Obama Can't Pack the House in Vegas

(NEWSER) - President Obama jetted to Las Vegas yesterday for a glitzy fundraiser for Harry Reid, the Washington Post reports. Aides estimate the shindig, which cost revelers between $50 and $2,400, pulled in $2 million for Reid’s contentious reelection battle. Though Obama and Reid haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, Obama is counting on Reid to shepherd his ambitious agenda through the Senate. More»

Money will go to the five states hardest hit by the bust

(AP) - President Obama will unveil $1.5 billion in housing help today during a visit to Las Vegas, the city with the worst foreclosure crisis in the nation. The money will go to the five hardest-hit states to fund programs to help jobless homeowners and those with underwater mortgages. Agencies in Nevada, Arizona, California, Florida, and Michigan will get the aid. More»

Vegas defenders: This time sorry isn't good enough

(NEWSER) - When President Obama said yesterday that families saving for college shouldn't blow money in Vegas, it was the second time he'd singled out Sin City as an example of excessive spending—and his words came as salt in the wounds of a tourism-dependent city hit hard by the recession. "I'll do everything I can to give him the boot," the Las Vegas mayor told the AP . "This president is a real slow learner." More»

Pop diva bids tender adieu to Vegas, wrapping her 5-year show to be a mom

(NEWSER) - Celine Dion bid a emotional farewell to Las Vegas last night, wrapping her nearly 5-year run at Caesars Palace and admitting that she once wanted to nix the show, the AP reports. She told the audience of 4,000-plus that she had wanted to raise her son instead, but the show was already bankrolled. "I wanted to be more successful as a mother than as a singer," she said. More»

'It's going to be harder this time,' warns Obama

(NEWSER) - As Dems hoped, President Obama set a new fundraising record at a glitzy event in George Clooney's backyard last night. The fundraiser attended by Hollywood's elite raked in a record-setting $15 million, according to DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, a major Obama fundraiser. Most of the 150 or so guests paid $40,000 for a ticket to the event but the bulk of the money raised came from a raffle for smaller donors : The two seats up for grabs were won by a science teacher from New Jersey and a utility company worker from Florida, the Los Angeles Times reports. More»