Obama expected to appear at DNC fund-raiser in Manhattan

The price of admission is steep: $28,500 a person.

But New Yorkers willing to contribute that to the Democratic National Committee can expect to rub elbows with likely nominee Barack Obama the day after the final Democratic primaries in Montana and South Dakota - and also peek inside one of the city’s more exclusive apartment buildings.

Next Wednesday’s event at 820 Park Avenue is being hosted by prominent Democratic fund-raisers Jane Hartley and her husband, Ralph Schlosstein, both of whom worked for Jimmy Carter’s White House. Schlosstein recently stepped down as president of Blackrock, Inc., the asset management company. Hartley had been the CEO of the G7 Group, a political and economic research firm.

Both are active in a variety of political and philanthropic causes, and have lived for many years in the iconic building with whole-floor apartments originally erected by a Hearst magnate in the 1920s.

The checks written by about 100 attendees will support a new entity - the Democratic White House Victory Fund - formed by the DNC several weeks ago, in agreement with Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, to support the party’s eventual nominee as well as the DNC, according to a press statement.

“While this is a close primary, at the end of the day both of our candidates understand that this election is about the future of our country,” said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. “In signing this agreement, Senator Clinton and Senator Obama are demonstrating their commitment to unifying our party and ensuring that we have the resources needed to win the White House, no matter who the nominee is.”

After the long and protracted primary contest, the theme of the fund-raiser—slated one day after the final primary – is also unity

But with days to go to the event, the topic remains such a delicate one that sources at the DNC declined to speak on the record about the lineup, saying only that it was their “understanding” that Obama would be the headliner.

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