Getting In To See Obama: No Hope

Washington—When Sen. Barack Obama speaks at a private fundraiser, his campaign workers bar reporters who show up on the spot. Only a handful of campaign reporters, pre-assigned for the occasion, are allowed into the function. No exceptions.

“That’s the policy,” said Courtney Chapin, the Obama campaign aide assigned to give drive-by reporters the human Heisman trophy.

The ban was rigidly enforced Tuesday night at a Washington D.C. hotel where Democratic presidential hopeful Obama spoke briefly at a rally organized by many former Clinton administration officials and Harvard Law School classmate Julius Genachowski.

The event—attended by 550 people at $2,300 a pop—represented a wide cross-section of Democratic Party all-stars, power brokers and various insiders from the D.C. telecommunications policy world. Obama raised about $1.3 million for his eponymous Victory Fund, which is attempting to amass a $200 million lode to finance his White House battle with likely Republican nominee Sen. John McCain

Headliners included Reed Hundt and William Kennard, Clinton-era chairmen of the Federal Communications Commission; former Clinton Assistant Attorney General Anne Bingaman, wife of Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.); and current FCC Democrat Jonathan Adelstein, who could get the chairman’s gavel in an Obama administration.

There was also a contingent of people who wield a lot of clout but do so inconspicuously, including: Rick Chessen, a top media adviser to FCC Democrat Michael Copps; Jessica Rosenworsel, senior legal counsel to Senate Commerce Committee chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) by way of Copps’ FCC office; and Colin Crowell, a top aide to Rep. Edward Markey (Mass.), Democratic chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.

It cost $500 to attend the 5 p.m. cocktail party and another $2,300 to hear Obama speak a few hours later. It cost $23,000 to have a picture taken with Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois.

Harold Feld, senior vice president of the Media Access Project, a public interest law firm, got an Annie Oakley to the cocktail party but event sponsors were less generous when it came time for the main event.

“The public interest discount won’t work in there,” Feld said, nodding toward the ballroom guarded by Secret Service agents.

The night also gave crushed Hillary Clinton supporters the chance to get with the Obama program.

“I’ve come over from the dark side,” a former Clinton backer whispered to a paleo-Obama supporter.

Former FCC Democrat Susan Ness was a named host of the “Technology, Media, and Telecom Unity Reception,” as it was officially called. Ness, who could not attend, had a real shot at becoming the first chairwoman of the FCC had Clinton prevailed in her quest for the White House.

That Clinton supporters were ready to kiss Obama’s ring was symbolized by the post-cocktail-party arrival of Willkie Farr & Gallagher “super lawyer” Philip Verveer, whose wife, Melanne (both pictured), served as Hillary’s White House chief of staff.

Obama arrived about 8:30 p.m. and spoke for about 15 minutes, sources said.

For one reporter excluded from the event, Obama’s words went unrecorded. All that could be heard through the walls of the Marriott Hotel’s Thurgood Marshall Ballroom was occasional loud cheering.

It was like being in Plato’s cave—shadows but no fire.

“He did not talk about high tech,” promised one of the reporters who made it inside.

The FCC’s Adelstein was evidently distressed that a reporter was kept out while other media were let in.

“If it’s open to some, it should be open to all,” he declared. “Free press!”

He attempted to intervene with a few young Obama gatekeepers (including one who was cramming for her GRE test at the check-in table). But they rejected his request out of hand just moments after letting the official press party (reporters from Bloomberg and the New York Times) breeze in.

Genachowski (left) declined to provide assistance. Distracted by some Obama pre-arrival details, he took a quick look at the reporter’s business card and snapped, “Don’t talk to me—talk to the folks with the campaign.”

Ben Finkenbinder, who was controlling the press pool for Obama, knew that only one reporter was around who wanted to join the pool. But he wouldn’t yield.

“We apologize, sir. We’ll send you the pool report,” Finkenbinder said, referring to the obligatory event summary drafted by a reporter on the scene.

Here is the pool report, filed by New York Times reporter Michael Powell:

“From (the D.C. home of Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), we took off for a hotel off Connecticut Avenue in Woodley Park, where various geeks and wonks stood in a more industrial strength hall and showered techno-dollars on Obama. This group of 550 included his Harvard law school buddy Julius Genachowski and the monetary stakes at this one were, well, almost pedestrian, costing a mere $2,300 to sip a drink with the famously abstemious candidate.”

“Flusher types, however, were encouraged to pay [$23,000] for a VIP reception with the candidate. Jay Rockefeller again did the openings, this time opining that for the first time in more than 40 years ‘I’ve met the man, the only person I’ve really wanted to see as president.’”

“Hold that thought: Not Johnson? Not Robert Kennedy, or McGovern or Carter or Mondale or Dukakis or Clinton or Gore? Not even big John Kerry? So there’s the list. Unfortunately, we could obtain no answers as Obama pool rules state that we can stare at and listen to the participants but no touching or talking."