Murdoch's Daughter Hosts Obama Fundraiser

By Cernig

Never mind wingnut-funder Richard Mellon Scaife and his tete-a-tete with Hillary Clinton! Look who's hosting a big fundraiser for Obama in London.

The early signals were that Rupert Murdoch favoured Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election. But yesterday Murdoch-watchers were digesting the news that Elisabeth Murdoch, Rupert's 39-year-old daughter, who runs a large TV production company, will host a London fundraiser for Clinton's rival, Barack Obama, this month.

Despite the extensive coverage in the UK media, for high-rolling US expats election fever must seem a long way away.

But in the most high-profile example yet of glitzy fundraising bashes for the US presidential hopefuls spreading across the Atlantic, a string of notable US expats with jobs in media, the arts and finance will gather at the Notting Hill home Murdoch shares with her husband, the PR guru Matthew Freud.

So-called "event chairs" at the fundraising evening on April 28 include Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Warner Brothers UK chief Josh Berger and Julia Moffett, the director of strategy for the BBC World Service Trust.

Hosts at the bash, VIP tickets for which cost $2,300 (£1,160), include Joanna Shields, the international vice-president of popular social networking site Bebo, which was recently sold to AOL.

Those who have already donated to the campaign are invited to "top up" their donation to the maximum $2,300 allowed under US law.

It has been the case that you cannot win a national election In the UK without Murdoch's media backing since the days of Maggie T. He's been trying to get comparable political king-making ability in the US for some time - Murdoch's aquisition of the WSJ and plans to expand his New York Post tabloid to national level should be seen in that light - but he's not quite there yet. Still, if Murdoch's U.S. media empire were to not back McCain fully it would be quite a shock to the race.

I wonder whether a large chunk of McCain's media pass to date isn't down to the simple "it bleeds. it leads" dictates of the news. For now, Dem primary infighting is producing plenty of bleeding, but once the candidate is settled McCain may well be in for a far rockier ride.