This event is in Geneva on Aug. 27, with hosts Charles C. Adams, Jr. and Matthew Barzun. Tickets started at $1,000 per person, and $20,000 per person for a dinner.

Clooney hosted a record breaking, $15 million fundraiser for Obama in May, but the different this time is that the President is not on the bill.

Clooney also hosted a fundraiser for Obama in 2008, also in Europe.

The Supreme Court refused to take up the FCC's effort to reinstate sanctions on CBS stations for the Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, but Chief Justice John Roberts gave credence to the agency's authority to fine broadcasters for such infamous "fleeting" images.

Last week, the high court struck down the FCC's rulings against Fox and ABC for such fleeting expletives and images, but over the procedural issue of when the agency changed its policy to punish even momentary expletives.  The rationale was on the narrow grounds that the networks were not aware that the FCC's policy changed in 2004, but the incidents occurred before then.

Roberts said that in light of the ruling, ruling on the Janet Jackson case was "moot." The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the FCC's $550,000 in fines on CBS stations for the Janet Jackson incident, ruling that it was an "arbitrary and capricious" agency action.

In a two page concurring opinion attached to the high court's refusal to hear the Janet Jackson case, Roberts made a distinction between fleeting expletives and fleeting images. While the FCC, until 2004, made a "limited exception" for fleeting expletives, the "agency never stated that the exception applied to fleeting images as well, and there was good reason to believe that it did not," Roberts noted.

"As every schoolchild knows, a picture is worth a thousand words, and CBS broadcast this particular picture to millions of impressionable children," he wrote.

In writing the opinion, Roberts seemed to be sending a warning sign to the networks that the FCC's policy now had some clarity.

"It is now clear that the brevity of an indecent broadcast --- be it word or image --- cannot immunize it from FCC censure," he wrote, adding, "Any future 'wardrobe malfunctions' will not be protected on the ground relied on by the court below."

Roberts also got in a dig at Jackson and Justin Timberlake, who tore away a portion of Jackson's bustier and revealed her breasts.

"The performers subsequently strained the credulity of the public by terming the episode a 'wardrobe malfunction,'" Roberts wrote.

Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council, expressed "disppointment" that the court did not take the case, but said they were "grateful for the statement issued by Chief Justice John Roberts that broadcasters have now been issued fair warning."

Update: CBS issued this statement. "We are gratified to finally put this episode behind us. It’s been more than eight years since we expressed deep regret for the Super Bowl halftime show.  As observers of this issue are aware, at that time we took immediate steps to implement delays on all live entertainment programs so that we could safeguard against similar incidents of unintended and spontaneous snippets of live broadcasts.  Since then, all we ever sought was an affirmation of the long established policy of balanced, consistent and deliberate indecency enforcement the FCC had followed for decades before the incident.  At every major turn of this process, the lower courts have sided with us. And now that the Supreme Court has brought this matter to a close, we look forward to the FCC heeding the call for the very balanced enforcement which was the hallmark of the Commission for many, many years.” 

The Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz slams not just the faulty reporting on the Obamacare ruling, but all of the prognostication that led to it.

He writes, "In upholding the president’s health-care law, the John Roberts court shocked the capital precisely because the media mavens had concluded that the law’s individual mandate was about to be consigned to the dustbin of history. Toobin may have been the most visible commentator venturing a bold prediction, but he had plenty of company.

CNN was conciliatory, and Fox News defiant, in their misreporting this morning that the Supreme Court had struck down the individual mandate, the key part of the Affordable Care Act.

Per TV Newser, CNN said in a statement, “In his opinion, Chief Justice Roberts initially said that the individual mandate was not a valid exercise of Congressional power under the Commerce Clause. CNN reported that fact, but then wrongly reported that therefore the court struck down the mandate as unconstitutional. However, that was not the whole of the Court’s ruling. CNN regrets that it didn’t wait to report out the full and complete opinion regarding the mandate. We made a correction within a few minutes and apologize for the error.”

Fox News' Michael Clemente issued this statement: "We gave our viewers the news as it happened. When Justice Roberts said, and we read, that the mandate was not valid under the Commerce clause, we reported it. Bill Hemmer even added, be patient as we work through this. Then when we heard and read, that the mandate could be upheld under the government’s power to tax, we reported that as well — all within two minutes.

"By contrast, one other cable network was unable to get their Supreme Court reporter to the camera, and said as much. Another said it was a big setback for the President. Fox reported the facts, as they came in."

President Obama was watching both networks this morning, but the White House counsel flashed him the thumbs up sign to indicate that it was a victory for his administration.

A picture being circulated on Twitter, comparing the misreporting to the "Dewey Defeats Truman" screw up of the Chicago Tribune in 1948, is here. It was made within an hour of the ruling by photojournalist Gary He.

Perhaps nothing vexas journalists in the hyper speed news cycle than having to sift through, very quickly, a lengthy and nuanced Supreme Court opinion. That is why this morning, as all eyes turned to the Supreme Court, Fox and CNN were declaring that the justices had declared the mandate unconstitutional when in fact it was just about the opposite. Video here.

There also was confusion on MSNBC, which largely got it right. But its correspondent Pete Williams reported that the upholding of the mandate under the taxing authority of Congress, rather than the Commerce Clause, nonetheless may not mean much if there is no penalty if Americans don't face a penalty if they do not buy health insurance and are not then required to pay a tax. In fact, as he was interviewing SCOTUS Blog's Tom Goldstein, under the new healthcare law the penalty for not buying insurance will be that they will be taxed as a penalty.

Confusion is understandable, as was the case with the 2000 Bush vs. Gore decision and last week with the decision on TV decency (the latter, as I found out, turned out to be a much narrower opinion than an initial quick read). So I guess the lesson is better to be right than to be first, as simple as that sounds.

The winner in all of the coverage was SCOTUS Blog, the wonkish site that did a live blog of the ruling, with more than 800,000 signed on to follow. The site reported at eight minutes after 10 a.m. ET that "The individual mandate survives as a tax." They have been an asset to other news organizations struggling for guidance given the prohibition of cameras or recording devices in the high court chambers. But Goldstein, last night, made a prediction that the mandate would stand, against the conventional wisdom, pointing out that on so many occasions the court's rulings surprise rather than conform to the punditry.

Jeffrey Toobin, the astute Supreme Court watcher for CNN, nevertheless admitted that he was wrong when, shortly after oral arguments in late March, he considered the mandate dead.

Toobin said on CNN, "This is a day for [Solicitor General] Don Verrilli to take an enormous amount of credit, and for me to eat a bit of crow - because he won, and everyone should know that that argument was a winning argument, whatever you thought on it."

Key sections of the ruling here.

Reactions:

Michael Moore: "The right wing has just had their worst smackdown since the day O was elected. The path of history continues to head toward univ health care."

Alec Baldwin: "I guess this means less $ for oil subsidies... Oh, too bad."

Cher: "Set alarm 2hear Supreme court decision on pres Obama's health plan! It WAS UP HELD! I literally jumped out of bed started doing snoopy dance."

Jon Lovett writes a Twitter story on what Roberts faces in the Supreme Court cafeteria.

A House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday was intended to be a crystal ball into the future of video, but the presence of so many major players from broadcasting, cable, satellite and the Internet inevitably led to disputes over the technology of today.

Hearst Television prexy-CEO David Barrett defended existing retransmission consent rules, saying the rules should also be applied to new entrants in the video marketplace, while Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen characterized them as outdated regulations that have led to an increasing number of station blackouts. "Broadcasters play the pay TV providers against one another," Ergen said, adding that it was an "unfair food fight."

Ergen's presence at the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing led to talk of Dish's controversial AutoHop feature that allows customers to automatically skip through commercials. CBS, NBC and Fox are battling Dish in federal court, but Ergen told lawmakers that "allowing your kids to watch TV doesn't have to mean they have no choice but to see commercials for junk food and alcohol."

He said that AutoHop does "nothing more than improve upon existing, legally accepted and widely available technologies" and is responding to "our customers' changing needs."

Admittedly skeptical of AutoHop was Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), who at one point even mistakenly referred to Ergen as "Mr. Hopper." Dingell asked Ergen if he understood why he and other politicians on the subcommittee would be concerned over a service that would potentially skip over political ads.

