Soledad O'Brien.

The board of directors of The Opportunity Network is hosting its sixth annual “Night of Opportunity” benefit dinner, honoring CNN special correspondent Soledad O’Brien and Alan Patricof, the founder and managing director of Greycroft LLC. The “business attire” dress code means this media- and mogul-heavy scene will involve serious schmoozing, lots of step-and-repeat photo ops, and maybe a big-bucks business deal over a seated dinner.

Cipriani Wall Street, 55 Wall Street, (212) 699-4096, reception 6pm, dinner and program 7pm, by invitation only.

Victoria and Jon Patricof

While his father, Alan Patricof, may be one of the world's most renowned investors, Jon Patricof chose a different professional path from the patrician patriarch. As the COO of Tribeca Films, the younger Mr. Patricof spends his days crunching cinematic figures and yucking it up with Robert De Niro.

Still, he has managed not to stray too terribly far from his ilk. Mr. Patricof and his wife, Victoria, have just purchased a seven-figure apartment at 755 Park Avenue, just four block from his mother and father's longtime New York digs. Perhaps they could not find a Tribeca loft to their liking.

Jon and Victoria Patricof spent $6 million on the four-bedroom, 4.5-bath spread, city records show, and by the looks of it, they will be living richly in their new place. A listing from Brown Harris Stevens agent Guida De Carvalhosa explains that the 9th floor pad has a private elevator landing, a wood burning fireplace and a library. The kitchen, naturally, includes a butler's pantry, and the master suite features a jacuzzi. The three additional bedrooms are perfect for the Patricofs' two children, Jon Jr. and Chloe, and grandpa if he wants to sleep over or needs a four-block change of scenery.

The home was purchased from businessman Peter Gordon and his wife, Lucia Hwong Gordon. Ms. Gordon is equally celebrated for her tireless (often fur-clad) social appearances and her classical music scores. The couple had bought the apartment just last year for $5.8 million, and list 655 Park Avenue as their current address on the property deed.

eknutsen@observer.com

But last week he was there for the first time as a candidate. On the night of Jan. 22, McAuliffe, the former chairman of the DNC, voluble longtime Clinton fund-raiser and now candidate for governor of Virginia, was introduced by former President Bill Clinton before appealing to his former cohorts for contributions last night at an event that raised approximately $350,000 for his campaign.

As bundlers including Alan Patricof, Marc Lasry, Stanley Shuman and John Catsimatidis bit into spring rolls and dumplings, Clinton said it was an "honor and a privilege to be a supporter of Terry McAuliffe and to be in a position to return the favor that he has done for me and Hillary for so many years," according to Nemazee. McAuliffe then stated his case – business savvy to turnaround Virginia's economic woes – to a crowd with a zero percentage of Virginia residents. Still, the cream of New York's bundler society present at the dinner could be said to account for McAuliffe's financial base.

According to campaign finance reports released this month, McAuliffe raised $950,000 in the last six months in his home state. He did about a third of that in a couple of hours last night.

Still, he's working his home state hard.

At the Mid-Atlantic ball following the inauguration last week, McAuliffe, dressed in a tuxedo with a sequined cummerbund and bow tie, posed for pictures with Virginians in front of flags and roamed the carpeted convention hall looking for hands to shake. At the ball, one political operative from Virginia said, "He has no chance."

But McAuliffe's ability to raise money from out of state, and especially from New York's wealthy Clinton country, makes him a serious contender. And the lack of a limit in Virginia's campaign finance law on personal and corporate donations means that he can raise a lot of money quickly. (One attendee at the dinner called the lack of a limit, "painful.")

Nemazee said the largest donation at the event at his home was around $10,000, and that the support for McAuliffe was strong. "It was a tremendous turnout," Nemazee said. "People are fatigued by the amount of effort and time and expense that has gone into the political season that ended in November, so to be able to ask people in January, and in this economic climate for donations, is a testament to support for Terry as a friend and a candidate."

UPDATE: And right on cue, he's up with his first TV ad. It doesn't mention the word "Clinton."

In the latter category, place Alan Patricof, one of Clinton's biggest bundlers and a co-chairman of her campaign's finance committee. He is skipping his first convention since 1992.

Patricof, in a brief phone call today, warned against reading too much into his absence.

"It doesn't mean anything at all," said Patricof, who explained that he was spending time with his family and grandchildren in East Hampton this week. Patricof said he fully supported Obama, had donated to his campaign and to the D.N.C. But he said he felt that "people who had been involved for 18 months" raising money and laboring for Obama—that is, not he and his friends—deserved to be "at the center of attention."

