President Obama raises record $15 million at George Clooney fund-raiser

President Barack Obama attended a fund-raiser on Thursday evening at actor George Clooney’s home, where they entertained a Hollywood crowd that paid $40,000 a person to support the president’s re-election for 2012. Jeffrey Katzenberg, filmmaker and Dream Works Animation chief whom Mr. Clooney credited with organizing the dinner, said the event raised roughly $15 million, setting a record for a presidential election fund-raiser. Nearly half of the money came from donors and the remainder from an Obama campaign sweepstakes online for small contributors, two of whom were picked to attend the event at Mr. Clooney’s home.

“Once again the entertainment industry has stepped forward in a very big way,” Katzenberg told the crowd before introducing Obama. “Yesterday he did the right thing yet again,” said Katzenberg, igniting applause and cheers without mentioning same-sex marriage. The fund-raiser occurred just a day after President Obama affirmed his evolution to support same-sex marriage, which has been a long favored cause in Hollywood. “And obviously yesterday we made some news,” Obama said. “But the truth is, it was a logical extension of what America is supposed to be. It grew directly out of this difference in visions,” the president continued. “Are we a country that includes everybody and gives everybody a shot and treats everybody fairly and is that going to make us stronger? Are we welcoming to immigrants? Are we welcoming to people who aren’t like us? Does that make us stronger? I believe it does. So that’s what’s at stake.” President Obama, who usually attends fund-raisers for less than an hour, stayed at Clooney’s dinner for nearly four hours.