Obama rakes in nearly $500,000

Even the event's organizer - State Sen. Eric Kearney - said he was astounded by the success of this morning's Barack Obama fundraising event at the Westin hotel downtown.

About 1,000 Obama supporters - including a handful of Republicans - crammed the main ballroom at the Westin to the point where there weren't enough seats at the tables to go around. Dozens had stand through the breakfast event, lining the ballroom walls.

Even so, it was something of a "stealth" event for the Obama campaign - no reporters or cameras were allowed inside; and a "press gaggle" promised by a campaign aide after the breakfast failed to materialize when Obama's security detail, concerned about moving the Illinois senator through a crowd of hundreds of supporters to where the media was camped out, whisked him out of the Westin through a side door, out of sight of the camera-and-notebook crowd.

The cheapest ticket for the morning event was $100, but those who paid $1,000 or more got to spend about half an hour in a private room with Obama before the main breakfast. Those who donated $2,100 - the maximum contribution allowed for the presidential primary cycle - had their picture taken with the candidate who is hands-down the rock star of the early campaign for the 2008 presidential nomination.

Asked afterwards how much was raised, Kearney - whose wife was a Harvard Law School classmate of Obama - said he didn't know for certain. $300,000?, he was asked. "Higher, higher,'' Kearney said. $500,000? "We'll bump up against it,'' Kearney said.

One of those inside the reception for large donors was Cincinnati's most high profile supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Class-action lawyer Stan Chesley, who has raised millions for President Clinton and for Sen. Clinton's campaigns, said he was there because he has "enormous respect" for Obama.

"Of course, I am supporting Hillary, but, mainly I want to see the best Democrats run for president,'' Chesley said. "Sen. Obama is very impressive."

After the Cincinnati event, Obama was scheduled to go on to Columbus for a private fundraising event and then on to Cleveland for a late-day public rally.