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Read the press release here.

Obama to Attend West Village Campaign Fundraiser

By Andrea Swalec | August 11, 2011 10:54am
President Barack Obama is expected to swing by a West Village campaign fundraising dinner on Aug. 11, 2011.
President Barack Obama is expected to swing by a West Village campaign fundraising dinner on Aug. 11, 2011.
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Wikimedia Commons/ SEIU International

MANHATTAN — Prepare for the presidential motorcade. 

President Barack Obama will rub elbows with celebrities in the West Village Thursday night at a breathtakingly expensive campaign fundraiser. Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and fashion queen bee Anna Wintour will host a dinner at Weinstein's home that costs $71,600 per couple, according to the New York Post

The sold-out event has raised more than $2 million and Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Martin, Quentin Tarantino and Alicia Keys are expected to attend, a source told the Post

Dinner in the president's honor may be less of a delight for residents of the West Village, where security measures are expected to gum up traffic.

According to traffic guru Gridlock Sam, Obama's visit will disrupt all avenues west of Sixth Avenue and "most local streets." For security reasons, police would not disclose information about street closures. 

Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, photographed at the 2011 CFDA Fashion Awards, will host a fundraiser for President Barack Obama on Aug. 11, 2011.
Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, photographed at the 2011 CFDA Fashion Awards, will host a fundraiser for President Barack Obama on Aug. 11, 2011.
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Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images

Celebrities will have to hobnob with the president quickly during his brief visit. Obama's pitstop at the dinner is sandwiched between a 7:10 p.m. speech at a Democratic National Committee event and a 9:10 p.m. flight out of JFK airport, according to his public schedule.

A fundraiser Wintour threw for Obama last July at her Sullivan Street home closed sections of Sullivan, MacDougal, Bleecker and Thompson streets. Neighbors were advised to carry ID and proof of residence to be able to pass barricades. 

The President is set to land at JFK Airport at 5:25 p.m. and will head to the Ritz Carlton Battery Park Hotel by 6:05 p.m., according to his public schedule.

He will then head to the Weinstein apartment before flying back to Washington at 7:10 p.m.

The Ritz Carlton affair will follow a string of fundraisers that the President has attended around Manhattan in recent months, including an LGBT Leadership Council Gala at the Sheraton Hotel and a private performance of "Sister Act" on Broadway, for which  prime tickets cost $35,800 and $10,000, respectively.

He'll be coming from a battery factory in Holland, Michigan earlier in the day on Thursday.

Obama is scheduled to return to New York next month, along with his predecessor George W. Bush, for a 10th Anniversary memorial for the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks at Ground Zero.