Streisand hosts Pelosi at fundraiser

04/13/2007 4:34 PM, AP


Barbra Streisand welcomed Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) to her bluff-top Malibu estate for a fundraising dinner that took in $1.3 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

"She's a very good friend of Nancy Pelosi and she wanted to celebrate the first female speaker of the House," said Streisand publicist Dick Guttman.

The 120 invited guests paid up to $50,000 a couple to attend Thursday night's dinner party inside a large white tent erected on the Point Dume property. The fundraiser was an effort to increase the Democrats' majority in the House of Representatives in the 2008 elections, Guttman said.

It was the first fundraiser at Streisand's home since a 1986 concert that raised $1.2 million for Democrats, he said.

Pelosi arrived after appearing on NBC's "Tonight Show With Jay Leno," where she apologized for being late. She'd had to cast a critical vote, she explained to the late-night talk-show host.

Leno said he understood democracy takes precedence, but Pelosi said it wasn't that — she had to cast a vote for "American Idol" contestant Sanjaya Malakar.

Among the guests at the Streisand dinner were Eva Longoria, Melissa Etheridge, Tammy Lynn Michaels, David Foster, Kenny G, Josh Groban, Marilyn and Alan Bergman, Amy Brenneman, J.J. Abrams, Dick Van Dyke, Nita Whitaker and Norman Lear.

Also on hand were Democratic members of Congress including U.S. Reps. Hilda Solis (news, bio, voting record), Chris Van Hollen (news, bio, voting record), Xavier Becerra (news, bio, voting record), Loretta Sanchez (news, bio, voting record), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (news, bio, voting record), Brad Sherman (news, bio, voting record) and Henry Waxman (news, bio, voting record).

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