By CHRIS MEGERIAN and WILL WEISSERT | Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — If you’re a Democrat with money to burn and friends in high places, you can spend thousands on tickets to a fundraiser with President Joe Biden. If not, keep reading to see what you’re missing.
With an election year around the corner, Biden is accelerating his fundraising to prepare for an astronomically expensive campaign. (Think billions, not millions.) In this rarefied world, money equals access, and supporters regularly pay top dollar for a personal glimpse of the world’s most powerful man.
Biden is collecting cash across the Los Angeles area this weekend, and his first stop was a sprawling West L.A. estate where the host joked “it’s just a normal Friday at our house” as hundreds of donors sipped wine in the backyard.
Related: Joe Biden rolls into LA amid glitzy fundraisers, large-scale protest
“You’re the reason why we’re gonna win, God willing, in 2024,” Biden told the audience.
“I’m the only thing standing between you and Lenny Kravitz,” Biden joked before yielding the stage for a performance by the veteran rocker.
Each fundraiser is a little different, but there’s a similar script. Here’s a look at what it’s like inside the presidential money hunt.
Fundraisers are a rare glimpse at the lives of the country’s wealthiest and most influential. Biden’s motorcade has rolled up to a mountain villa in Park City, Utah, a townhouse in New York City and a sprawling estate at the top of Hollywood Hills.
In a Manhattan apartment with floor-to-ceiling views of Central Park, reporters were required to slip disposable covers over their shoes before they could enter the living room where donors nibbled on crustless tea sandwiches.
At Friday’s fundraiser in Los Angeles, attendees wore colored wrist bands that indicated where they should sit. Ushers held up red, green, blue and orange signs to direct them to the right place.
The press corps can…
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