Birthday bash draws $5m for Obama, party

Hub supporters spend big for dinner with candidate

Avi Small (right, front) of Newton stood beside Needham's Dena Ofengeim among those watching for Obama in Boston yesterday. (Michele McDonald/Globe Staff)

Happy Birthday indeed.

Boston's biggest names in Democratic politics, divided into two camps during the bitter presidential primary, united last night to throw Barack Obama a 47th birthday bash that doubled as a major campaign fund-raiser.

The event, held at the swank State Room near Faneuil Hall, was expected to bring in close to $5 million for Obama and the Democratic Party, which organizers say would make it the biggest political fund-raiser ever in Boston.

Crooner Harry Connick Jr. and his 9-year-old daughter led the serenade of "Happy Birthday" to Obama at a reception of 850 people. Revelers sipped wine and beer in front of stunning, 33d-floor vistas of Boston Harbor. About 250 people paid $15,000 each - $28,500 for a couple - to dine with him afterward.

For a birthday present, supporters presented Obama with a Red Sox-themed Hawaiian shirt, for use on his vacation next week in Honolulu. "I gotta say that, as a White Sox fan, this hurts a little bit, particularly because we've been losing lately," Obama said. "But it is a very attractive shirt, I must say."

The private fund-raiser, the Illinois senator's first Boston appearance since clinching the Democratic nomination in early June, was designed to be a coming-together of sorts for local supporters of Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton, whose backers were deeply angry at how they believed Clinton was treated by the media and some Obama surrogates during the prolonged primaries.

Massachusetts, where admiration for the Clintons runs deep, gave the New York senator a lopsided victory over Obama in its primary in February. But with Obama now leading the ticket, Bay State Democrats have joined forces to catapult him into the general election with his pockets full.

"We all wanted to make a dramatic statement that we're with him every step of the way," said Steven Grossman, a leading Clinton fund-raiser and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Clinton supporters by themselves raised $700,000 for Obama at last night's event, according to Grossman and Shanti Fry, a longtime Democratic activist who said she campaigned hard for Clinton in five primary states. Fry said that she hoped that the amount chipped in by Clinton supporters would help erase doubts that they were not wholeheartedly behind Obama.

"Given the perception out there, I hope that figure would be a surprise to people," Fry said.

Alan Solomont, who heads Obama's fund-raising in New England, said the event was a "joint effort" among supporters of both candidates. "We've stopped thinking in terms of Hillary people and Obama people," Solomont said. "What was good about this was that we got everybody involved."

Clinton supporters say that her call to get behind Obama has been a strong motivator. "When she speaks about unifying the party, I totally believe she means it, and I know she is doing everything she can do to make sure that happens," said Cambridge philanthropist Barbara Lee.

Obama last night gave a nod to Clinton's supporters, calling his fellow senator "one of the finest public servants we have in this country."

"We're now in the process of bringing the party together so we come out of that convention entirely unified and ready to take on the last leg of this journey," he said.

A host of prominent local figures were on hand, including Governor Deval Patrick; Senator John F. Kerry; US Representatives Edward Markey and William Delahunt; Boston's mayor, Thomas M. Menino; and former governor Michael Dukakis. "Are you ready to win?" Patrick asked to cheers. "If you are like me, you are hungry for a change in direction."

Introducing Obama, Kerry said: "I asked Barack what he wanted for his birthday, and he said just three things: 'Indiana, Colorado, and Virginia,' " referring to three swing states Obama hopes to wrest from Republicans on Nov. 4. Kerry was deeply critical of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. "He doesn't get it," Kerry said.

Last night's event, scheduled only a few weeks ago, has been sold out for more than a week and had a waiting list of dozens, organizers said. Organizers said the amount raised eclipsed even Kerry's Boston fund-raisers in 2004. Former governor Mitt Romney, kicking off his presidential bid early last year, netted almost $7 million at a Boston event, but that total came from Romney supporters all over the country.

Contributions last night went to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fund-raising arrangement that allows donors to contribute jointly to Obama's campaign fund and the Democratic National Committee, which has higher contribution limits.

While Massachusetts is reliably Democratic, a 7 News/Suffolk University poll released yesterday showed McCain closing the gap in the Bay State, as he appears to be nationally. Obama led 47 percent to 38 percent, down from a 23-percentage-point lead last month.

Obama noted last night that the last time he was at the State Room was right after he had lost the New Hampshire primary to Clinton in January, setting the stage for the primary marathon. Take heed from that loss, he told his backers. "Everybody, I think, was taken aback, because we had won Iowa and there was this giddy sense that this thing is rolling, this thing is moving . . . and then we lost," Obama said. "I recite all this history because we do have three more months of work in this campaign, and I think that there's a tendency, particularly for Democrats, to start feeling kind of giddy again after a primary, in the summer months."

Scott Helman can be reached at shelman@globe.com.