Patricof said that his family planned to watch Clinton's prime time speech from home and was going to a friend's watch-party on Thursday for Obama's acceptance speech.

Introduced by Senator Chuck Schumer, who spoke about local issues in Mount Vernon and Westchester County, Clinton addressed key supporters, including Hassan Nemazee, Alan Patricof, and Fred Hochberg, and elected officials like Tom DiNapoli and Tom Suozzi.

According to one of the attendees, Clinton did not discuss her future plans.

The event wasn't explicitly a fund-raiser, but at one point Patricof asked guests, once again, to work to help Clinton erase her campaign debt.

UPDATE: The attendee described Clinton as "very much at peace" and characterized the meeting as a sort of final thank you for the campaign. "She talked about going around the country and thanking people," said the attendee, who said Clinton also mentioned having done a similar meeting with Representative Nita Lowey in Westchester earlier in the week.

Clinton talked about raising money for HillPac and "moving on to the next phase," according to the attendee, though she didn't specify what that phase would be. She did not talk about the role she would play at the convention, or the controversy over whether delegates there should have the chance to vote for her nomination. Instead, she talked about increasing the Democratic advantage around the country, and spoke about the importance of supporting Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee he leads. She specifically thanked Brooklyn borough president candidate Bill de Blasio, who was in attendance and who ran her 2000 Senate campaign, for traveling around the country on her behalf.

Among the guests were Governor David Paterson, Senator Chuck Schumer, Representative Charlie Rangel, Barbara Walters, Chevy Chase and Tina Brown. Inside Edition sent a crew.

After trading jokes about presidential ambitions with the mayor, Clinton told the crowd of political leaders, business tycoons and reporters that she’s happily back at her job as New York’s junior senator.

Standing at a podium beneath a white tent in the mansion’s back yard, Clinton told the crowd she’s glad to see “so many of my friends, catching up with all of you, knowing that many of you put your ideas and your requests on hold, and now, the hold is off. And I am open for business a hundred percent of the time.”

And just in time.

Kennedy Benjamin, whose husband Michael is an Assemblyman in the Bronx, said she wanted to attend because “I wanted to thank her for standing up for us women. And that was really well received between the both of us."

Benjamin said she told Clinton about a program she's organizing with German exchange students in the Bronx, and that Clinton sounded delighted at the prospect.

“As you know, most of Germany is for [Barack] Obama. But I’d like for them to meet Hillary as well, so they can see how great she is,” said Benjamin.

Others took the occasion to reflect on the Clinton experience.

“You could feel the emotion,” businessman and major Democratic money man Alan Patricof said of the event. “There’s such a strong, almost passionate feeling about her and her campaign. People are nostalgic and it takes a little while to get over it all.” He added, “I came in from the Hamptons to come and I’m very glad I did it. It was a lot better than being in my pool.”

Comedian Chevy Chase said, “I think she’s a great woman. Whatever she wants to do, she could pull it off.” Asked if she should run for another office, he said, “What do you want me to say? I’m not going to say she should run for mayor. That would be silly of me. Why should she run for mayor? She’s a great senator.”

Assemblyman Michael Benjamin, who supported Obama during the primary, said he and Clinton had a brief but good conversation at the party. And no, he said, she didn’t notice the little blue-and-white Obama pin he was wearing on his lapel.

“We want to win,” he said afterwards. “Any competition when the game is over, you’ve lost, you move forward and, you know, hail to the new king.”

Earlier in the evening, Clinton joked about her conversation with Mayor Bloomberg.

“I was very touched [by] Mike’s concern for me over these last months,” Clinton told the crowd from the podium. “You know, ever since the campaign ended, and you know, I was really moved that he wanted to talk about the campaign: what happened, how it happened, how you did it, what was the reaction that you got, what was effective and what wasn’t effective, what worked in advertising and direct mail.”

The crowd by this point was in on the joke.

“I mean, he was so interested in me, that I was just transformed. I’ve always liked him but my gosh, I felt so special.”

But he almost forgot to do it.

After finishing his speech to a room full of New York donors at the Grand Hyatt without any mention of helping Clinton with her debt, reporters ran over to Obama's spokeswoman Jen Psaki, who was already spinning hard that Obama's failure to make a pitch was no big deal. ("He said a lot of things," she said.) Then the music stopped and Obama, very awkwardly, started speaking again.

"Hold on a second, guys -- I was getting a little carried away," he began. "This is not the speech part of it, but it is important.

”Senator Clinton still has some debt and I would have had some debt if I hadn't won. So I know the drill. There are many supporters of mine here who have not yet given something to help her retire her debt. I would be very grateful if you look under your chair, I think there should be an envelope, or a pledge sheet or something, if people would take the time to not only pick it up, but put something in it and mail it back, we've got volunteers outside who are collecting. That is part of the process toward unifying and moving forward. So I would ask all of you to take that time."