"I understand the consumer very well, but I am not a politician, so I cannot say I understand your concerns as well," Ergen said, to some laughter.

The hearing did focus on what is bound to be one of the biggest issues facing Internet video services: data caps, or Internet service providers' limits on the amount of bandwidth consumers can access in a single month. Netflix general counsel David Hyman said that platforms and networks should not use their leverage to "stifle video providers."

Public Knowledge CEO Gigi Sohn warned of the abuse of data caps as a way for cable operators, often also ISPs, to favor their own video services. She has called for the FCC to study how data caps are being raised or lowered, but so far "they have refused."

Sohn said she did not think data caps are "inherently bad, but they can be abused." She's in favor of an overhaul or scrapping of many regulations but stressed that there has to be robust development of Internet video competitors.

Offering a somewhat different rationale for regulatory reform was Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), co-author of a bill to wipe away many communications regulations. He said that the current system leaves "new entrants virtually free from the heavy hand of government. It encourages new entrants to cherry-pick regulations that benefit their platform."

Jared Leto is the event chair of a young Hollywood fundraiser for President Obama on Friday, but the fete may be as much a test of enthusiasm for his reelection as it is to raise badly needed campaign funds.

Obama will not be there, so the event at the Soho House in Beverly Hills will show how much donors are willing to show absent the star billing. Instead of Obama, three campaign officials will be there: Harper Reed, Obama for America's chief technology officer; David Simas, director of opinion research; and Mitch Stewart, battleground states director.

The event has a long list of names from young Hollywood, including Mario Bello, Ian Somerhalder, Zachary Quinto and Olivia Wilde. On his most recent visit, Obama met with many of the actors at a breakfast gathering at the Beverly Hilton, hoping to interest them in serving as surrogates or, as we see with the upcoming events, raising money.

The documentary "The Invisible War" opened in four theaters over the weekend, grossing $16,500, but since its debut at Sundance in January, it has achieved what so many other projects have not: It has had an impact.

Directed by Kirby Dick, and produced by Amy Ziering, the movie chronicles the systemic problem of sexual assault in the U.S. military, made all the more tragic in that the perpetrators are seldom brought to justice and the victims, in some cases, get blamed for stirring up trouble when they report it.

After screening the movie, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced new procedures for handling sexual assault complaints, putting responsibility higher up in the chain of command.

While it is "first step," in the words of Dick, he says it is not sufficient to handling the larger problem. The Department of Defense estimated that there were more than 19,000 incidents of "unwanted sexual contact" in 2010.

"The Invisible War" features interviews with victims, including Kori Cioca, struggling to receive federal medical after being raped while working in the Coast Guard. She and 16 other veterans and active duty service members filed suit against the Department of Defense in February, just weeks after Sundance.

I recently talked with Dick about the challenge in making the movie, getting the public's attention and getting policymakers to focus on the problem.

How did decide to take on this issue as your latest project?

My producer Any Ziering and I read an article, and we were equally unaware of the situation and equally astounded by these numbers. We were surprised that no other feature film had been made, even though this has been something that has been an issue for generations, and has been in the news going all the way back to Tailhook, for 20 years.

There had been some reporting on this, but it had always been reported on as a problem at a particular base, a problem of a few soldiers, or at an academy. It was never looked at as a systemic problem, and once we took a look at it, it became very clear that this had been a problem that has been going on or generations, that it is completely a systemic problem because the military had not been taking it seriously.

Carl Bernstein accepted the Los Angeles Press Club's Presidents Award tonight by pushing back against "historical revisionists" who dismiss Watergate as merely a "blip" on the Nixon presidency.

Reiterating points that he and Bob Woodward made in a recent Watergate anniversary joint byline piece in the Washington Post, Bernstein pointed out how the continued release of White House tapes show how Nixon engaged in repeated criminal activity. Bernstein cited excerpts where Nixon orders aides to break in to the Brookings Institution to find Vietnam files that could smear Lyndon Johnson and others where he rails against the "Eastern Establishment" "Jew" Daniel Ellsberg, responsible for releasing the Pentagon Papers in 1971.

As it turned out, at the L.A. Press Club Awards, Bernstein was seated at the same table at the Biltmore as Ellsberg's granddaughter, who informed him that Ellsberg was not Jewish, but a Christian Scientist. "Nixon was wrong again," Bernstein said.

Woodward appeared from his Washington office on Skype, having had to cancel at the last minute.

He pointed out that, despite the polarity in politics today, Nixon's misdeeds so alarmed Washington that Republicans as well as Democrats called for an investigation and later recommended impeachment. It as a congressional delegation of Republican leaders, led by Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona), who went to the White House to tell Nixon that his presidency was over. He resigned the next day.

"What is remarkable [from the tapes] is how regularly Nixon orders criminal activity," Woodward told the crowd from Washington, where it was midnight but he was nevertheless in a coat and tie. "...This was not just an aberration. This was daily activity."

None of Nixon's aides even stopped him and "says what would be right for the country," Woodward said. "He never connected himself to the higher purpose of the office."

"Someday, if Carl and I wrote a book about Nixon it would be called 'The Wrong Man.'"

Woodward said he has a deadline for his latest book --- his 17th --- on Monday. So on Saturday, he found out how to sign up and connect to Skype, although he and Bernstein have warned against the pitfalls of Internet journalism replacing show leather reporting. As he looked up at the image of Woodward from the stage, Bernstein said to the crowd, "First, I want to thank Gordon Liddy for this hookup."

Politico's Dave Levinthal has gone through Mitt Romney's latest donor list and finds show biz names wanting.

Levinthal writes that the President's star supporters "together in May made 330 reportable contributions to Obama’s re-election campaign for a total of $130,000, new federal campaign finance records indicate.

"How many does Mitt Romney count among his donors last month?

"Four."

Among them are Nick Searcy and William Schockley. Jon Voight and Scott Baio appeared at a fundraiser for Obama last month.

That Romney has lagged in show biz contributions is not a surprise, but he also lacks the same kinds of connections to entertainment that John McCain did in 2008. The Arizona senator had a show biz centric fundraiser at the Beverly Hilton in August of that year, and while efforts are afoot to do the same for Romney, no event is yet on the books.

The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the FCC’s punishments of the broadcast networks for airing so-called fleeting expletives, calling the rules “vague,” but avoided weightier free speech questions and held open the possibility of the agency revising its indecency policy.

In an 8-0 opinion, the high court said on Thursday that the FCC’s Bush-era crackdown on unexpected utterances of swear words and brief shots of nudity was undertaken without giving the broadcast networks proper notice.

“Because the commission failed to give Fox or ABC fair notice prior to the broadcasts in question that fleeting expletives and momentary nudity could be found actionably indecent, the commission’s standard as applied to those broadcasts were vague,” the court said.

The ruling was the latest in a legal showdown that started in 2004, when the FCC took a hardline approach toward celebrities uttering swear words on award telecasts and, perhaps most famously, Janet Jackson’s fraction of a second flash of her breasts in the infamous “wardrobe malfunction” during the Super Bowl halftime show.

The case stemmed from the FCC’s ruling against Fox after Cher uttered an f-bomb on the Billboard Music Awards in 2002 and Nicole Richie swore on the same kudocast the following year. Although the case originally dealt with such “fleeting expletives,” its ramifications were great enough that it was combined with another challenge to the FCC’s policy: ABC’s suit against the government after its stations were fined $1.24 million for showing an episode of “NYPD Blue” featuring a seven-second clip of a woman’s behind.

The networks argued that the FCC had changed its policy after years of not cracking down on “fleeting” moments of swearing or nudity, having instead punished repetitive use of coarse language and naked shots.

The ruling does not strike down the current indecency policy, even toward fleeting expletives, but the procedures that were followed. Yet were the FCC to start acting on complaints, the networks would likely to continue to argue that the policy is vague, and arbitrary in the way that it is carried out.

The court’s opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, even implied that the lack of specifics in the policy raised the due process concerns: “Regulated parties should know what is required of them so they may act accordingly; and precision and guidance are necessary so that those enforcing the law do not act in an arbitrary or discriminatory way. When speech is involved, adherence to those requirements is necessary to ensure that ambiguity does not chill protected speech.”

