Last week, the White House let it be known that President Barack Obama would be once again paying a visit to the Real Washington a few days into May. Details of the planned trip were not released at the time, but all of the President’s recent trips here have been almost exclusively for fundraising, so it seemed plausible (and still does) that that would be the purpose of this trip as well.
Today, Obama/Biden 2012 campaign finalized the main fundraising event — a luncheon plus a concert at the Paramount in downtown Seattle — and began sending out invitations to past donors and local supporters.
The event will feature the Dave Matthews Band, and will begin at noon on Thursday, May 10th. Tickets to the event start at $100 for general admission.
Lunch costs ten times that amount ($1,000), and access to the photo reception beforehand costs fifty times that amount ($5,000).
Young Obama supporters with money to spare, however, can buy lunch for $500 or premium theater seating for $250 (these are known as “Generation44” rates).
A separate event for even wealthier donors is also undoubtedly being planned.
Past such events have been held in Madrona and Medina at the homes of Rob Glaser (founder of RealNetworks), Jon Shirley (former president of Microsoft) and Jeff Brotman (cofounder of Costco Wholesale).
No official events, whether open to the public or not, have been announced.
If history is any indication, the President’s stop here will be brief, and won’t involve an overnight stay. As in the past, he will likely arrive and depart from Boeing Field, as he has on all of his other visits (except the most recent one back in February, when he flew in and out of Paine Field in Everett).
Obama has made four previous visits to Washington as president: two in 2010, one last year, and one just a couple of months ago. He also visited Washington in 2008 when he was a candidate for president.
