The trip comes on the heels of Obama’s visit to Sen. Tom Harkin’s annual Steak Fry, a legendary gathering viewed as one of the most important platforms in Democratic presidential politics. Former Sen. John Edwards, who is considering a second go at the Democratic nomination in 2008, headlined the event last year, while Bill Clinton has spoken there three times. More than 3,500 people showed up last week to see Obama–a number that organizers said ranked second only to Clinton’s crowds, which exceeded 10,000 back in 1996.
There, Obama insisted again that he has no presidential ambitions, yet he was accompanied to the event by Steve Hildebrand, a longtime Democratic operative who ran Al Gore’s Iowa campaign in 2000. (An Obama spokesman says Hildebrand, who is not on Obama’s payroll, was merely doing the senator a favor by introducing him around.) “My only attentions right now are focused on ‘06,” Obama said. “Whoever is looking toward 2008 without focusing on 2006 makes a mistake.”
But even Obama’s focus on 2006 has tongues wagging. According to Federal Election Commission records, Obama has contributed nearly $650,000 of his own campaign and leadership PAC funds to other candidates and party committees–more than any other senator, including the party’s presumed 2008 frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton. That doesn’t include the “millions” Democrats estimate Obama has raised for the party and its candidates by headlining fundraisers around the country. “He’s a star,” marvels one Democratic party official. “Only a few people attract that kind of buzz, and their last name is usually Clinton.”