FCC chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement: “We are reviewing today’s decision, which appears to be narrowly limited to procedural issues related to actions taken a number of years ago. Consistent with vital First Amendment principles, the FCC will carry out Congress’ directive to protect young TV viewers.” The policy was carried out by Genachowski’s predecessor, Kevin Martin, and its implementation has largely been on hold in recent years given the court challenges.

Commissioner Robert McDowell said, “As a matter of good governance, it is now time for the FCC to get back to work so that we can process the backlog of pending indecency complaints — which currently stands at just under 1.5 million involving about 9,700 TV broadcasts.”

Tim Winter, the president of the Parents Television Council, which has brought many of the complaints over objectionable content, said that the court “only ruled against the timing and order of events related to the FCC’s enforcement. The court today specifically acknowledged the FCC’s ability to continue broadcast decency enforcement as part of its public interest obligation.”

A Fox spokesman said in a statement that the network was “pleased” with the decision but left open the possibility of further court action on First Amendment grounds.

“Those issues remain for further litigation depending on what regulatory approach the FCC takes to those broadcasts in the future,” the spokesman said. “We have always believed that the government must tread carefully with regard to matters implicating speech, and we hope in the future broadcasters will have the ability to rely on a governmental review process that takes careful account of the important constitutional principles at stake.”

A spokeswoman for ABC said, “We’re pleased with the decision of the Supreme Court regarding the episode of ‘NYPD Blue,’ and we are reviewing the entire ruling carefully.”

The court stopped short of issuing a sweeping decision that would have scaled back the commission’s authority to regulate indecent content overall, as the broadcast networks wanted. The networks argued that the FCC policy chilled free speech, but they also asked the court to reconsider its landmark 1978 decision in FCC vs. Pacifica, in which the court ruled that the government could sanction stations for airing indecent material. That case centered on a radio broadcast of George Carlin’s famous “seven dirty words” monologue during the middle of the day.

The broadcasters argued that because there are so many other choices competing for viewers, it made no sense for them to have to comply with stringent indecency guidelines when other media did not have the same constraints. In a one-paragraph, concurring opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that the Pacifica decision was “wrong when it (was) issued” and needed to be reconsidered, given “time, technological advances and the commission’s untenable rulings in the cases now before the court.”

Jonathan Rintels, executive director of the Center for Creative Voices in Media, expressed satisfaction at the ruling but regret that the high court didn’t go further. “As a result of the court’s actions, creative media artists now likely face many more years of uncertainty as to what precisely is or is not ‘indecent’ under FCC policy, and whether the policy is consistent with the First Amendment,” he said. Rintels’ org, representing content creators such as Warren Beatty, Steven Bochco and Tom Fontana, was an intervening party in the case.

Despite the appeal to the conservatives’ libertarian sensibilities, it was clear during oral arguments in January that some of the justices still favored the FCC’s authority, seeing broadcast television and the family hour as a safe harbor from objectionable content elsewhere in the TV universe.

“That cuts both ways,” Chief Justice John Roberts said during the arguments. “People who want to watch broadcasts … where these words are used, where there is nudity, there are 800 channels where they can go for that. All we are asking for, what the government is asking for, is a few channels where you can say, ‘I’m not going to … hear the s-word, the f-word.”

Justice Samuel Alito suggested that the problem would disappear because “broadcast TV is living on borrowed time.” Justice Antonin Scalia said that because the airwaves were public, the government “is entitled to insist upon a certain modicum of decency.”

The networks contended that the crackdown on indecent content marked a change from past practice that was arbitrary: a PBS broadcast of the Ken Burns documentary “Jazz,” in which blues singers utter expletives, was found indecent, while a broadcast of “Saving Private Ryan,” in which soldiers use foul language, was not.

The high court originally ruled in 5-4 in favor of the FCC in 2009, but it was on procedural grounds, and constitutional questions were left to a lower court. To little surprise, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Fox, and the FCC appealed back to the Supreme Court.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor recused herself from the decision on Thursday.

President Obama's record-breaking, $15-million fundraiser at the home of George Clooney in May was reflected in today's release of campaign finance disclosure reports, showing a wild disparity in show biz support compared to his Republican rival Mitt Romney.

That is expected to continue this month, with the announcement today of a fundraiser on June 29 aimed at young Hollywood. The host committee includes Jared Leto, Zach Braff, Connie Britton, David Fincher, Johnny Galecki, Zachary Quinto, Ian Somerhalder, Maria Bello, Olivia Wilde, Sophia Bush, Pete Wentz and Darren Aronofsky, as well as Peter Frampton, a young Hollywood name from the past. Tickets for the event start at $500, and the fete is being organized by Gen44, the Obama campaign effort to motivate young voters. It's still unclear if Obama will be present for the event.

This evening, other Hollywood figures were to gather at the home of Donna Mills for another fund-raising effort, what is billed as the Los Angeles Obama Leadership Circle. Scheduled to be a special guest was Sharon Stone, with members paying $5,000 per person. Monique Brown, Eriq Paquette and Cate Park are founding members, and Joyce Rey and Dixon Slingerland are co-chairs.

In May, Kirk Douglas, Scarlett Johansson, Meryl Streep and Steven Spielberg were among those who gave high dollar contributions to Obama.

Others who gave during the month:

Stars: Will.i.am, Tom Hanks, Salma Hayek, Kate Capshaw, Billy Crystal, Jamie Lee Curtis, Robert Downey Jr., Vivica Fox, Marsha Mason, Eddie Murphy, Yeardley Smith, Barbra Streisand, Rita Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Jack Black.

Writers-Producers-Directors: J.J. Abrams, David Kohan, Salim Akil, John August, Paris Barclay, Dustin Lance Black, Susannah Grant, Nina Jacobson, Kathleen Kennedy, Phil Rosenthal, Rod Lurie, Frank Marshall, Katie McGrath, Max Mutchnick, Marti Noxon, Todd Phillips, Andrew Solt.

Media and Studio Executives: Doug Belgrad, Robert Friedman, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Ted Sarandos, Thomas Schumacher, Jeff Shell, Andy Cohen, Barry Diller, Michael Fricklas, Debra Lee, Michael Rapino, Kevin Tsujihara, Dana Walden,

Agents, Managers and Attorneys: Keith Addis, Alan Hergott, Kevin Huvane, Matthew Kline, Jeremy Zimmer, Bryan Lourd, Gerald Breslauer.

Other Notables: Clarence Avant, Burt Bacharach, James Gleick, Al Gore, Kelly Meyer, Pat Mitchell, Tomi Morrison.

On the Republican side, Romney held a fundraiser in late May at the Beverly Hills Hotel, with Tom Dreeson, Jon Voight and Scott Baio among the show biz figures present. And while there has been talk of Romney doing a show biz centric event, none is scheduled.

House Republicans dropped their effort to block a new FCC rule that requires that TV stations post political ad spending information online.

Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), chairwoman of a House Financial Services and General Government subcommittee, instead introduced an amendment to an appropriations bill that calls for a General Accounting Office study of the rule's impact. The committee approved the amendment unanimously.

Broadcasters opposed the FCC's move to require the posting of the information, arguing that it will make it all the easier for station competitors to obtain ad rate information. They are challenging the agency's move in a federal appellate court in Washington.

The FCC rule requires that network affiliates in the top 50 markets post the information online, with the requirement expected to go into effect by the fall. The information details the amount and price of ad time that a campaign or outside group buys. All stations will be required to post such information by 2014. Such information already is public, but stations usually make their files available to those who actually come to their offices to review the material.

Democrats opposed the GOP effort to block the rule, arguing that it was an attempt to make information about election spending more difficult to find at a time when outside groups are pouring tens of millions into the campaign.

The former Minnesota governor went on to become a reality show host and airport security screening foe, but he's also waded into the debate over a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

"I certainly hope that people don't amend our constitution to stop gay marriage because, number one, the constitution is there to protect people — not oppress them," Ventura said in an interview with the Post-Bulletin in Rochester, Minn.

