Pool Report From President Obama’s Fundraisers In Westport, Stamford

… Behind Harvey Weinstein’s house is a medium-sized pool surrounded by a white fence. A white plastic side is at one end of the pool and on Monday the sunset over Long Island Sound was visible from the beyond the white fence. The pool bathroom is 60s-style, pea-green tiling.

The event was held in a barn-style area off the right side of the house. A dark green bridge lead from the stone pathway up into the entrance of the barn, and on top of the barn was a gold and brown weathervane, which showed a man bent over, peering into an old fashioned movie projector, a reel of film behind him on the ground.

… dessert was waiting in the narrow side hallway – it looked like pound cake with ice cream and a strawberry or raspberry sauce on top with blueberries and other garnish on the side. The room was medium sized and cozy, there were several dozen people sitting at six tables. As the media entered, Harvey Weinstein was reading from prepared remarks as the president stood next to him, looking down as he listened with arms crossed. Anne Hathaway sat closest to the two men, next to Harvey, other side of Harvey was his wife Georgina. Hathaway had very short brown hair, stud earrings and a white dress with puffy sleeves.

The room was divided into an upper and lower level, separated by only a few steps. The main area was carpeted with wood paneling lining the floor by the walls. CT Gov & First Lady Dannel and Cathy Malloy sat at lower table. At another lower table was Aaron Sorkin. Joanne Woodward sat at an upper table wearing beige and glasses perched on top her head…

 One of @blyte‘s excellent tweetpics from yesterday – waiting for the president in elegant fashion in Westport

Click below and read the un-edited pool report, as excerpted above, from the Stamford Advocate’s Kate King on Obama’s Connecticut fundraising blitz yesterday.

STAMFORD – President Barack Obama visited Stamford for the third time Monday, this time in support of his own reelection campaign as he seeks to close a $2 million fundraising gap with his Republican rival Mitt Romney.

The president delivered a wide-ranging speech to the crowd of several hundred, who gathered for a $500 per person cocktail reception at the Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa on Tresser Boulevard. Obama’s remarks regarding his record on jobs, health care and foreign policy elicited cheers and exuberant applause from the crowd.

The line that perhaps received the most sustained applause came when the president coined a new term for Romney’s proposed tax policy, which Obama said amounted to taking from the poor to give to the rich.

“It’s like Robin Hood in reverse,” the president said. “It’s Romney-hood.”

High profile Connecticut Democratic politicians were in attendance, including Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Lieut. Gov. Nancy Wyman, Democratic U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, and Congressmen Jim Himes and Chris Murphy. Stamford Democratic City Committee Chairman John Mallozzi and state Rep. Gerald Fox III of Stamford were also in attendance, as was Malloy’s chief counsel, Andrew McDonald, and Stamford city Rep. Gloria DePina.

The president wore a striped tie and stood at a podium in front of a large American flag. The crowd of several hundred stood around small round tables and sipped wine, bottled beer or other drinks and nibbled on hors d’oeuvres. Musician Ben Harper performed prior to POTUS’s arrival. As the president entered, guests applauded, cheered and held up their cameras.

The large room had beige walls and large chandelier-like overhead lights. Bright stage lights shone on the president as he joked and revved up the crowd with remarks that began with a reference to his recent birthday – and increasing number of gray hairs — and the London Olympic Games (he congratulated the women’s soccer team’s victory over Canada).

The Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa was crawling with Secret Service and other security forces for hours prior to the event. As the media entered the ballroom they passed a table filled with Obama 2012 T-shirts, lanyards, pins and other memorabilia.

The crowd applauded enthusiastically and often throughout POTUS’s all-encompassing speech, sometimes calling out comments in support. The crowd became quiet when he began talking about his vision for the American dream.

“All these things that help make a middle class life, they all tie together,” the president said. “They’re all central to the idea that made this country great. If you work hard, you can get ahead. The same promise our parents and our grandparents passed down to us .. and now it’s our responsibility to make sure that our children and grandchildren can enjoy that great privilege.”

