Oprah helps Obama to raise $5m

President Barack Obama, turning full attention to his re-election campaign, aimed to raise more than $5 million with fundraisers in his adopted hometown of Chicago and then Atlanta, where Oprah Winfrey joined with other wealthy donors.Obama arrived in Chicago as two of the Republicans who want to challenge him in November, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, also had Illinois campaign events before the state’s March 20 presidential primary.

Obama then went on to Atlanta, where his stops included dinner for about 40 people, including Winfrey, at the home of actor and film producer Tyler Perry, reports Bloomberg.

There, Obama said of his presidency, ‘This is not a three-year project. This is an eight-year project’, prompting applause.

The president’s day-long fundraising drive followed yesterday’s release of a 17-minute documentary-style film intended to generate enthusiasm among supporters and Vice President Joe Biden’s first official campaign event in which he went on the offensive against the Republican candidates.

The first of Obama’s five stops was at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel in Chicago, where about 600 people paid $2,500 a piece to watch the campaign film and listen to the president.

Without naming his would-be opponents, Obama said the state has ‘guests this week’, referring to the campaigning leading up to the primary.