www.csua.org/u/ivc -> www.observer.com/2007/edwards-wins-caucus-top-san-francisco-dems?page=0%2C0
In a potentially significant show of strength, John Edwards emerged as the winner last week in a caucus of influential San Francisco fund-raisers and community activists. The private gathering of about 80 prominent Democrats was held on Thursday, April 26, in San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel. The Clinton, Obama, Edwards and Richardson campaigns were represented that day by their northwest regional finance directors and other local fund-raising staff. But Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards and Bill Richardson themselves had, over the course of previous weeks, all made personal appeals to the group's 120-odd members. Mrs Clinton and Mr Edwards had shown up in person, each speaking before the group and taking questions for more than an hour. Mr Obama, who couldn't make it to meet the members in San Francisco because of a scheduling conflict, compensated by giving the members tickets to talk with them at a subsequent $1,000-a-plate fund-raiser at San Francisco's Intercontinental Mark Hopkins hotel. "For the campaigns, this was a chance for them to get undecided fund-raisers and community leaders onto their team," said Jeff Anderson, one of the event's organizers. "Everyone now gets their chance to become committed and become engaged in their candidate's campaign." In the end, Mr Edwards beat out Mr Obama by about 10 votes out of total of 80, winning three "delegates" to Mr Obama's two.
html, represent many powerful constituencies with a reputation of raising significant cash for Democratic candidates. Mr Anderson and his partner Jeff Soukup, the former president and COO of PlanetOut Inc, are prominent fund-raisers in the gay community. Other organizers included Catherine Tompkison-Graham, a strategic consultant who was one of John Kerry's most successful fund-raisers in 2004, and Nazly Mohajer, the CEO of Minagratex Corporation, and Judy Keyes, a key figure in Kerry's 2004 finance team. "One of the goals of this group was to form relationships across all the silos," said Mr Anderson, explaining how he purposefully targeted powerbrokers from different constituencies. While the vote was entirely non-binding, the participation of all the candidates and their top fund-raisers was an indication of the seriousness with which the campaigns took the exercise. The first candidate to appear before one of the "salons," as Mr Anderson called them, was Mr Edwards, back on March 4 He spoke about the war and other issues, it was his remarks about gay marriage, according to Mr Anderson, that the audience found most compelling. According to Mr Anderson, Mr Edwards' explanation of why he doesn't support same-sex marriage went like this: "I am unbelievably frustrated with myself. I believe in fundamental fairness and equality for everyone. I believe that is one of the beacons that makes America great and I want to be there on marriage and I want to be there so bad but this is as far as I can get there right now in my mind." The next candidate scheduled to address the group had been Mr Obama, but he failed to show due to what Anderson called a "scheduling snafu." The members met with him at the later fund-raiser on March 17. Mrs Clinton went next, on March 25, starting with a 15-minute speech that offered an overview of her positions and her vision for the country. Mr Anderson said that she called for the troops to come home and spoke about the war in much the same terms that she has used in public events, but he said that he saw a new side of her during the question-and-answer period, when she, like Mr Edwards, was asked about gay marriage.
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