party is a family, you know, sometimes a dysfunctional family but it’s a family.”

The former candidate shared with the mostly female crowd a backstage moment. “Barack and I were talking before we came out before about the rigors of the campaign trail, which are many…Barack said, ‘You look kind of rested.’ I said, ‘Well ‘kind of’ is the right descriptor,’ but I’m actually, if you don’t tell anybody, trying to exercise a little bit, which I’m told does wonders for a person. Because during the campaign, you I’m sure read that Barack would get up faithfully every morning and go to the gym. I would get up and have my hair done. Just one of those Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire things that are part of our lives,” she joked as the crowd laughed.

For his part, Obama admitted he “desperately” needs both Hillary and Bill Clinton to be involved in this campaign. “If we are working together and all the women in this room are working together - there is no way we’re gonna lose in November. That I’m absolutely confident of,” he said.

As he has since he announced he was the presumptive Democratic nominee on the night of the final primary, Barack Obama praised Hillary Clinton - this time with a twist. Looking out at the sea of women, Obama said, “As someone who took the same historic journey as Senator Clinton – although I didn’t do it in heels – who shared the stage with her many times over these last 16 months, I know firsthand how tough she is, how passionate she is, and how committed she is to the causes that bring us here today.”

Obama continues with Thursday’s theme and will hold a town hall in Fairfax, Virginia, this afternoon geared towards women’s economic security.

Sen. McCain will co-host an event with the less controversial Bush July 21 when he heads up to Kennebunkport, ME for a fundraiser with Bush 41 and his wife Barbara at the Walker’s Point Resort.

It will cost donors $2,300 for entry to the VIP reception and a photo opportunity

The last time McCain appeared with the former President was February 18, when Bush the elder endorsed the presumptive GOP nominee in Houston.

Hillary Clinton introduced Barack Obama to 150 of her top fundraisers in Washington in an attempt to begin healing some of the wounds caused by the fractious primary process. But It was a gesture by Obama that may have gone a long way towards smoothing things over with still-smarting Clinton donors: he became one of them.

Obama handed over a check to the Clinton campaign for $4,600 — the maximum allowable contribution for a couple. His campaign finance chair Penny Pritzker did the same, giving her check to Clinton chairman Terry McAuliffe — who waved it in front of reporters outside after the event. The money will go towards paying down Clinton’s $10 million in campaign debt - though it will go further as a symbolic gesture of Obama’s commitment to that process.

Some donors were upset that while Obama had given his big donors the green light to help Clinton with the debt, he had yet to donate money himself and had pointedly refused to reach out to his huge base of small donors for help.

While many Hillraisers in attendance said Obama had struck every right note in his speech to them, some still left uncomfortable. New York donor Bill White told FOX that Obama was impressive, but that he just wasn’t ready to write a check yet. For some, those wounds still need time to heal.

Senator Barack Obama spoke to about 600 paying guests at a fundraising reception in downtown Jacksonville, where attendees paid between $500 and $2,300 to Barack Obama for America. The Illinois senator spoke for about twenty minutes to his devotees, and noted the clear choice this November on issues surrounding the economy, health care, the war, and overall philosophy.

“Most of all we can choose between hope and fear. It is going to be very difficult for Republicans to run on their stewardship of the economy or their outstanding foreign policy. We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid. They’re going to try to make you afraid of me,” Obama said, just one day after he he told reporters that Republican 527 groups will emerge this election and run negative ads during the election.

Obama continued that the Republicans’ message would invoke the Democrat’s race. “He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black? He’s got a feisty wife,” Obama told the crowd, which cheered.

“We know the strategy because they’ve already shown their cards. Ultimately I think the American people recognize that old stuff hasn’t moved us forward. That old stuff just divides us,” he said.

Listen to audio from that fundraiser here:

Today as news broke that Hillary Clinton would soon help to unify the Democratic Party by announcing her support for her one-time rival, the Obama camp remained silent.

“No thanks,” a senior staffer wrote when asked to respond to the news. According to two staffers, Hillary Clinton had not yet called Obama to discuss her plan (as of 7:40 pm).

When Barack Obama arrived at the first of two high dollar Manhattan fundraisers, reporters looking for comments were ignored. Instead, the presumptive Democratic nominee shook hands with supporters and well wishers.

But the print pool reporter who covered the two fundraisers did get a question in to Obama. According to his pool report:

“Getting out of the motorcade in light drizzle, pooler asked Obama how it feels now that it appears even Hillary Clinton realizes he’s the nominee.