What's also interesting is the rationale. Ventura opposes the idea that voters should decide.

"If you did that, we would still have slavery because the majority isn't going to think about the minority," he said. "You have to have politicians with courage, who will stand up and say this is a civil rights issue, and where do we get off that the government should decide who you should fall in love with and marry?"

The Obama campaign is promoting the endorsement of talk show host Christina Saralegui. In a web video, Saralegui said that the election "will have an impact on Latinos for generations to come."

In Variety today, Anna Marie de la Fuente writes that even though companies are devoting a greater share of their ad budgets to Latino media, campaigns and SuperPACs have yet to spend in huge amounts. But Univision and Telemundo expect a windfall.

Jennifer Hoelzer is joining the American Film Institute as VP of communications.

Hoelzer has been communications director for Rep. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), and has worked for other congressional representatives and in the Clinton White House in the National Security Council's communications office.

Bob Gazzale, president of the AFI, said the "goal was to find someone who could articulate the relevance of the moving image arts to the nation and the world, and we believe we have found that voice in Jen.  She loves the movies, and her fresh perspective and extensive communications experience is precisely what the American Film Institute needs to remind us all that the movies matter."

At Wyden's office, Hoelzer worked on a number of issues, including Internet policy. Much to the dismay of the show biz lobby, last year Wyden put a hold on the Protect IP Act, which was scuttled in the face of an Internet blackout in January.

Raise your hand if you've heard this one before: A Democratic president, facing a wave of Republican money, turns to Hollywood to help fill his re-election war chest, even if that means withstanding attacks from the right for being too cozy with showbiz elites.

The vintage may sound more recent, but the scenario also fits a campaign season 16 years ago, the last time a Democratic incumbent faced reelection, and it's easy to make comparisons.

That year, President Clinton tapped the biz in a big way, even throwing a birthday fund-raising gala at Radio City Music Hall. This year, President Obama is drawing on stars like George Clooney and Sarah Jessica Parker for online contests to win tickets to fund-raising events at their homes.

Both Democrats won office after historic races -- Clinton as the man from Hope and Obama as the man of hope -- only to face newly entrenched Republican opposition in Congress and, in their re-election races, the challenge of reigniting enthusiasm amid elements of disappointment. There is a certain nostalgia for the Clinton years in Hollywood, but there also was triangulation at the time, to the point where the ACLU of Southern California in 1996 had a dinner honoring Peter Edelman for resigning from his post in the Clinton administration to protest the President's capitulation on welfare reform.

Still, when it comes to courting showbiz, there are differences between the former President and the current one. That became readily apparent just months into Obama's term, when some donors started to grumble that he wasn't paying the level of attention that Clinton did: hanging out after big money events, offering face time at the White House or routinely following up after a high-dollar fund-raiser. A White House visit these days means just that: maybe a handshake with Obama, but not a night in the Lincoln bedroom. On his visit to Los Angeles for the fundraiser at Clooney's home in May, Obama hopped from table to table, chatting up donors until nearly 11 p.m. -- late for him, but not like Clinton's famous chats that could stretch into the early morning.

"There's no question Clinton had a special connection to California," says Donna Bojarsky, a Hollywood-based political consultant. Obama, she notes, is "not a schmoozer in the same way." She identifies the idiosyncrasies: Obama's deep and long-standing home base connections are in big-city Chicago; Clinton, meanwhile, found a vast network in Los Angeles that he couldn't get in the much smaller Little Rock. Some of his Arkansas friends, like Harry and Linda Bloodworth Thomason and Mary Steenburgen, already were in Hollywood. And the former President is still a frequent draw for Los Angeles events: On June 7, he was courting industry donors at the home of Haim Saban, raising money for the Democratic National Convention, and later at a Women's Heart Center benefit at the home of Barbra Streisand. Longtime fund-raisers call Clinton a rarity for his charm in dealing with donors.

There's also a political reality: Clinton was in California a lot more than Obama. By the time his re-election rolled around, Clinton had visited California 40 times, in part because the state was still somewhat in play, and had yet to turn true blue.

"These are two very big and charismatic personalities," says Tennis Channel CEO Ken Solomon, Southern California finance co-chair of Obama's re-election campaign. "These are magnetic national leaders who entertainment people and celebrities are drawn to, and continue to be drawn to. But they both have their own unique styles."

The general public would struggle to notice many differences at all in each man's relationship to showbiz. Clinton overnighted at mogul's homes; last month, Obama played basketball with Clooney, Tobey Maguire and Don Cheadle. In his latest trek to L.A., Obama met with Jeremy Renner, Ian Somerhalder, Jessica Alba and about two dozen others to engage them for the fall campaign. Last week, he met with Betty White in the Oval Office.

But compared with the Clinton years, real-time scrutiny is now a big part of the equation, what with blogs, social media and Pinterest, where, by the way, some of the young stars quickly posted their pictures with the President. As Twitters spread the news that Jon Bon Jovi was riding on Air Force One with Obama to a recent New York fundraiser, the White House assured reporters that it was the campaign that was picking up the tab.

Perhaps rightly so, fund-raising faces an even greater skepticism of motive, and whether there's a degree of quid pro quo. And, as has already been the case, the Obama campaign is subjected to an ever-more-rapid response from Mitt Romney and heavily funded SuperPACs, ready for any story that feeds into a narrative that the "celebrity" President is out of touch in a sputtering economy.

Back in '96, Bob Dole took to a 20th Century Fox soundstage to bash Hollywood content and, by implication, his opponents' embrace of showbiz. This time around, Obama's supporters would gladly welcome the attacks -- provided the election results are the same.

WireImage Photo: Bill Clinton at a fundraiser in 1992.

By Paul Harris/Washington

It’s been 40 years since the Watergate break-in, the scandal that set the standard for all political scandals to come. Now a new book reveals a heretofore unknown story of a whistleblower who has a connection to Variety.

Don Fulsom, the author of the recently published “Nixon’s Darkest Secrets: The Inside Story of America’s Most Troubled President” (St. Martin’s Press), includes the tale of Tom Girard, who in 1972 was assistant press secretary for the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP), which was behind the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office building. Girard later covered TV and cable for Variety in the 1980s.

Fulsom, a White House correspondent for UPI Audio, says Girard tipped him off of the connection of the Watergate break-in to the Nixon re-election campaign before it was uncovered by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

“Tom is one of the unsung heroes of Watergate; he is the original Watergate whistleblower,” Fulsom says.

Girard, who died in 2004, was a popular reporter at Variety who quickly earned a reputation for his no-nonsense coverage of the lengthy trial of the libel suit filed against CBS by Gen. William C. Westmoreland.

In the book’s introduction, Fulsom writes:  “At 8 a.m. on June 18, 1972, I was at the Key Biscayne Hotel covering President Nixon on one of his frequent weekends in the Florida-Bahamas sunshine with Charles “Bebe” Rebozo, and I got a call from Washington. The caller was Tom Girard, a close buddy, a former radio reporter who had gone on to become the deputy press secretary for CREEP, the Committee to Re-elect the President.

“Tom had just read the early edition of the Washington Post, in which there had been a photo of the five Watergate burglars along with their names. ‘The guy they’re identifying as Edward Martin is not Edward Martin,’ Tom told me. ‘That’s James McCord. … McCord is the top security man for CREEP, and he’s a former CIA agent who’s in charge of security for the CIA.’

“My story linking CREEP to the Watergate burglary was broadcast to UPI Audio’s 1,200 radio clients at 10:10 a.m. It was one of those ‘reliable source’ stories that would be very hard to trace.”

Fulsom says the episode and other questionable Nixon campaign tactics prompted the principled Girard to resign after only a few months in the post. He says Girard also wanted to leak the truth to a trusted colleague who would carefully protect his identity.

Sandwiched around Girard’s short-lived tenure with CREEP were stints as a radio newsman for the D.C. bureaus of Metromedia and Westinghouse Broadcasting. While in D.C., he helped create and produced the “Close Up” series on the C-SPAN cable network.

White House photo

Joseph P. Kennedy III is returning to Los Angeles on Tuesday to raise money for his congressional bid at the home of Nicole Avant and Ted Sarandos.

