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Obama Raises Over $3 Million In NYC, Invokes Akin's Rape Comments
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Aug 23, 2012
Modified Aug 23, 2012
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Aug 23, 2012
Modified Aug 23, 2012
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President Obama raised over $3 million for his reelection effort last night thanks to retired NBA stars like Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing. “We are in the fourth quarter, we’re up by a few points, but the other side is coming strong and they play a little dirty,” Obama told the audience at the $20K-per-plate Lincoln Center dinner. Bloomberg reports that Jordan said of the president, "He’s not taking any one-on-one game tonight,” but Obama did shoot hoops after dinner, which is considered a dicey move ever since George H.W. Bush thought he could sneak in some layups before dessert in Japan.
Romney's campaign, the RNC and the non-affiliated Super PACs that have nothing to do with coordinating their actions with Romney's campaign, ever, have raised a combined $169 million as of the end of July. Obama's corner has raised $107 million.
The President also addressed the recent controversy over Republican House member Todd Akin's remarks on "legitimate rape": “The interesting thing here is this is an individual who sits on the House Committee on Science and Technology but somehow missed science class,” the president told the crowd. “It’s representative of the desire to go backward instead of forward and the fights that we thought were settled 20, 30 years ago.”
Meanwhile Romney refuses to talk about the issue at all, granting an interview to a local news anchor only on the condition that she not mention abortion or Todd Akin. But hey, why would a political candidate subject themselves to questioning about their party's platform?
Tagged
2012 election
hoop dreams
michael jordan
mitt romney
obama fundraising
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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