January
10 The Drill for New Donors

With the field of candidates narrowing, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are now in what amounts to a race to secure support from Hollywood donors who've been backing other candidates.

As news hit Wednesday that Bill Richardson would drop out of the race, one of his key Hollywood backers, Mitch Kaplan of the Kaplan Stahler Gumer Braun Agency, heard from both campaigns. But Obama called him personally --- and he's going with the Illinois senator.

Although Kaplan says he liked both candidates, he said he found Obama's campaign "more exciting." Obama had called him about six months ago, asking for his support, but he already was commited to Richardson. He plans to support whoever is the Democratic nominee, he said.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is expected to make a visit to Los Angeles on Friday, and perhaps meet with fund-raisers and donors to talk about the campaign as it heads to Feb. 5. One of her endorsers, Rob Reiner, has been making calls for her to donors and other politicos.