Forget the Oscars! Hollywood Debates Hillary vs. Barack
Clinton Commands Loyalty From Studio Execs but Obama's Got Clooney, Affleck, Geffen
By MARCUS BARAM
EXCERPT:
Jan. 19, 2007 -- This town ain't big enough for the two of 'em.
It may not get as bloody as the final shootout in a Western, but the duel between Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois to win the heart of Hollywood could prove to be just as dramatic.
The two leading presidential contenders are vying for the support of the entertainment community, with big stars and powerful producers and agents already making their choices this early in the 2008 race for the White House.
Though Clinton commands the loyalty of the entertainment world's most established players, it appears that Obama currently has the momentum.
Next month, Dreamworks mogul David Geffen and superagent Ari Emanuel are both reportedly planning fundraisers for Obama. The candidate has already lined up strong backing from George Clooney, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Will Smith and Oprah Winfrey, who pledged to "do everything in my power to campaign for him."
... But Obama is the fresh face that's captivated many in Hollywood with comparisons to both Jack and Bobby Kennedy.
In the fall, Clooney sent out an e-mail to the Los Angeles Times that said, "If SENATOR Obama became PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE Obama it would be the most electrifying thing to happen to the Democratic party since Kennedy."
Geffen and Emanuel have both supported Clinton in the past, but they've apparently settled on Obama when it comes to the presidential race.
Geffen, who has not been a major political player in the past, was reportedly concerned about Clinton's electability. And he remains upset that former U.S. President Clinton pardoned fugitive financier Marc Rich rather than Leonard Peltier, an American Indian accused of murder, whose case has become a cause celebre in the entertainment community, sources in Hollywood say.
The support of Emanuel is an important factor since his brother, Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), is the powerful House Democratic caucus chairman. When the agent, who was the inspiration for Jeremy Piven's character on "Entourage," threw open the doors of his Brentwood, Calif., home for a meet-and-greet with Obama in December, a who's who in Hollywood from Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner to Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, showed up to shake the senator's hand.
After Obama gave a brief speech in the foyer of Emanuel's home, "the room was buzzing with excitement," said Edward P. Lazarus, one of Obama's fundraisers in Los Angeles....
"The one called 'Hillary', is she for real?"