‘Truth is, I haven’t had time to think about it. This weekend, I’m going home, talk it over with Michele and we’re going on a date.’”

Obama is tentatively scheduled to at least sleep in Chicago tomorrow night through Sunday night.

PHOENIX, AZ — It was short and sweet. Really short in fact.

After accompanying President Bush to the airport after a closed fundraiser Tuesday afternoon, Sen. McCain saw off the Commander in Chief on the tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

It was the first time McCain and Bush have been seen publicly together since the presumptive GOP nominee visited the White House on March 5, but if you turned away you might have missed it as the two were on the tarmac together for only 26 seconds and within camera shot for a total of 47 seconds.

The McCain campaign was clearly trying to limit public time with the President–whose disapproval rating stands at 71 percent–as the goodbye did not take place until 9pm ET, hours after the nightly newscasts signed off.

Upon arrival at the airport, the Senator, Mrs. McCain and President Bush all exited the same limo and walked toward the plane. Bush and Sen. McCain each waved and pointed to the assembled press under the plane’s left wing before McCain gave him a hearty handshake and a pat on the back. Bush kissed Mrs. McCain on the cheek before climbing the stairs to Air Force One.

Behind closed doors however, they spent more than hour at a fundraiser where Bush helped McCain net about $3 million according to sources familiar with the event. Among the more than 500 donors at the private home in the Phoenix suburbs was former Vice President Dan Quayle.

The Phoenix haul brings McCain’s Tuesday cash total to $4.5 million—he raised $1.5 million at an earlier fundraiser in Denver. Per usual, the funds will be channeled to a number of different accounts including the RNC Victory fund, several state Republican parties and McCain’s primary fund. Bush will continue raising money for McCain Wednesday in Utah where he is set to attend two events with Mitt Romney, while the presumptive nominee campaigns in Reno and Los Angeles.

Sen. Obama and Democrats who have been trying to lump McCain in with Bush whenever possible tried to make hay out the closed fundraiser earlier today.

“Today, John McCain is having a different kind of meeting. He’s holding a fundraiser with George Bush behind closed doors in Arizona. No cameras. No reporters. And we all know why. Senator McCain doesn’t want to be seen, hat in hand, with the president whose failed policies he promises to continue for another four years,” Obama told a Nevada crowd today.

The McCain campaign’s Tucker Bounds responded with this statement that rides the fine line of differentiating himself from the White House with out being seen as disrespectful.

“Whether the issue is global climate change or urging a more effective strategy in Iraq, John McCain has had clear but respectful differences of opinion with the President. However, it isn’t surprising that Barack Obama is trying to disguise his own lack of depth and weak leadership on the issues with political generalizations and superficial attacks,” Bounds said.

WASHINGTON — Seconds into HIllary Clinton’s remarks at a fundraiser for women in Washington, she was greeted with a silent protest by one of the few men in attendance — who stood on his chair to unfurl a huge black banner reading “Obliterate Iran? Apologize” in bold pink lettering.

Clinton told “Good Morning America” a day before the Pennsylvania primary that the US would react strongly if Iran ever launched a nuclear attack on Israel, saying “we would be able to totally obliterate them.” That

As one woman fought the lone protester for his sign and the crowd began to boo, Clinton silently waited it out — until finally the man was escorted from the room by security amid chants of “Hillary! Hillary!”

“I certainly hope he didn’t step on any of the cookies,” Clinton said.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Just a few minutes later, Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin stood up near the front of the room and began shouting about the children in Iran and Iraq, and demanding that Clinton apologize for her “obliterate” comment and her Iraq vote. This time, as Benjamin was escorted out holding up two-fingered peace signs, Clinton acknowledged the protest.

“That’s alright,” she said. “I’m happy that people feel so intensely. And I hope they paid to come.”

But she took umbrage at press reports suggesting that only Barack Obama’s supporters feel so strongly about their candidate. “There seems to be a lot of coverage about how passionate the supporters of my opponent are,” she said. “I think I’ve got some pretty passionate supporters myself.”

She credited those supporters for keeping her in the race. “We’ve been voting now for about four months. It seems like four years, but it’s only been four months,” she said. “I’ve been counted out more than once, but thanks to all of you, I’ve come back.”

