- The Washington Times - Thursday, April 7, 2016

President Obama will tap the Democratic Party’s most reliable piggy bank, Hollywood, for the 40th time as president when he travels to southern California Thursday night for more fundraising.

The president will collect cash at the Bel-Air home of Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn and his wife Cindy, an environmental activist. Tickets for the event, which benefits the House Democrats’ campaign committee, range from $15,000 to $66,800 per couple.

Among the Hollywood luminaries expected to attend are Marcy Carsey, director J.J. Abrams and wife Katie McGrath, Norman and Lyn Lear, Barbra Streisand and husband James Brolin, and Andy Spahn, a top lieutenant of Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Mr. Spahn accompanied the president on his trip to Cuba last month. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California also will attend.

In more than seven years as president, Mr. Obama has held 39 Democratic fundraisers in Los Angeles County.

After spending the night in Los Angeles, the president will attend another fundraiser Friday morning at the home of actor Tobey Maguire, aka Spiderman. Tickets for that event cost $33,400 per couple, with the money going to the Senate Democrats’ campaign committee.

While Democratic voters haven’t picked a nominee yet in the race between Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, Mr. Obama is taking an increasingly active role in the campaign, raising money for Democrats and assailing Republican candidates.

“As the leader of the Democratic Party and the most well-regarded figure, not just in the Democratic party, but right now in American politics, the president is going to play an important role in the general election,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Wednesday.

In the first three months of this year, Mr. Obama has held nine Democratic fundraisers, nearly twice as many as he did in the same period last year.

Taxpayers will fund a large but undisclosed share of the trip’s cost because the president is combining the fundraising with an “official” stop in Chicago, where he will promote the candidacy of his Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland.

Later on Friday, Mr. Obama will fly to San Francisco for a fundraiser at the home of billionaire Gordon Getty. He’s scheduled to return to Washington on Saturday.

• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.

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