The crowd replied with a smattering of applause.

"Turn on the music again, let's keep on partying, but New York, take this responsibility seriously. It's something that's important to us. And obviously Senator Clinton will be grateful as well."

Up to that moment, the staging had been more or less perfect.

As early as 6 p.m., contributors to Clinton and Obama had started filing in through the main entrance of the Hyatt, taking the elevators past inflatable baseballs floating in the hotel’s fountains and signs advertising the week’s Major League Baseball All-Star game. The Obama advance team steered smaller donors toward a metal detector that fed into the ballroom, and directed bundlers to another beeping gate that led into a smaller room where Obama would meet with them personally.

“It’s to introduce people from the Clinton camp to the Senator,” said Alan Patricof, who seemed in good spirits as the entered the hotel. The financier and Clinton loyalist had already begun raising money for Obama, but said, “Some of the people who are here have been waiting for the opportunity to meet him.”

As the donors took their places in a large ballroom with seats surrounding a stage, the Obama press team worked heavy-handedly to clear the room and halls or members of the media.

Saying that no press were allowed in the halls or anywhere else outside of a predetermined area, a junior press officer name Pauline wrangled representatives from New York’s largest tabloids away from the doors where they could have any access to guests.

“This is very standard for us,” she said, as she led the reporters down an escalator away from the donors. “I know it’s a much better story if you guys can get some flavor, but.” Then she looked back up the escalator and mouthed to a colleague, “If you see any press, move them out.”

Obama arrived at the Grand Hyatt a few minutes before 7 p.m. with Caroline Kennedy, and then met with about 75 donors, including major Clinton bundlers such as Steven Rattner, Hassan Nemazee, Robert Zimmerman, Patricof and Fred Hochberg, and their Obama counterparts such as Orin Kramer and Jeh Johnson. Obama made no remarks to the group as a whole, but spoke to donors individually on a photo line.

Some of the former Clinton campaign donors in the room, such as Nemazee and Hochberg, had already raised six figures for the candidate. In less than 10 days, Nemazee had, at the behest of Obama finance chair Penny Pritzker, bundled commitments for $200,000 for the evening’s event, and another $250,000 for an event in Orange County on Sunday.

Asked if the Obama campaign appreciated his efforts, Nemazee said "In the world I operate in, you produce and people show their appreciation," he said. "I have no doubt the people in the Obama world appreciate what people in the Clinton world are doing."

When asked how much the Obama donors would raise for Clinton, Nemazee said he was "sure the number would be a respectable number."

"I've read these articles in the paper and I think everybody should just take a deep breath," said Mr. Nemazee, saying that the Clinton donors would raise substantial amounts for Obama and expressing confidence that the Obama people would come through for Clinton. "Let's give them a chance to do what they can do on debt relief."

Hochberg had cut short a trip to Jordan and arrived that afternoon to attend the event. He said he had raised his share of the money while he was away, all of it through e-mails to friends and associates back home.

Obama spoke with the bundlers on an individual basis for about an hour, but saved his formal speech for the ballroom, where he addressed a crowd of about 1,000 donors who had paid between $1,000 and $50,000 for "The Obama Victory Fund," a pot of money to benefit Obama and the Democratic National Committee. He called Clinton "tough and smart" and said she "wore me out" during the primary, and that he was "a better candidate because of her."

He said Clinton would be on the "forefront" of passing a universal health care bill when he would be president, and that because of her talents, "many of you in the room understandably supported her in the primary."

Obama then talked to the wealthy donors about the hardships of working- and middle-class people he had encountered across the country before returning to the commonalities between him and Senator Clinton.

"Listen, number one, Senator Hillary Clinton and I agree on 98.9 percent of the issues," he said, adding that they both opposed John McCain, who he then methodically attacked.

But it was Obama's lapse that caught the attention of reporters, some of whom had been told only minutes earlier by Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee that Obama was expected to make a pitch to help erase Clinton’s debt in the grand ballroom. (He was supposed to do that in a private meeting earlier in the day, but the event was canceled due a delay caused by votes in Washington.)

After the meeting, Clinton donor Hochberg admitted that the delivery of the pitch was "odd," but said, "Maybe I'm a more forgiving guy."

Hochberg said that Obama was the nominee and that he would do everything he could to help him win.

As for Obama’s nearly forgotten pitch for Clinton, he said that what counted was the result. "The only answer is if the money comes in," he said.