(more…)

The McCain campaign unloaded on Barack Obama today for his remarks at a San Francisco fundraiser last weekend, where the Democrat said “bitter” Pennsylvania voters “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

“It is a remarkable statement and extremely revealing,” McCain advisor Steve Schmidt told reporters on board the McCain campaign plane today. “It shows an elitism and condescension towards hardworking Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking. It is hard to imagine someone running for president who is more out of touch with average Americans.”

Schmidt said Obama’s remarks hit the “heart and soul of this country” and predicted Obama would have difficulty connecting with voters. “I think people will resent it and be very angry about it because that is not how most Americans view themselves. That’s now how most Americans view their lives in terms of practicing their faith or exercising their Second Amendment rights or having a desire to secure the borders in the country,” he explained.

When Obama later defended his remarks to voters in Indiana, a McCain spokesman fired back, “Instead of apologizing to small town Americans for dismissing their values, Barack Obama arrogantly tried to spin his way out of his outrageous San Francisco remarks. Only an elitist who attributes religious faith and gun ownership to bitterness would think that tax cuts for the rich include families who make $75,000 per year. Only an elitist would say that people vote their values only out of frustration. Barack Obama thinks he knows your hopes and fears better than you do. You can’t be more out of touch than that.”

Yesterday evening, Senator Barack Obama dropped by a fundraiser for North Dakota Democrats. The campaign arranged with the state party to allow a print pool reporter to accompany the senator, but no cameras were allowed, which has been typical at fundraisers (usually the events are not equipped to handle cameras, which require lights, a sound system, and risers).

The New York Times reporter who went to the fundraiser sent out his “pool report” following the event, which included the following paragraph: “Radio talk show star Ed Schultz warmed up the crowd, attacking Sen. John McCain as ‘a warmonger,’ before Obama arrived in the room. Obama thanked Schultz, saying he was he ‘voice of progressive radio.’” The print pooler later said Schultz was talking as he was ushered into the event, and there is no audio recording of Schultz’s remarks.

The McCain campaign picked up on the story and quickly asked Senator Obama to condemn Schultz, but while Obama mentioned McCain at his rally in Missoula, Montana, this morning, he remained mum on Schultz. “[McCain] is basically running for a third Bush term. He wants to continue this war in Iraq maybe for another 100 years. He wants to perpetuate the same tax breaks for the wealthy that he himself called irresponsible when George Bush first passed them,” Obama told the crowd.

Both the McCain campaign and the RNC took note of Obama’s silence. RNC spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson said, “Once again today, Barack Obama ditched his ‘new brand of politics’ and resorted to launching misleading and disproven attacks against John McCain. Instead of showing leadership and renouncing the slanderous remarks made by his surrogates or his national party chairman, Obama continues to try and deceive the American people with dishonest attacks.”

After numerous inquiries from Obama’s traveling press, the Obama campaign eventually responded with a comment. “John McCain is not a warmonger and should not be described as such. He’s a supporter of a war that Senator Obama believes should have never been authorized and never been waged,” traveling press secretary Jen Psaki said in a written statement.

The campaign also pointed out that Obama did not hear the comment and stressed that Schultz is not an Obama surrogate.

Money is still pouring into the Obama campaign - despite the candidate’s New Hampshire loss. According to campaign manager David Plouffe, the campaign has raised $500,000 online since midnight. This is in addition to the $8 million the Obama campaign has raised so far this 8-day long year.

The candidate also hit Boston and New York today for a pair of fundraisers - according to Communications Director Robert Gibbs, the campaign had to cut off admission at the high dollar New York event because there were too many interested attendees.

Senator Obama hit February 5th (aka Tsunami Tuesday) state New Jersey today in between his two East Coast fundraisers, where he was greeted by a couple thousand voters inside the gymnasium at Saint Peter’s College in Jersey City. There were long lines of people who were turned away when the gym hit capacity - Obama told the crowd that some 2,000 were not able to get into the door.

The loud crowd treated the second place New Hampshire finisher with a hero’s welcome. Obama made the best of the disappointing loss. “I have to tell you that one of the useful things - and I told this to my staff yesterday - about yesterday was it reminds us that change isn’t easy,” he told the New Jersey crowd. “Change is always met by resistance by the status quo.” A young man in the crowd bellowed out, “Hillary Clinton is the status quo!”

Obama continued, “You know, there are people who are in power who don’t want to give it up. There are folks who are making money on the way things are working right now. It doesn’t make them bad people - it just means they don’t want a change.”