Obama fundraising in Chicago for Hillary, Duckworth, House Dems

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama comes home Chicago next weekend to headline fundraisers for Hillary Clinton, House Democrats and Senate candidate Tammy Duckworth.

I earlier reported on Obama’s Oct. 9 event for Rep. Duckworth, in a battle with Sen. Mark Kirk R-Ill. for the Illinois seat Obama once held.

On Friday, the White House confirmed Obama will have in all three events when he is home: for Hillary Clinton, House Democrats and Duckworth.

Obama and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi will headline a high-dollar fundraiser on Chicago’s North Side on Oct. 7 to benefit the campaigns of House Democratic contenders.

The Obama and Pelosi event is at the home of Democratic mega donor Fred Eychaner, who last Wednesday hosted Vice President Joe Biden at his North Side home for a Duckworth fundraiser.

The price tiers: $10,000-per-plate for the lunch; $16,700 gets lunch, a photo and preferred seating; $33,400 per couple adds to that the perk of being in Pelosi’s “Speaker’s Cabinet” donor group; $66,800 per couple gets the top VIP add-on, to also be part of a “clutch,” or small reception.

The funder is for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the House Democratic political shop. DCCC chair Rep. Ben Ray Lujan D-N.M.

Obama has long taken an interest in Duckworth’s political career, helping her when she made her first House run in 2006.

The hosts of the Sunday funder are Obama Foundation chair Martin Nesbitt, and his wife, physician Anita Blanchard; Theaster Gates, an artist and professor in the Department of Visual Art and Director of Arts and Public Life at the University of Chicago, who is on the Foundation design advisory committee; and Democratic activist John Atkinson and his wife, Bonnie.

The afternoon event will be at the Stony Island Arts Bank, an arts and cultural center founded by Gates, at 6760 S. Stony Island Ave, Chicago.

The price tiers start at $1,000 for an individual donation to $12,700 in a pledged contribution or a promise to raise that much from other people. Top givers and raisers get a VIP reception and a photo.

The proceeds go to the Illinois Coordinated Victory Fund 2016, a joint fundraising committee with the Democratic Party of Illinois and Tammy for Illinois.