Kennedy, 31, the grandson of Robert Kennedy and son of former Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.), is seeking the seat of retiring Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.).

Co-hosts of the event include Marilyn Bitner. John and Kimberly Emerson, Colleen Bell, Ken Solomon and Maxwell and Vicki Kennedy.

Kennedy raised money in March at a fundraiser at the home of Santa Monica city councilman Bobby Shriver.

Ben Affleck on Thursday trekked to Washington to promote his Eastern Congo Initiative, including an event where he met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah. His initiative is focused on fighting child mortality in the region, with a focus on supporting organizations in the Congo to make an impact.

Affleck was interviewed by the Associated Press, below.

Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, special assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior director for European and Turkey affairs, spent an hour or so talking to a Hollywood group of writers, producers and lawyers about the outlook in many of the world hot spots.

The session, the latest Foreign Policy Roundtable, was off the record, but it's safe to state the obvious: The European economy, the Syrian situation and Iran's nuclear enrichment program were high on the list. What seemed to especially captivate attention of the gathering at the Peninsula Hotel was merely when Randall recounted an average day, which undoubtedly put busy show biz lives in perspective.

Among those present at the Wednesday luncheon were Dante Di Loreto, Tracey Edmonds, Cliff Gilbert-Lurie, Andy Kaplan, Kristin Dornig, Jonathan Collier, Jonathan Mostow, Greg Daniels and Bobby Schwartz. David Kissinger introduced Sherwood-Randall.

Foreign Policy Roundtable, led by Donna Bojarsky, is a quarterly gathering that brings in policymakers to discuss pressing world issues with creators and executives in entertainment.

White House photo of Sherwood-Randall briefing President Obama on June 8.

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are making their way to the West Village home of Sarah Jessica Parker, where he will raise money with a mix of show biz and fashion industry stars.

About 50 people are expected at the event, including Anna Wintour, Meryl Streep and Aretha Franklin (the latter is via TMZ, camped out on at the entrance), and tickets are going for $40,000 per person. The fundraiser is the latest contest in the campaign's use of celebrity as a sweetener for supporters to win a contest to attend. After the millions that came from a contest last month to win entrance to George Clooney's presidential fundraiser, the campaign went all out to encourage participation in the Parker event.

Parker appeared in a commercial shown during the MTV Movie Awards, and Wintour appeared in a web video urging the winners to "not be late." As it turns out, the winner is Robin Hunt, a Baltimore project administrator at Johns Hopkins Hospital who brought her mother, Elvita, as her guest.

Later in the evening, the Obamas will attend a $10,000-per-person event at the Plaza, where Mariah Carey will perform and Alicia Keys and Newark Mayor Cory Booker will deliver remarks.

Update: Also present at the Parker event were Andy Cohen and Michael Kors. Obama said that he, Parker and husband Matthew Broderick were "great friends," and that Wintour, a co-host of the event,was "just as great a friend."

As Obama, going into his stump speech, said "GM is now back on top," Parker's son began clapping.

“He wanted to fire up the crowd,” Obama said.

“He knows an applause line,” Cohen said, roaring. “Right on cue!”

From the pool report: "The guests sat at two long tables in two long rooms w dividing doors open. There was ample art on the wall, and a floor to ceiling bookshelves and two large marble fireplaces. The mantels on the fireplaces were covered in flowers, as were the tables, which were also decorated with votives."

Obama, who said that the event was he and the First Lady's "date night," also had a Q&A with the guests, which was not open to the press. But Wintour, Obama noted, was going to "moderate to make sure I don’t call on the wrong person.”

In a profile of Jim Messina, President Obama's reelection campaign manager, Bloomberg Businessweek's Joshua Green writes that Messina took extensive advice from Steven Spielberg on how to reach audiences, and even spent time with the DreamWorks marketing team.

Green writes, "At DreamWorks Studios, Steven Spielberg spent three hours explaining how to capture an audience’s attention and offered a number of ideas that will be rolled out before Election Day. An early example of Spielberg’s influence is RomneyEconomics.com, a website designed by the Obama team to tell the story—a horror story, by their reckoning—of Mitt Romney’s career at Bain Capital. Afterward, Spielberg insisted that Messina sit down with the DreamWorks marketing team. Hollywood movie studios are expert, as presidential campaigns also must be, at spending huge sums over a few weeks to reach and motivate millions of Americans."

Several weeks ago, I chatted with Jason Killian Meath, who created the "King of Bain" documentary for the pro-Newt Gingrich SuperPAC that ran in advance of the South Carolina primary.

Meath said that he took heat for making a documentary that could play into Democrats' hands. But he responded, "If I don't do it now, (Obama adviser) David Axelrod will do it, and Steven Spielberg will direct it by the time September comes around.'"

Turns out he was very close to be right --- save for the timing.

On Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told a Senate panel "no unauthorized disclosures" were provided to the makers of a movie about the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound, "or anyone else." Panetta was responding to a question from Sen. Dan Coats (R-Indiana), who pressed him following a report on the cooperation given to Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal as they pursued their project, now slated to be released in December.

"I can assure you I have asked that question, and in this instance, no one released information that was unauthorized," Panetta said. He added that the military does have a liaison office to assist filmmakers and other content creators to make sure that their depictions are accurate.

Panetta was speaking to a Senate Appropriations panel on defense spending.

Video from C-SPAN is here.

One of today's odder stories is about the DVD release of HBO's "Game of Thrones," in which creators explain that a decapitated head in one scene is actually that of George W. Bush.

"It's not a choice, it's not a political statement. We just had to use whatever head we had around," one of the show's creators says in the commentary.

The story, which appeared on the website i09, triggered an outcry, enough for HBO to release a statement "unacceptable, disrespectful and in very bad taste," and pledging to remove it from future DVDs. And the creators issued a statement saying they "meant no disrespect" to the former president.

Video of the scene here.

After holding contests featuring the promise of dinner with George Clooney, Bill Clinton and Sarah Jessica Parker, the Obama campaign is now holding a contest where entrants can pick their own celebrity.

"You not only have the chance to sit down for a meal with the President and a guest of your choice. You also get to help pick the President’s guest," deputy Obama campaign manager Julianna Smoot wrote in an email to supporters, per ABC News.

"He’s had some pretty amazing dinner guests lately: George Clooney, Sarah Jessica Parker, and of course, President Bill Clinton. So tell us, who’s next?"

The campaign asks donors to contribute at least $3, but the contest actually is open to anyone even without making a donation.

The Washington Post gathered Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein and Ben Bradlee for a series of panels on the 40th anniversary of Watergate, held fittingly enough at the sprawling Watergate complex on the banks of the Potomac. Also present were figures from the era including John Dean, Bud Krogh, Fred Thompson and Richard Ben-Veniste, but one of the more fascinating moments came when Woodward and Bernstein talked about whether the scandal could have been uncovered in the digital age.

The complete event coverage is here. Woodward and Bernstein will be in Los Angeles on June 24 to accept the President's Award from the Los Angeles Press Club.

Ninety-year-old Betty White already has endorsed President Obama; today she got to meet him during a White House visit. (via Politico). Next, the campaign trail?

Photo of White and Bo the dog here.

White may not have had a history of being political in her long career, but she has recently. She taped an ad for Howard Berman in his race against follow Democrat Brad Sherman for a San Fernando Valley congressional seat.

Update: The White House released the photo, at left, by Pete Souza.

I'm back from a short respite...

Joy Behar is getting her own talk show on Current TV, filling an early evening slot as the network bolsters its lineup of personalities following the departure of Keith Olbermann. Behar had been doing a talk show for CNN's HLN, but left last year. Although Current has struggled to make its mark, Behar had solid ratings and often generated attention for her interviews, which is easier said than done in the cable universe.

Meanwhile, Dylan Ratigan is leaving MSNBC, posting a statement on his website that he has decided to "join with some of these leaders to experiment and explore new ways to tell their stories." A web venture? He hinted at a focus on inspirational stories amid the cynicism of politics.

"While it may seem unconventional to leave a rapidly growing political cable show on the eve of a Presidential election, to me, the timing couldn’t be better.

