Analysis: 'Take the money and run': Obama, Clinton to raise campaign cash for Biden at A-list NYC event

WASHINGTON — Celebrities Mindy Kaling, Stephen Colbert, Queen Latifah and Lizzo will attend a pricey Radio City Music Hall function Thursday night. Actor Lea Michele and the multitalented Ben Platt also will be there in New York.

But the main draw will be a rarity in American culture and politics: Three of the six living men who have been president will headline the event, a pricey fundraiser for President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign.

Democratic politicians have been mocked by Republicans for years about their fascination with Hollywood celebrities — and their drive to secure campaign cash from them. But team Biden has done the opposite regarding this high-profile event, with the president’s top press aide on Wednesday touting Biden being joined by Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, both former Democratic presidents.

“President Obama and President Clinton strongly support President Biden’s leadership and, obviously, his agenda. All three … agree overwhelmingly on the issues that this president has been fighting for for the past three years,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

“There are, of course, many conservative leaders in the country who oppose the dark vision put forward by extreme Republican officials that would drag us into the past with trickle-down … tax giveaways to the rich, cuts to Medicare and Social Security, radical abortion bans, and attacks on the rule of law,” she added, seeking to exploit divisions among Republicans that lay under the surface. “That is not these three presidents. So, we understand the importance of the three of them being together.”

Democratic and Republican strategists called such high-profile Big Apple fundraisers common for the nominees of both political parties — but that does not mean an automatic polling bump for Biden, or that the Donald Trump campaign and Republican National Committee won’t seek to take advantage.

“This is part of the Biden team’s heretofore unsuccessful efforts to be seen as a continuation of the Obama political powerhouse. President Biden wants to share the stage with former President Obama, who is more popular across the Democratic Party,” said Aaron Cutler, a former senior leadership staffer for then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., in an email.

“But, as well-liked as Mr. Obama remains, that’s not something he can just transfer to Mr. Biden, no matter how many Annie Leibovitz photos they share together,” he added.

Biden campaign officials in recent weeks have talked up the president’s massive cash-on-hand advantage over Trump, who has used some of his campaign dollars to cover his mounting legal bills. One Democratic strategist said Biden should enthusiastically rake in the Hollywood funds on Thursday night.

“The president should take the money and run. Any downside to the event will evaporate in the blizzard of the media coverage of Trump’s legal problems in New York. The only problem with the fundraiser is the absence of Taylor Swift,” said strategist Brad Bannon.

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