President Obama in the Windy City to Raise Money for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.

President Barack Obama arrived to O’Hare International airport Thursday evening; Mayor Richard Daley, Governor Pat Quinn and Rep. Mike Quigley all made the trip to welcome the president in person and share with him a helicopter ride over the city’s skyline.  Suporters gathered in front of the Drake hotel downtown where Obama was rising $750,000 for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the man aspiring to his old job, Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias.

“This is Chicago,” Obama told the Chicago donors. “Politics is sport here. By the way, have you seen my chief of staff?” Joked the president to the crowd of 400. Rahm Emanuel—who returned to the city earlier this week to start his campaign to become Chicago’s next mayor—was nowhere to be seen. At least three of Emanuel’s rivals for mayor were in the audience at the Drake, including Rep. Danny Davis, who Obama gave a shout-out to. So was Rev. James Meeks, who served in the state senate with Obama; and Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Larry Rogers, Jr.

Obama gave Giannoulias a back-slapping hug on the way in and another one on the way out. This event and a more exclusive dinner after this fundraiser co-hosted by Leslie Bluhm, her sister Meredith Bluhm Wolf and her husband, David Hefland are expected to raise $750,000 to $800,000. The money raised is to be split between the Giannoulias campaign and the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.

“It’s up to you to defy the conventional wisdom once again,” he said. “It’s up to you to show the pundits that you love this country too much to let it fall backwards.”
“I’ve played basketball with him and I have still have some sore ribs to prove it. He’s a competitor,” the president said about his potential successor in the senate.