"In fact, the thrill of an opportunity to expand new systems that cost less and give us more in every part of life is impossible to pass up.  I believe if we are honest about where we are now, honest about where we want to go and honest about how we are going to get there, we may well end up as the hero of our own stories."

"Two words: Donald Trump. Next question." White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, responding Wednesday to criticism of President Obama's celebrity support coming from Rush Limbaugh, who has called him "Barack Kardashian."

Update: If the campaign is worried about the "celebrity" label, they sure aren't showing it. Photos here and here and here of the meeting that Obama had this morning with young Hollywood.

Updated

President Obama told a Beverly Hills gathering of gay and lesbian donors from show biz, politics and activist orgs that the pursuit of equal rights "is just part of a broader fight on behalf of all Americans."

What he didn't mention in his remarks on Wednesday was he recent announcement that he supports same-sex marriage, but to many who were there, it was readily apparent.

As screenwriter Dustin Lance Black put it, the extended standing ovation that came when Obama appeared in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel ballroom was message enough. "He stepped on stage and said, 'Here I am,' and we said, 'We heard you.'"

The event drew many of Hollywood's highest profile gay and lesbian performers and industry figures, as well as other stars and politicos who are starting to engage in the campaign.

The sold-out event of about 600, drawing stars like Cher and her son, Chaz Bono, cast members from "Glee" and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, was moved to the bigger at Obama made his announcement last month that he had evolved and supports same-sex marriage. Obama followed it with a $25,000-per-person dinner at the Beverly Hills home of "Glee" co-creator Ryan Murphy and fiancee David Miller, with Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, Jane Lynch, HBO's Michael Lombardo and Gap President Jack Calhoun.

All told, more than $3 million was expected to be raised.

At the Beverly Wilshire event, Obama emphasized his administration's accomplishments, most prominently ending Don't Ask Don't Tell.

He devoted a portion of his speech to putting gay and lesbian rights in the context of American history, saying the country has seen a "constant progression toward including more and more people in the American dream." The crowd twice broke into chants of "Four more years!" as Obama spoke before a gigantic American flag.

Vito Imbasciani, a urological surgeon who served in the military for 26 years but had to conceal his husband until the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, introduced Obama. The President referred several times to Imbasciani's story, as well as to one of a straight service member he met at a Honolulu Marine base who thanked him for the repeal because "I didn't think it was right."

Ellen DeGeneres and "Glee" star Darren Criss entertained the crowd before Obama took the stage.

A brief awkward moment came when Obama talked of the First Lady's appearance on DeGeneres' show. He noted DeGeneres was teased by the First Lady for not beating her in pushups but that DeGeneres "claims Michelle didn't go all the way down." It drew naughty laughter from this crowd, before he said, "Michelle outdoes me in pushups as well."

Also at the event were Les Moonves and wife Julie Chen, Peter Roth, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Paris Barclay, Lance Bass, George Takei, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, White House Social Secretary Jeremy Bernard, Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin, and Adam Umhoefer, executive director of the American Foundation for Equal Rights.

The cochairs of the event were actor Barry Karas and attorney Dana Perlman.

Some of those who were there spoke of a boost in enthusiasm.

Black said that "it is important that we get gay and lesbian people motivated. I think he did it."

He added that he appreciated that Obama did not just focus on LGBT issues, but that he "made it about all of us out there."

"I didn"t think we talked down to. He talked about the fact that we are all interconnected" and put the pursuit of LGBT rights in context.

Tim Robinson, a small business owner, who attended with his partner, attorney Bob Cohen, said that although Obama did not make mention of same-sex marriage, "his presence at this event said more than needs to be said. That would be stating the obvious."

"I was moved in a way I have not been moved before," said Robinson, who added that he and Cohen plan to offer up their home for another fundraising event.

The Courage Campaign's Rick Jacobs said that for a President who has been knocked for being too "cerebral," he was moved by Obama's remarks, which he said were "spoken from his soul and he really connected."

Obama's complete remarks are below.

The singer taped a video for the Obama campaign, aimed at Latino supporters. (Via Politico).

House Republicans are taking aim at a new FCC rule that requires TV stations to post information about political ad spending online.

A House Appropriations subcommittee, voting on funding for the FCC’s annual budget, included a provision that would prevent the commission from spending anything on the political ad rule’s implementation.

The information is already publicly available, but usually only by actually visiting a station in person and requesting the file. A measure passed by the FCC in April would require that broadcasters make information about campaigns’ TV buys and rates available in a central database. The rule is expected to go into effect later this year, perhaps in time for the fall campaign, although only affiliates of the four major networks in the 50 major markets will be initially required to comply, with the rest of stations given until 2014.

Appropriations subcommittee chairwoman Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) offered the amendment, arguing that it was too costly for TV stations.

Democrats on the subcommittee opposed the provision, arguing that it was a way to shield GOP groups from having to have the names of their donors more readily accessible to the public.

Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) accused Republicans of being against transparency. “It looks like you’re trying to cover up the fact that all these fat cats are coming in and putting all this money into these elections and they don’t want their names disclosed,” he said.

Broadcasters, which opposed the FCC’s move, filed suit last month in a federal appellate court seeking to block its implementation. The NAB said that the FCC’s action was “arbitrary, capricious, in excess of the Commission statutory authority, inconsistent with the First Amendment, and otherwise not in accordance with law.”

When the rule was passed, FCC chairman Julius Genachowski said that the commission was well within in its bounds to make the change given previous congressional action.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

After Ari Emanuel slammed Google last week claiming it was building its business on piracy, then softened that statement by admitting industry arrogance and a need for Hollywood and Silicon Valley to work together, MPAA chairman Chris Dodd once again called for detente.

He writes in Huffington Post, "Recently, my friend Ari Emanuel called on Google and other leaders in Silicon Valley to come to the table to work on a meaningful solution. Today, Time Magazine business and technology reporter Sam Gustin suggested that "tech giants should take him up on his offer."

It's discouraging to hear Google executives say they "have done as much as they possibly can" when in fact the theft of American products around the world is rampant -- and often facilitated by their search engine. Now is not the time to bury our heads in the sand, but instead to put them together to come up with a smart solution to a problem that is hurting not only the film and television community, but industries across the American economy that are seeing their products stolen, counterfeited and sold."

Obviously this underscores how dead any type of anti-piracy legislation is this year, and the fears of the entertainment industry that any kind of revival will simply be met by the outcry that greeted SOPA. The animosity toward Google among Hollywood's power players and policymakers is palpable, to the point where there's even some suspicion that the Internet giant is merely letting piracy run rampant to the point where it cuts into studio bottom lines and drives down value. Then Google, thirsty for content, can make a move to acquire one of their own. It sounds conspiratorial, but it reflects the aftermath of SOPA and the challenges ahead if any kind of serious talks come to fruition.

President Obama will be in Los Angeles later this afternoon for two fundraisers drawing on support from gays and lesbians: He'll start at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel for a $1,250-per-person event featuring Ellen DeGeneres and Darren Criss of "Glee," with about 600 people expected. Then he will attend a dinner at the home of "Glee" co-creator Ryan Murphy, with tickets starting at $25,000 a piece, for about 70 people.

Just adding it up and the total take exceeds $3.2 million, underscoring the emphasis that the campaign has placed on reaching LGBT donors this year. The President's announcement last month that he supports same-sex marriage certainly gave a boost, but even before that there was a drive to tap the LGBT community with high-profile fundraisers in major metropolitan areas. Last year, Obama held a fundraiser in New York City that was emceed by Neil Patrick Harris. A CNN analysis concluded that gay and lesbian bundlers had raised at least $8 million between January and the end of March.

David Mixner, a legendary figure in the gay rights movement who marshaled LGBT donors as far back as the 1970s, told CNN, "We had some candidates who wouldn't take our money back then because they didn't want to be associated with anyone who was gay. Now the community knows how to raise money and contribute on their own and we are more than welcome at the table."

That contrast is apparent in Linda Hirshman's new book "Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution," where she devotes a chapter to a turning point in the power of LGBT presidential fundraising. It was in 1992, when Bill and Hillary Clinton wooed supporters at Access Now for Gay and Lesbian Equality, a Los Angeles-based group that by that time had become a way stop for any Democratic candidate seeking LGBT support.

