"Dinner with Barack," Thanksgiving Edition

Dinner with the President is the perfect holiday gift for family members, Obama Campaign advises...
Update, Nov. 27: Campaign releases 5 new videos from the first "Dinner with Barack"
As President Obama was pardoning the National Thanksgiving Turkey on Wednesday morning, his 2012 Campaign operation sent out an e-mail to supporters, urging donations for the newly launched "Dinner with Barack" contest, the third sweepstakes offering an intimate dinner with the Eater in Chief. It was timed for Thanksgiving and holiday gift giving: The latest enticement for donors is that each contest winner can bring a guest. "Who do you want to meet the President?" asked Rufus Gifford, National Finance Director. (Above: A new logo for the contest)

"As you celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, look around the table and ask yourself: Who would you bring?" wrote Gifford. "It's hard to think of a better gift for your parent, spouse, child, or best friend than the chance to accompany you to dinner with President Obama."

The donation ask was $3. The assigned retail value of the prize package has jumped from $1,075 for the first dinner, to $1,600 for the current dinner, which includes airfare and a hotel stay. President Obama has completed one "Dinner with Barack" event with donors; he dined last month at a Virginia restaurant with the four winners of the first contest.

"I'd bring my mom" to the dinner, Gifford wrote. The contest closes on December 31.

The e-mail had the subject heading ""Who do you want to meet the President?"

The text:

Friend --

We just launched our next Dinner with Barack contest, and this time there's a big new twist: Each winner can invite a guest.

So as you celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, look around the table and ask yourself: Who would you bring?

It's hard to think of a better gift for your parent, spouse, child, or best friend than the chance to accompany you to dinner with President Obama.

To be automatically entered right now, make a donation of $3 or whatever you can today.

When you do, you'll be helping fund this campaign as we near a critical fundraising deadline at the end of the year -- just three days before voters in Iowa head to the caucus and the 2012 election formally kicks off.

President Obama wants to connect face to face with the people who are chipping in however they can to grow this campaign.

So this time we're asking the three people who win to bring along a guest: maybe your significant other, or the friend who first got you involved in this movement. I'd bring my mom.

Thanksgiving is a perfect time to start thinking about whom you'd pick.

So throw your hat in today with a gift of $3 -- and be automatically entered for Dinner with Barack:

https://donate.barackobama.com/Dinner

Thanks,

Rufus

Rufus Gifford
National Finance Director
Obama for America
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