Hillary Clinton Takes Hollywood

Hollywood has emptied their pockets for a second time. Round one for Barack Obama, now round two for Hillary Clinton at Brett Ratner's home in Beverly Hills. Excerpt from Variety:

Hillary Clinton Draws A Crowd
Campaign trail returns to Hollywood.
By TED JOHNSON

Hillary Clinton drew a mix of politicos and paparazzi in a series of events through Hollywood circles, showing continuing strength as she competes aggressively with Barack Obama and John Edwards for entertainment industry support.

At the same time she was raising money on Wednesday night, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was doing the same at a fund-raiser at the Beverly Hilton that featured comedian Dennis Miller.

With Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joining her, Clinton raised $850,000 at an event at the home of News Corp. prexy Peter Chernin, and another $250,000 at the home of Brett Ratner, according to sources.

The latter fund-raiser was the media highlight of this visit. With a minimum ticket price of $250, Ratner's event was aimed at "young Hollywood," but the crowd would more accurately be described as "young-ish," as it drew a mix of people in their 20s, 30s and 40s, hardly the hardcore tabloid-bred nightclub crowd of the Sunset Boulevard. Nevertheless, paparazzi was in full force as web site TMZ.com captured donors as they crossed Benedict Canyon Road to Ratner's home, called Hilhaven. Inside, it was a bit more staid than when Ratner allowed "Entourage" to shoot a scene in which bikini clad women wandered around his property, a riff on his image as the consummate party host. He did, however, open up his basement disco, installed when Allan Carr lived there in the 1970s.

Stars such as Eric Dane, Rebecca Gayheart, Will.I.Am, Jeremy Piven, Angie Banicki, Michelle Trachtenberg, Brent Bolthouse and Chris Klein mixed with Steve Bing, James Toback, Quincy Jones, Brian Grazer, Kevin Smith, Holly Wiersma, Pauly Shore, California State Assemblyman Mike Feuer and political and fund-raising consultant Noah Mamet, among others. New NBC chief Ben Silverman also was there, often consumed with pressing business, and eying and typing into his Blackberry. Absent were any gift bags -- people asked -- as the campaign forbids such gifts at the risk of violating finance laws.

Clinton met one on one with VIP paying guests inside the home, with Ratner insisting that guests take off their shoes to protect the hardwood floors.

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