Thursday, 4:30 PM
Obama makes quiet stop in Boston for fund-raiser
(University of Massachusetts)
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois (right) spoke with fund-raiser Alan D. Solomont (left) and University of Massachusetts President Jack M. Wilson (center) today in Boston.
By Megan Tench, Globe Staff
Presidential hopeful Barack Obama made a quiet trip to Boston today for a closed-door benefit, posing for photographs with a fund-raiser with ties to the Clinton family the day after he crossed paths with his Democratic rival in Selma, Ala.
Obama met with about 120 potential donors at the University of Massachusetts Club, many of whom worked on the campaigns of John F. Kerry in 2004 and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick last year, according to those who attended the event, which was closed to the press.
The crowd included Alan D. Solomont, a Weston entrepreneur and philanthropist who raised eyebrows when he announced his support for the presidential campaign of the senator from Illinois. Solomont was a top fund-raiser for Kerry and has first worked with the Clinton family during the former president's first national campaign in 1992.
On Sunday, Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York crossed campaign paths when they both paid tribute to a march by civil rights activists who were beaten by police in Selma in 1965.
Obama, who would become the nation's first black president if elected, made no public appearances today and did not speak to reporters. The senator did, however, give a 35 to 40 minute speech about his presidential aspirations in which he talked about changing America, according to those in attendance. After the speech, Obama took questions from the crowd.
