A Thursday morning post by Caucus reporter Michael Shear announced an Obama rally in Las Vegas in support of endangered House Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, "Democratic Contest: Go to Vegas, Meet Obama [1]." Shear sounded pretty excited himself:
Campaigns are all about selling the candidate. And nobody has been better at that than Team Obama, which is once again raffling off a chance to meet the president in person.
For a donation as small as $3 (or a bit more, Democrats hope), supporters will get the chance to win backstage passes to President Obama's rally in Las Vegas next week.
According to an e-mail announcing the contest, three lucky winners will meet the president at the rally, where Mr. Obama hopes he can energize Democrats on behalf of embattled Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader.
"I hope to see you out there," Mr. Obama wrote casually in the e-mail.
Hmm. Hasn't Obama twice chided people for going to Vegas?
In February 2009 he said of chief executives of companies that had received federal bailouts [2]: "You can't go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers' dime."
In February 2010 he advised college students [3]: "You don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices."
That's probably worth a mention in a story about Obama asking Democrats to basically "blow a bunch of cash" on him in Vegas.