Their appearance led to a Hollywood fundraiser in May 1992, up to them the biggest presidential fundraiser ever held by the gay and lesbian community, Hirshman writes. "I have a vision and you're part of it," Clinton said. "I believe we're all part of the same community and we'd better start behaving as if we are."

While there was consternation to come after Clinton's election, what with the passage of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act, the night led to organized and open support for Clinton. That was a contrast to the more tenuous attention that Michael Dukakis gave to the LGBT community. "Nationally, gays raised four million dollars for Clinton," Hirshman writes. "In 1992, they were part of it."

A postscript: Chad Griffin, the political consultant who helped spearhead the federal lawsuit against Proposition 8, was feted on Monday at the Brentwood home of longtime clients Rob Reiner and his wife Michele. Griffin is on his way to Washington as the new president of the Human Rights Campaign. Among those present were a mix of Hollywood and Los Angeles politicos, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and a smattering of candidates seeking statewide office. Also present were plaintiffs from the case, Sandy Stier and Kris Perry, as well as Jeff Zarrillo.

Photo by Karen Ocamb of LGBTPOV.

Democrats Brad Sherman topped Howard Berman in one of the most expensive congressional races playing out this year, and one that is drawing interest from Hollywood studios and unions.

Sherman captured 42.4% of the vote to Berman's 32.4%. With the state's open primary, both incumbents will challenge each other in the newly redrawn San Fernando Valley district, a haven for entertainment industry employees. Republican Mark Reed captured 12.7% and does not make it into the general election contest, although his endorsement may matter as each candidate tries to win votes in the center.

Sherman and Berman held their primary night parties just blocks away from each other in Encino: Sherman was at the Mediterranean restaurant The Gate, while Berman's supporters ate Italian food at his storefront headquarters just down the street. The candidates each took the opportunity to slam each other, underscoring what happens when two longtime incumbents from the same party face off. Sherman accused Berman's allies of running a "smear campaign" that didn't work, while Berman said that the "more voters learn about Brad's record and the negativity of his campaign, his support drops."

Updated

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied Prop 8 supporters' effort to have a larger panel of appellate justices rehear the case.

The denial potentially keys the case up for the Supreme Court to decide whether to take the case.

In January, the Ninth Circuit declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional, in a 2-1 vote of an appellate panel.

Adam Umhoefer, executive director of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which is challenging Prop 8, said in a statement, "AFER’s federal constitutional challenge to Proposition 8 is now entering its final stage. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided today it will not rehear our case. Now, there are only two things that could happen: Couples start getting married again in California; or our case for marriage equality goes to the U.S. Supreme Court."

Judge Diarmuid Fionntain O'Scannlain dissented. He wrote, "A few weeks ago, subsequent to oral argument in this case, the President of the United States ignited a media firestorm by announcing that he supports same-sex marriage as a policy matter. Drawing less attention, however, were his comments that the Constitution left this matter to the States and that “one of the things that [he]’d like to see is–that [the] conversation continue in a respectful way.”

"Today our court has silenced any such respectful conversation. Based on a two-judge majority’s gross misapplication of Romer v. Evans, we have now declared that animus must have been the only conceivable motivation for a sovereign State to have remained committed to a definition of
marriage that has existed for millennia. Even worse, we have overruled the will of seven million California Proposition 8 voters based on a reading of Romer that would be unrecognizable to the Justices who joined it, to those who dissented from it, and to the judges from sister circuits who have since interpreted it."

Judge Stephen Reinhardt and Judge Michael Daly Hawkins replied with a concurrence, emphasizing that the case should not be about whether the constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage, but a question on narrower grounds.

They wrote, "We are puzzled by our dissenting colleagues’ unusual reliance on the President’s views regarding the Constitution, especially as the President did not discuss the narrow issue that we decided in our opinion. We held only that under the particular circumstances relating to California’s Proposition 8, that measure was invalid. In line with the rules governing judicial resolution of constitutional issues, we did not resolve the fundamental question that both sides asked us to: whether the Constitution prohibits the states from banning same-sex marriage. That question may be decided in the near future, but if so, it should be in some other case, at some other time."

Update: Supporters of Proposition 8 say they will petition the Supreme Court to hear the case.

Brian Raum, senior counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund, said that the "Protectmarriage.com legal team looks forward to standing before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the people's right to preserve the fundamental building block of civilization, especially since the dissent accompanying today’s decision strongly supports our arguments. The democratic process and the most important human institution--marriage--shouldn’t be overthrown based on the demands of Hollywood activists."

Rob Reiner, his wife Michele and his then-political consultants, Chad Griffin and Kristina Schake, spearheaded the legal effort to challenge Proposition 8, enlisting Ted Olson and David Boies to lead the lawsuit. The seed money for the effort came from David Geffen and Steve Bing, and other show biz donors followed.

Charles Cooper, lead attorney for supporters of Prop 8, said, "We’re pleased to petition the Court to hear this case. The lower court opinions were little more than an attack on the character and judgment of millions of Californians, and those decisions essentially ignored all relevant Supreme Court and appellate court precedent. We are hopeful and confident that the Supreme Court will review the 9th Circuit’s decision."

The question now is whether the Prop 8 case --- Perry vs. Brown --- makes it to the Supreme Court before the challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act. Last week, a federal appeals court in Boston declared the law unconstitutional. There also will be attention on President Obama and whether the federal government weighs in with an amicus brief in either case.

Same-sex marriages will not resume in California pending the Supreme Court's decision on whether to take the case. If they do, it is expected that they will issue a stay pedning their review. If they do not, the Ninth Circuit decision stands, and counties can once again issue marriage licenses, although only in the state.

With voters going to the polls in California, for the state's open primary, and in Wisconsin, for the gubernatorial recall election, Tuesday's voting stands to be a prelude of things to come in November.

In California, there are two races that have drawn special interest for the entertainment industry. The race between incumbent Democrats Howard Berman and Brad Sherman for a San Fernando Valley congressional seat is especially important to the Hollywood lobby, which has long looked to Berman as one of its primary champions on Capitol Hill when it comes to industry issues (he's even dubbed "Hollywood's congressman.") The trouble for Berman is that he's running in a newly redrawn district where Sherman is better known, and a recent poll shows that. Sherman leads Berman in the latest poll, but with the state's open primary a one-two finish would mean that they would face off again in November. That's why Berman has been emphasizing Republican support to some extent, hopeful that he will draw from the center and the right in a general election contest.

Voters in the state also will decide on Proposition 29, a $1-per-pack tax on cigarette that will primarily be used to fund cancer research. Tobacco companies and the state Republican party have invested heavily in fighting the measure, while Lance Armstrong, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sherry Lansing, along with groups like the American Cancer Society, are pushing for it. It has already started a TV ad air war, with more than $60 million expected to be spent when all is said and done.

The results of the Wisconsin recall will undoubtedly trigger days of analysis of what it means for November. Gov. Scott Walker has led in every poll, so a victory tonight may be a matter of margins and the way that it is spun afterward. But it is also a prelude to what is going to be an avalanche of political spots airing in key swing states for the rest of the year. According to the Campaign Media Analysis Group, Wisconsin could end the year with the largest number of political ads ever aired in a state, per Politico.

By Jill Goldsmith in New York

“This is the third event tonight where I’m he warm-up act for the President,” joked former commander-in-chief Bill Clinton to laughter from 1,700 fans packing The New Amsterdam Theater in Gotham, the Broadway home of Walt Disney’s "Newsies."

“I don’t think it’s important to reelect the President. I think it’s essential to reelect the President,” Clinton said. He’s taken some heat for recent comments on Obama rival Governor Mitt Romney’s “sterling business career.”

Monday night was make-up time. He bashed Republican’s embracing “policies of European austerity and unemployment at all costs” instead of pushing for growth and jobs. Obama has made good decisions, he said, “and did the best he could with a lousy hand.”

Obama lauded Clinton, who took a seat behind him after introductory remarks, for helping “guide the Democratic party out of the wilderness.”

