The Barack Obama Campaign certainly knows how to throw down a great party with this week’s celebrity-fest in San Francisco, starting with the mistress of ceremonies, Kelly Hu (X-Men 2, Undoing), pulling out her political claws for the Obama party at Roe Prive. Over 300 young voters attended the ritzy party in the upper mezzanine bar, and Hu addressed the crowd — along with San Francisco Supervisor hopeful, David Chiu, and Board of Education member Jane Park — with an impassioned, albeit poorly rehearsed, script on the reasons why the Asian American community truly has the swing vote in California this year.
Hu, who, suprisingly enough, stands at a diminutive 5′ 5″, recounted to me personally her recollections of growing half-Asian and half-White in Hawaii — much like Barack’s half-sister, Maya — and attending their shared alma mater, Kamehameha High School.
“This is the first time, ever, that I’ve been involved in a political campaign,” Hu swore to me as I stood in for KTVU-Fox Channel 2’s newscaster Renee Kemp. “But I feel so strongly that the the Asian American vote has been lying dormant for so long. It’s simply amazing when you consider that we have come so far as a community of immigrants, but when you consider that voting is so crucial to shaping the future of where we go next, I am just amazed to see that so many people still do not step up and vote for their future.
“Come on, people … take a stand!”
Outside of standing in the rain to get in, many of the attendees were happy to endure elbow-nudging and spilled cocktails to eyeball the plucky actress — though I was surprised that no one arrived with a movie poster or a torn page from Maxim magazine for her to autograph. Especially when you consider that these political shindigs always end up, for one reason or another, to be sausage parties with the male-to-female ratio coming out to about 5:1.
In the meantime, Hillary Clinton arrived at San Francisco’s treasured Orpheum Theater on Feb. 1, and was heavily endorsed by Mayor Gavin Newsom in his usual gravelly-voiced swagger and classic F. Scott Fitzgerald hairdo, but the former first lady and New York State Senator had nothing on today’s national Obama Campaign party kick-offs!
Saturday morning kicked-off at Everett Middle School playground with former presidential candidate, Senator John Kerry, in a massive canvassing rally for the Obama bid, and the GOTV crew were actively shouting their support for the minority vote in the 2008 presidential bid at downtown Oakland’s Frank Ogawa Plaza.
Lucky invites and campaign organizers were also welcomed this afternoon to the private and luscious Palo Alto, CA, home of Sean Maloney, Vice President of Intel Corporation, and his wife Margaret Chai, who were joined by Obama’s former Harvard Law classmate, Terence Yang. Over 50 parties were held concurrently from 2-6 p.m. today, with a call-in from the Senator himself at 4:00 p.m.
And at 7:30 p.m., the party ain’t stoppin’ till the champagne’s a poppin’.
The official San Francisco Bay Area Obama for 2008 Campaign after-party takes place at Harlot (46 Minna Street, between 1st and 2nd Street) tonight from 7-10 p.m. with drink specials — and cocktails I’m sure you dream up yourself! But don’t drink too hard at Nate Mezmer’s throwdown, because tomorrow is Superbowl Sunday, and a queasy stomach won’t be of any use once you get a taste of the wings at Nan & Grande Lum’s house party. The Lums are also Harvard Law School alumni, and graduated with Obama.
If there’s one Obama fan who’s missed out on all the fun, it’s San Francisco Bay’s very own Ruff Rider, Jin the MC, who is currently working on several projects in Shanghai, China. Jin vowed last week, in a YouTube video blog, that he would be back in New York City, NY, in time to drop in his vote for America’s first African American/Multiracial presidential candidate and doing his part for the nation’s democratic process … so, what’s your excuse?
Get OUT – make your vote count on February 5, 2008!