Monday’s fundraiser comes less than one month before the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. and 92 days before the November general election. Recently released numbers show the president and the Democratic National Committee raised $75 million in July, well behind Romney and the GOP’s $101 million haul.

Obama is also trailing his opponent in Connecticut fundraising, having collected about $2.9 million from state residents so far compared to Romney’s $4.8 million. Both candidates have raised the majority of their Connecticut cash from Fairfield County residents.

The president is leading his opponent in strongly Democratic Stamford, however, where he has collected $204,117 so far compared to Romney’s $192,552. Lower Fairfield County’s largest city has become a “warm up band” of sorts in recent years for high profile political candidates, who stop in Stamford for large, more modestly-priced fundraisers before continuing on to more intimate – and much more expensive — events, often at private residences, in nearby affluent towns.

The president spoke for roughly half an hour. His motorcade left Stamford at 7:13 p.m. traveling north on I-95 to Westport. The road was largely blocked off and traffic on the highway’s southbound side was backed up for miles.

The presidential motorcade exited I-95 via the Sherwood Island exit shortly before 7:30 p.m. and drove through the quiet streets of Westport as onlookers guarded by Secret Service personnel lined the sides of the roads and waved American flags.

The motorcade entered movie producer Harvey Weinstein’s driveway at 26 Beachside Ave. and passed two white farmhouses on the left with green shutters. The home (white farmhouse style, green shutters) sits atop rolling green hills dotted with maple trees and weeping willows. The presidential motorcade parked in front of the president’s front door. The press sat at white tables and chairs in a small two-car garage, which was decorated with light bulbs, cleaning supplies, brown cardboard boxes, a dust buster, volleyball, yellow whiffle ball bat, toolboxes, Hefty black garbage bags and a brown sled.  The weather was warm with clear skies just before sunset.

Behind Harvey Weinstein’s house is a medium-sized pool surrounded by a white fence. A white plastic side is at one end of the pool and on Monday the sunset over Long Island Sound was visible from the beyond the white fence. The pool bathroom is 60s-style, pea-green tiling.

The event was held in a barn-style area off the right side of the house. A dark green bridge lead from the stone pathway up into the entrance of the barn, and on top of the barn was a gold and brown weathervane, which showed a man bent over, peering into an old fashioned movie projector, a reel of film behind him on the ground.

Inside desert was waiting in the narrow side hallway – it looked like pound cake with ice cream and a strawberry or raspberry sauce on top with blueberries and other garnish on the side. The room was medium sized and cozy, there were several dozen people sitting at six tables. As the media entered, Harvey Weinstein was reading from prepared remarks as the president stood next to him, looking down as he listened with arms crossed. Anne Hathaway sat closest to the two men, next to Harvey, other side of Harvey was his wife Georgina. Hathaway had very short brown hair, stud earrings and a white dress with puffy sleeves.

The room was divided into an upper and lower level, separated by only a few steps. The main area was carpeted with wood paneling lining the floor by the walls. CT Gov & First Lady Dannel and Cathy Malloy sat at lower table. At another lower table was Aaron Sorkin. Joanne Woodward sat at an upper table wearing beige and glasses perched on top her head. POTUS mistakenly referred (twice) to Woodward as “Joan.”

Weinstein opened with comments on how he is mostly associated with NY but after tonight his Westport residence will no longer be “secret.” The room had high ceilings, wood beams framing the ceiling and understated decorations – a framed quilt on one wall and another wall was dominated by floor to ceiling shelving sporting photographs of Weinstein with famous people such as Tom Cruise. Two golden Oscars sat on the middle shelf. Soft lighting.

Weinstein spoke at length about fellow Westport resident (the late) Paul Newman (Woodward’s husband).

Said of POTUS “You can make the case he’s the Paul Newman of presidents.”

POTUS said he has seen batman, starring Hathaway  “I got a chance to see batman and she’s the best thing in it.”