Tina Daunt at The Hollywood Reporter warns that the major Democratic money center that is Hollywood may be reluctant about Hillary Clinton: “her backing is hardly unanimous, and some of what she has is softer than it may appear because industry liberals regard her as a party centrist.”
"You'd be surprised by the number of people I've heard from who aren't supporting her," one top executive told the trade paper.
Daunt says “A substantial number of the town's most progressive Dems still are hoping that Mass. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a firebrand economic populist, will yield to an active draft movement. They're hoping that her consistent denials of presidential ambition are tactical rather than sincere.”
Isn’t it odd to see guilty Hollywood millionaires rooting for a “firebrand populist”? Daunt added:
Meanwhile, other industry progressives are looking to former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley, who recently has been creating waves in Iowa with anti-Wall Street and anti-free trade rhetoric. On April 23, Sony executive Eric Paquette and community activist Dixon Slingerland will host a meet-and-greet for O'Malley at the fashionable Republique restaurant on La Brea Ave. There are even some donors who are considering contributions to the recently launched "Draft Joe Biden" super PAC, and the current vice president sounded very much like a potential candidate during a swing through contributor-rich Silicon Valley last week.
Team Hillary would point out that DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg – a major Obama backer – is supporting her. Katzenberg top political rep Andy Spahn told the trade paper on Sunday that the mogul is "100 percent behind Hillary."
For now, grumbling and uncertainty about a Clinton candidacy is mostly spoken in low tones and involves a minority of Hollywood Democrats. At least two major fundraisers already are being planned on her behalf, one of them at Haim Saban's Beverly Hills manse on May 6. The billionaire mogul, who has been the Dems' top donor in several election cycles, has been close to both Clintons for years and even constructed a guest house designed for their use in his sprawling hillside compound.
Still, Clinton's aides already have told reporters that they believe she will have to raise at least $1 billion to be competitive in the coming general election. Given Hollywood's critical importance to the Democrats' funding at all electoral levels these days, anything less than a very enthusiastic industry response could be a problem. Beyond her family's deep connections in Hollywood, her quest to become the first female president is bound to win her a great deal of support. The entertainment industry likes to feel it's on the cutting edge of history. There's also the possibility that the Republicans may nominate someone sufficiently frightening to Hollywood - say, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Wisc. Gov. Scott Walker or Kentucky's Rand Paul - so Clinton could draw support as the essential alternative....
Hollywood is not the sort of town in which moderation stirs much passion - and that's what Clinton will need if she's to do the fundraising here that a billion-dollar campaign would require. There also may be lingering doubts about whether her moment has passed. If elected, she will be 69 when she takes office, which would make her the second oldest first-term chief executive after Ronald Reagan. (In a town that values youth - and plastic surgery - some people have complained that she is showing her age.)
