President Obama Will Attend 50th Birthday Fundraisers In Chicago, White House Says

Press Secretary: Debt ceiling crisis will be "resolved" before Aug. 3 events; Birthday fundraisers include dinner & celeb musical performances...
President Obama will attend two previously scheduled DNC fundraisers in his hometown of Chicago on Wednesday, August 3, Press Secretary Jay Carney has announced, because the White House is certain that the debt ceiling "crisis" will be "resolved." The fundraisers are pegged to the President's milestone 50th birthday the next day, and include a big party at the Aragon Entertainment Center with dinner and performances by Chicago natives Jennifer Hudson, Herbie Hancock and OK GO.

The debt-ceiling deadline for the US defaulting is August 2. President Obama on Friday called for Congress to send him a bill he can sign by Tuesday.

"We’re confident that this will be resolved," Carney said on Friday of the debt ceiling negotiations. "Obviously if it’s not, we’ll address the schedule accordingly. But as of now, we’re confident that it will be resolved."

The negotiations have stalled in part because the President is insisting that any debt-ceiling raise goes through 2013, to avoid an election-year fight over the issue. The President will return to Washington on August 3, after the fundraisers, Carney said. The President has cancelled fundraisers throughout July due to the debt wrangling.

The Birthday Bash details...
The 50th Birthday Bash fundraiser at the Aragon Ballroom as first reported by Chicago Sun Times' Lynn Sweet includes dinner with the President, and performances by Jennifer Hudson, Herbie Hancock and OK GO. Tickets for the events range from $50 per person to $35,800 per couple.

Top donors, at $35,800 per couple, get dinner and seating in either the left or right balcony level for the concert, and a reception and private briefing at Obama Campaign HQ in the Prudential building. $10,000 gets a souvenir photo with President Obama at a reception and preferred seating at the concert. For $1,000, donors gets seated in a "premium section" with a "hosted bar." A general admission ticket, to stand on the floor, is $200.

Songstress Hudson will reportedly perform at an afternoon concert, with limited tickets available for $50. She's appeared at Obama fundraisers before, and also performed at the White House.

The events are a benefit for the Obama Victory Fund 2012, a joint Obama 2012 re-election campaign/Democratic National Committee fund. The campaign is also running 50-for-50 pegged to the President's milestone birthday. Supporters are being asked to bring in 50 new supporters by August 4th.

The cancelled fundraisers...
President Obama's last campaign fundraiser was on June 30th in Pennsylvania; he stopped in a Joe's Water Ice in Philadelphia before wooing donors. The President did not attend two fundraisers last Monday in Washington, DC; Vice President Joe Biden and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius took over one of the events, at Adour resturant at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington, DC. The President also postponed fundraisers in California and Washington state in recent weeks, as well as an event at the New York home of film mogul Harvey Weinstein.

*Photo by Chuck Kennedy/White House