The audience clutched Playbills titled Barack on Broadway on the last stop on a trail of New York City fundraisers. Clinton and Obama first hit the Upper East Side home of Mark Lasry, founder of hedge fund Avenue Capital Group, at a $40,000-a-head dinner, followed by a gala at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel for about 500 and capped by the star turn on Broadway.

“It’s good to be back on Broadway,” Obama said, following performances by stars of the Great White Way including Neil Patrick Harris, Patti LuPone, Angela Lansbury and James Earl Jones. But unlike his appearance at the Apollo theater several months ago, he didn't sing.

He said the country is headed in the right direction now despite rocky economic times, which makes this election even more crucial than the last one in a way. And he warned supporters about the estimated “$500 million in Super PAC financed negative ads” on Romney’s behalf that are about to rain down, feeding on fear and frustration.

Republicans “have no vision for the future,” he said. It’s “things are tough and it’s Obama’s fault.’ That about sums it up.”

“How is repealing Obama care and throwing” millions of people off the insurance rolls an economic initiative? he asked.

Updated

With a deadline approaching for President Obama's latest raffle, in which Anna Wintour invites supporters to try to win a ticket to a fundraiser at the home of Sarah Jessica Parker, Republicans are using the use of the Vogue editor to slam the campaign on the latest unemployment report. The video unveiled today is called "Meanwhile."

The Obama campaign is apparently undaunted: They've sent out another fundraising pitch this morning, signed by First Lady Michelle Obama, once again inviting supporters to enter the contest and adding a sweetener: The winners get to go to the event at Parker's home and to "a private concert with Mariah Carey." Parker appeared in an ad during the MTV Movie Awards inviting supporters to join the contest.

Update: Will it work? Shushannah Walshe and Devin Dwyer of ABC News write that both campaigns are attacking the other for mingling with the celebrity elites, but it may be Beltway insiders and not swing state voters who are paying any attention.

This week President Obama will take the stage with Jon Bon Jovi, a gathering of Broadway stars and the singer Pink, as the campaign makes much use of celebrity to boost its campaign coffers. With Donald Trump and others, Mitt Romney's campaign has been doing the same. While it's a contrast in campaign savvy, and each side is targeting the other for the use of high profile surrogates, the candidates seem to have decided that the rewards far outweigh the risks. That's my latest column in the print version of Variety, which you can read below.

If President Obama is the "celebrity president," then Mitt Romney has become the "Celebrity Apprentice" candidate.

A Republican group already attacked Obama for singing with Ellen and slow-jamming on Fallon; in the past week, the Obama campaign has returned the favor by tarring Romney with the outlandish birther comments of reality host Donald Trump, daring the candidate to repudiate them as John McCain did in the last election, and then subliminally tying the knot tighter between Trump and the already compassion-challenged Romney by quickly slipping in an image of Trump uttering his signature TV catchphrase "You're fired" at the end of the spot.

Celebrities aren't just surrogates in this caustic campaign cycle, they are weapons. The propensity of Republicans to link their rivals to the Hollywood liberal elite has been met by Democrats pointing not just to Romney's association with the Donald, but to his support from a flying-off-the-handle Ted Nugent. The Obama campaign also seems ready to mention another Romney endorsement from a potentially loose-cannon celeb -- Kid Rock.

It's not much of a surprise that either campaign would leap at the chance to publicly take offense at any outrageous comment of a celebrity surrogate -- or even those with a tenuous connection to the candidate. What is a bit more unusual is the extent to which the campaigns have not hesitated to embrace celebrities.

Not a cycle goes by where a Democrat doesn't get brushed with having "Hollywood values," usually for collecting hefty sums from left-leaning showbiz elites. But that hasn't stopped the Obama campaign from following a lucrative online contest for tickets to a presidential fundraiser hosted by George Clooney with another raffle for entree to a June 14 event at the Manhattan home of Sarah Jessica Parker.

If the president has any hesitation about his campaign's links to Hollywood, it sure isn't showing. This week, Obama will be on Broadway, along with former President Clinton, for an event featuring performances by Stockard Channing, James Earl Jones, Tony Kushner, Angela Lansbury, Patti LuPone, Mandy Patinkin, Audra McDonald and Jeffrey Wright, to name a few. And while Obama's support of same-sex marriage last month drew scorn from Bristol Palin, who dismissed the influence of the President's daughters on the issue as being inspired by "Glee," Obama , undeterred, was set to return to Los Angeles on June 6 for an LGBT fundraiser featuring Pink, and a high-dollar dinner at the home of the "Glee" creator Ryan Murphy.

Nugent and Trump, meanwhile, have had long records of making outrageous statements for maximum publicity, but that didn't stop Romney from seeking their endorsement. He called Nugent before getting the rocker's nod, and appeared with Trump at a press conference to announce the billionaire's blessing. After the Obama campaign reaped millions from the online contest for the Clooney event, the Romney campaign launched one of its own, Dine With the Donald, with a campaign website page featuring an image of a boisterous Trump promising the winner a meal with himself and the candidate, and a stay at a Trump hotel.

To be sure, Nugent and Trump obviously became more problematic as they strayed from the rules of celebrity surrogates, which is to err on the side of caution instead of being a caution.

Still, the Obama and Romney campaigns have reaped millions from their associations with celebs, and the attacks have seemed little more than distractions. It used to be that candidates on the right could go to the heartland, and say the phrase "Hollywood values" to illustrate a system that is disconnected from the values of the rest of the country, says Steve Schmidt, senior campaign strategist and adviser to McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. Now, he maintains, that attack doesn't quite resonate.

"I think that fundamentally, the culture has coarsened so much that it is a non sequitur for most people," Schmidt says. "I just don't think the 'Hollywood' attack is effective anymore."With the Internet and reality shows, celebrities have been

"democratized," Schmidt theorizes, not only making them appear more accessible, but also creating new categories of people who are famous for being famous.

Yet there's reason to be circumspect in cozying up to this new form of star, Schmidt says. "It may be that the reality-show figure is more of a liability than the Hollywood star," he notes. The former craves publicity, while the latter attempts to carefully control it. Schmidt feels the Romney campaign's association with the billionaire costs Romney time. "Mitt Romney was unable to talk about the economy, and instead was talking about the ravings of Donald Trump," he says.

Anthony Nownes, professor at the U. of Tennessee at Knoxville and author of a recent study on celebrity endorsements, wonders if voters will see it as the Donald being the Donald, although even that may have limits. "I suspect if (the Romney campaign) had to do it all over again, they wouldn't do it," he says.

Instead, Nownes wouldn't be surprised if Romney subtly backs away from Trump in the coming weeks -- that is, if there is a quiet way of saying, "You're fired."

Mitt Romney's trek to Los Angeles on Thursday included a visit with Nancy Reagan, where he won her endorsement, along with two fundraisers, including a reception at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

The B.H. Hotel event was not billed as Hollywood centric, but the candidate did take note of show biz figures in the crowd. Among those present: Jon Voight and Scott Baio, as well as entertainment attorney Bruce Ramer, comedian Tom Dreeson and writer-director Lionel Chetwynd.

"There’s people I know who have gone against the tide to support me in this effort, getting on my bandwagon very early, even some Hollywood folks," Romney said, per the Los Angeles Times.

There's been some talk, among former MGM chief Harry Sloan and others, of organizing a show biz-centric Hollywood event for the candidate at some point during the campaign, but none is scheduled. A challenge is that Romney does not have nearly the connections to the industry that the last GOP nominee, John McCain, did.

Either way, the dynamics of Hollywood fundraising show little sign of changing, with Obama and Democratic candidates greatly outpacing their counterparts. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, President Obama has raised $2.1 million from show biz sources and Romney has raised $372,000. The figures are as of the end of April.

Former President Bill Clinton, being queried by Piers Morgan fill-in Harvey Weinstein on CNN on Thursday, called Mitt Romney's business record "sterling," a message that many have taken to mean that Clinton is not keen on the Obama campaign's Bain attacks. It may have been less of an endorsement of Romney's business acumen and more a message to Obama to start focusing less on his opponent and more on what he would do to fix the economy.

Weinstein, by the way, was a big supporter of Clinton in the 90s, Hillary Clinton in 2008 and is an Obama bundler this year.

Here's the clip.