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DEL.ICIO.USThe kind of environment Obama’s got to like
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We haven’t received the official details about U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s trip to Atlanta next month, which is being billed as a public appearance to follow up on his wildly successful Monday night fund-raiser. But we have seen a press release for the upcoming National African American Earth Day Summit, to be held at Morehouse on April 19.
According to the release, Obama and U.S. Rep. John Lewis will be appearing at an evening reception before the summit, which will bring together black environmental leaders from around the country. We’re still trying to find out whether that’s the event we’ve heard about, or an add-on.
But we have heard more about the fund-raiser. According to co-chair Kirk Dornbush, the campaign received pledges of $573,000 — more than double what the Obama campaign originally estimated for this visit, and enough to leave the candidate “blown away” in a telephone conversation Tuesday, Dornbush said. That total doesn’t include a number of contributors who showed up unannounced Monday and wrote checks to get in the event, by the way.
This represents a milestone in terms of African-American fund-raising clout in Atlanta. It was by no means an exclusively black event, but by the accounts we’ve heard and what was apparent from standing outside the VIP reception Monday night, at least 60 percent of the money came from African-American contributors, many of them new to political fund-raising.
Something tells us the April event won’t be the last time we’ll see Obama in the ATL.
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