Subject: Pool report 19
“Frankly, Manhattan isn’t a battleground state,” POTUS says.
“The crux of this campaign is going to be about the economy,” POTUS soberly told a ballroom of donors at the plaza hotel.
The crowd listened quietly as Obama walked them through his tenure, saying the “entire house of cards” had collapsed before he took office.
He said the US was able to stabilize the financial system, but that millions lost their homes
“as much as we’ve done,” we’ve got so much more to do, he said.
He cast Romney “and his congressional allies” with different visions.
“Their analysis is, government is the problem.. If we just prune it back” the economy will improve, he said.
The crowd was mostly quiet, but for a cell phone.
“whose phone is that?” obama asked before returning to the TelePrompTer
Also there was some chuckling when he said that republicans wanted to give tax breaks to the wealthy, like “some in this room.”
He said we’ve already tried it the republican way.
“what evidence do we have ” that it worked then, he said.
He got laughter when he began warning about republican ads, saying
“over the next 5 months, u won’t b seeing a lot of ads, cause frankly manhattan isn’t a battleground state,” but he went on to say republicans will look to blame him for the lackluster economy
After FLOTUS introduced him, he joked
“this is what qualifies as date night in the Obama household”
He thanked singers Mariah Carey and Alicia Keyes.
He drew groans (from pool) when he said he was going to stay and take questions
POTUS took stage at 11:02
FLOTUS was talking as pool walked in
We’re in a huge ballroom w dramatic lighting, mostly by candles on the tables.
“you have to multiply yourselves,” FLOTUS said.
She said she planned on being out on the trail,” with as much passion as this little body can muster.”
Pool was ushered into the event at 10:57 pm
NOTE: Also at the SJP event was Sonia Tudor Jones, whose husband, Paul Tudor Jones, backed Obama in 2008, but is now backing Romney. The New York Times reported in May that Mitt Romney’s campaign had “poached the investor Peter W. May and the hedge-fund titan Paul Tudor Jones, who in 2007 held a 500-person Greenwich, Conn., fund-raiser for Obama with George Soros.”
Sonia Tudor Jones and her plans for a chain of yoga studios and boutiques were profiled in April’s Vanity Fair.
Lesley Clark
McClatchy Newspapers
