UNITED STATES:BARACK OBAMA has raised an estimated $9 million (€6.3 million) in a single evening of fundraising in Hollywood, starting with a cocktail reception for 300 people followed by a performance for 800 by Barbra Streisand.
Admission to the cocktail party cost $28,500 (€19,900) per person and tickets for Ms Streisand's show cost $2,500 (€1,745).
Campaign finance laws limit individual donations to presidential candidates to $2,300 so Tuesday's event benefited the Democratic National Committee as well as Mr Obama's campaign.
Hollywood moguls David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg were among the top fundraisers for the event and guests included comedians Chris Rock and Sarah Silverman, actors Tobey Maguire, Pierce Brosnan, Will Ferrell and Jodie Foster.
Addressing the party at the mock-Tudor Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, Mr Obama acknowledged that many supporters were nervous and that his path to the White House was uncertain. "We always knew this was going to be hard, and this is a leap for the American people.
"And we're running against somebody who has a formidable biography, a compelling biography. He's a genuine American hero, somebody who served in uniform and suffered through some things that very few of us can imagine. And so he is a worthy opponent."
Mr McCain spent the evening in the battleground state of Ohio, where he taunted Mr Obama for flying out to his "celebrity friends" in Hollywood.
"Let me tell you, my friends, there's no place I'd rather be than right here with the working men and women of Ohio," Mr McCain said.