Second Post

Dialogue!

"I haven't been actively engaged before because there hasn't been anything to be actively engaged in. But I am engaged now to make Barack Obama the next president of the United States," a source said Winfrey told the crowd just before the concert, starring Stevie Wonder.

Introducing Obama, Winfrey said that "nobody can stand in the way of destiny."

"It's unbelievable," said Illinois state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias as the Great Gatsby party scene unfolded before him on Winfrey's meadow under a gorgeous sky. Real celebrities mingled with Obama's best donors and bundlers rewarded for their fund-raising efforts with a star-studded afternoon.

Among those present at the event featuring two of the most famous Chicagoans in the world: actors Lou Gossett Jr.; Cicely Tyson; Forest Whitaker; Ellen Pompeo; Sidney Poitier; Linda Evans; Tyler Perry; Chris Rock; Hill Harper (who attended Harvard Law with Obama); music producer Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds; Holly Robinson Peete and her husband, football quarterback Rodney Peete; Winfrey beau Stedman Graham; radio personality Tom Joyner; sports legends Ernie Banks, Bill Russell and Dave Winfield; tennis great Jimmy Connors, and model Cindy Crawford and husband Rande Gerber.

Most are bused in

There was a contingent from Obama's Chicago-based kitchen Cabinet, including Habitat honcho Valerie Jarrett and John Rogers, the Illinois finance co-chairman.

The most important VIPs got to drive right up to the mansion, with most of the estimated 1,500 attendees who either gave or raised $2,300 shuttled by bus to Winfrey's from the Earl Warren Showgrounds eight miles away in Santa Barbara.

At 3 p.m., there was Oprah/ Obama gridlock on the Highway 101 Las Positas off-ramp leading to the staging area. Two women wearing leis waiting in the traffic jam said they flew in from Hawaii for the event. Judge Greg Mathis, who presides over the "Judge Mathis" show taped in Chicago, was in line, idling in his convertible Mercedes SL500.

Security was tight. The event was closed to the press. At the showgrounds, people dressed out of the pages of Vogue and GQ, despite the admonition to wear "garden attire," were delivered in limos and sharp cars. Everyone had to give up cameras as they went through security. A reporter trying to interview people on the showgrounds was threatened with arrest.

Trio pose for photos

Inside the fund-raiser, there were separate levels of access, depending on how much money people were raising for Obama, with the most prolific bundlers staying for a dinner. Food stations offered mini-burgers, corn-on-the-cob on sticks, guacamole and chips; lemonade and vodka; red or white wine, and a full bar.

The Obama campaign's regional professional fund-raisers brought their best contributors, with the high rollers bunking at the spectacular Fess Parker resort in Santa Barbara. Making the entire experience pleasurable for Obama's best donors; Oprah, Obama and wife Michelle were posing for individual pictures, according to a person at the party.

As the evening wore down, a stream of tired-looking but exceedingly well-dressed people, some carrying green souvenir blankets, poured past the wooden doors of Winfrey's yard, leaving the home she calls "the Promised Land" to board buses to take them back to reality.

My First Entry

This is what I want to say. I am trying to see if this works. This is the third sentence. We will see if this really works.