OC Democratic Party chairman Frank Barbaro has a grateful friend in a very high place-Barack Obama. Hours before the polls closed on Election Day, Barbaro says Obama called him: “Frank, thanks. You threw my first fundraiser” in California. When he visited the home of Newport Beach developer Mike Chegini in May 2007, the junior senator from Illinois “was just a blip on the radar,” recalls Barbaro, who’d been wowed by Obama’s keynote address at the 2004 Democratic Convention. Barbaro says Obama’s only security was jock Reggie Love; the event raised $170,000. The campaign quickly took off. When Barbaro threw another fundraiser this past September at the Balboa Bay Club, Love was now joined by the Secret Service and Obama left with $1.2 million …
Gracious winner: An ecstatic Barbaro invited Republicans P RR and EE RR to join him, OC labor boss Nick Berardino and Great Park Conservancy Chair Michael Ray in his private booth at the Dems’ victory party at Sutra Lounge. The Costa Mesa celebration drew 4,000 largely youthful revelers, a stark contrast to the somber GOP gathering at the Hyatt Regency Irvine …
Obama’s stunning OC showing-47% of the vote, highest by a Democratic presidential candidate since Franklin Roosevelt in 1936-has some activists in both parties second-guessing their respective ground games. Local Republicans worry the party is eroding. Democrats complain that more wasn’t done to target GOP congressmen. Dana Rohrabacher handily beat Debbie Cook, but with absentee ballots still being counted Ken Calvert held only a slim lead over Bill Hedrick …
Oh Henry! The L.A. Times has had problems covering the embattled founders of Irvine chipmaker Broadcom. On Sept. 9, the paper’s Web site prematurely reported that Henry Samueli had received five years’ probation in the stock-options case; hours later federal Judge Cormac Carney rejected the plea deal as too lenient. Nine days ago, in an article that detailed indicted Henry “Nick” Nicholas’ funding of two anti-crime ballot propositions, the paper used a picture of Samueli for Nicholas. The Times ran a correction …
Chapman U’s American Celebration gala-“starring” Jim Doti and Tommy Tune and honoring Kelly and Jim Mazzo-netted a record $2.1 million for scholarships …
Birthdays: The Pacific Club is 25. Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort is 50-and flashier, with its new $2 million conversion of the Back Bay Cafe into the Back Bay Bistro. Businessman/philanthropist Herb Nootbaar of Laguna Niguel is 100-and still driving his car and driving golf balls …
Mr. Alternative Weekly, Will Swaim, is the new publisher of LA CityBeat, reuniting with Editor Rebecca “Commie Girl” Schoenkopf, his former OC Weekly employee. Swaim says he’s turned over his Long Beach startup The District Weekly to his wife Heather and co-owner Scott Mabry. Swaim says he’ll commute from Irvine on Amtrak and keep opining on KOCE-TV.
