DETROIT – Hillary Clinton made the rounds in Detroit talking to real people and then headed over to the Pointes for a fundraiser and collected a cool $540,000. Clinton is the latest presidential hopeful to swing through Michigan and bring home some big bank.
The Clinton fundraiser was held at the home of well-known Democratic strategist Jill Alper and her husband Dave Katz. The ask was $2700 per person. Two-hundred people were in attendance, including former governors Blanchard and Granholm and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.
She comes on the heels of some GOP hopefuls like Rand Paul, who netted a cool $250,000 at fundraisers across the state, including one in Bloomfield Township. And let's put it this way: Nobody is coming for the food.
"If you remember, George W. Bush served franks and beans at his $2700 a head fundraiser," said political strategist Dennis Darnoi. "I don't think Hillary is going to do the same thing, but it's not going to be a whole lot better."
These fundraisers are all about access to a candidate and the ego of being one of a select few in the room.
While Clinton did well here, be ready for GOP hopefuls to make the rounds here, too. They're not just looking for money, either. With 16 candidates in the GOP pool, this is a dogfight.
"Now you've got to remember," Darnoi said. "On the Republican side rolling through town, you need to do two things: you need to get money, but you need to gather press. The reason you need to gather press is you need to be within a certain polling number to be on a debate stage."