UPDATE: After the event at the Hyatt, some of the major bundlers went uptown to see Obama and Clinton appear together at another fund-raiser at the Regency.

Here’s the pool report from that event, courtesy of Nick Timiraos of The Wall Street Journal:

But the push to recruit the opposition is a measured one. According to members of the Obama fund-raising team, Hillary Clinton’s elite bundlers are, for now, not targets.

According to one Obama bundler, “there is a great sense of delicacy and sensitivity” in how the campaign approaches Clinton finance chairs Hassan Nemazee and Alan Patricof and major Clinton fund-raisers Blair Effron, Steven Rattner and Maureen White.

The Obama campaign is taking a careful approach to those major fund-raisers, along with Clinton’s top policy advisers, said the Obama fund-raiser. Even as the party begins to coalesce around Obama, and the campaign encourages lower-tier Clinton donors to weigh defection, the Obama campaign has sought to avoid offending the big names by encouraging the Clinton money people to switch sides before they, and their candidate, are ready to shut down the operation on their terms.

It’s an approach that’s consistent with the care that the Obama campaign has generally taken since last week’s primaries in North Carolina and Indiana.

At one point, the Obama campaign distributed a memo scolding their supporters for gloating to the press.

This week, U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman, the Obama campaign’s Northeast regional co-chair, e-mailed out a memo to donors instructing them not to boast about their candidate’s apparent nomination or to urge Clinton to get out of the race. According to one prominent Obama supporter with knowledge of the e-mail, Rothman told supporters, to “think how you would feel it were us in that position,” and ordered supporters to refer to her as a great senator and formidable candidate.

The major Clinton fund-raisers have shown loyalty to their candidate, so far, but they have also made it clear that they would like to have a role in supporting Obama if and when he officially is announced as the nominee. There is a feeling in both camps that there will be enough time after Clinton ends her candidacy for the most established bundlers, capable of raising large sums from the country's most extensive donor networks, to switch over to the Obama campaign. Fund-raisers to Obama say that they expect their big-money Clinton counterparts to play important roles in raising money during the general election.

For now, it’s the mid-level fund-raisers who may be getting an early start.

Another Obama donor, also speaking on background, said the campaign has actively encouraged its New York supporters to bring their Clinton-supporting counterparts to this evening’s event at the home of Obama supporter Eric Schwartz or to another meeting, earlier in the day, in which Axelrod will deliver a general update to members of the campaign’s National Finance Committee at the offices of Obama-donor Jeh Johnson.

Afterwards, I got the chance to chat with Democratic fund-raiser and Hillary Clinton supporter Alan Patricof, and I asked him what he thought of Bloomberg’s remarks about trading with Colombia--a topic that hasn't been so great for the Clinton campaign.

“At the end of the day, we need jobs in this country,” he said. “I think we need policed, well-policed free trade agreements and Colombia certainly is a responsible trading partner. So, hopefully, something will come of that.”

After the event, I also talked to Donna Karan, who had been seated at the event next to the mayor’s closest adviser, Kevin Sheekey.

I asked her about her conversations with Sheekey. “Oh, he’s brilliant," she said. "How we the people, we keep pointing the finger at everybody to solve the problem. And I think we the people have to solve the problem. It’s not all about the government. I mean, philosophically, we as a people have to be the ones who are solving problems right now instead of blaming everyone for the problems.”

Later, when I asked her how she felt about Bloomberg not running for president, Karan said, “Now, that’s another story,” and walked away laughing.

Connor's numbers haven't been posted online yet, but I'm told he's raised less than $5,000.

When I asked his consultant Evan Stavisky, he told me Connor “hasn’t started fund-raising. He’ll raise and spend whatever it takes to successfully defend his seat."

Connor's campaign closed their July 2007 filing $38,217.60 in debt (although Connor says it was an accounting error).

"Sen. Connor is working hard on behalf of his constituents and doing the job they elected him to do," said Stavisky in an email. "His priority right now is improving New York's schools, ensuring access to quality health care, and expanding affordable housing for working people. While his opponent focuses on petty, partisan political posturing, Sen. Connor is focused on effectively representing the people of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn."

Squadron, a former aide to one-man-fund-raising-juggernaut Chuck Schumer, has spent $16,271.33 and now has $188,882.00 on hand.

Among Squadron’s notable contributors are major Democratic fund-raiser Alan Patricof ($250), former Schumer spokeswoman Risa Heller ($250) and current Schumer spokesman Josh Vlasto ($50).

UPDATE: Squadron called me just now with a response to Staviksy's comment above. "If by calling me partisan, Marty Connor means I would not have stood with Governor Pataki to kill the commuter tax, he's got a point."