Michelle Obama headlines two Chicago fund-raisers Monday. Pool report

Pool report by Abdon Pallash, Chicago Sun-Times

Michelle Obama pool report Oct. 6.

Michelle Obama hit two fundraisers in Chicago Monday night.

The first was at the Douglas Dawson Gallery of art on the Near West Side.

About 200 people paid $1,000 or $2,500 for the reception at the gallery filled with art and artifacts from Indonesia and other parts of the World.

She told the crowd her husband understands the problems of average Americans — “He gets it. We’ve got one candidate who gets it and one candidate who’s trying to get it.”

With only 29 days left in the campaign, she asked people not just to contribute but to convert their friends and cross state lines to help bring neighboring battleground states into her husband’s column. – Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan “even Pennsylvania.”

“Tell people your experience with Barack and with me. You’ve got to spread that word.”

The second fundraiser was at the Lakeview home of Fred Eychaner, a modern steel-and-glass wonder designed by architect Tadao Ando. She spoke on the open-air second-floor level with gas heaters and the sound of the wind blowing through the trees. About 200 people paid $1,000 – $15,000 to attend.

Obama gave largely the same speech, thanking the donors for their generosity and asking them to do more in the remaining… this time she said 28 days of the campaign.

“And he’s made a whole lot of money thanks to you,” she said. “He has broken lots of [fund-raising] records and thats important because he will have the resources to compete on the ground game.”

“Happy anniversary!” one of the attendees shouted.

“Thank you! We had a good date too. We did yeah,” she said with a smile as the crowd cheered. “Enough said.”

This crowd included many gays and lesbians and Obama was introduced as “a great friend to the LGBT [Lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender] community.”

“I feel like I’m preaching to the choir because you know Barack’s record,” she said referring to “issues of interest to the LGBT community.” She reminded them about the AIDS test she and her husband got in Kenya to encourage other Africans to do the same and Obama’s opposition to the Defense of Marriage act.

Abdon M. Pallasch

Political Reporter

Chicago Sun-Times