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Perhaps souring on Hillary Clinton's further political ambitions because she seems "not president-y enough" among Hollywood types trying to imagine casting her in the role of the nation's highest office, the industry is surging behind Entertainment Weekly's 2006 Must Guy To Have Sitting Next To You On A Panel About Something Important, Like That Darfur Deal, Illinois senator Barack Obama. Yesterday's NY Daily News reported that Endeavor's Ari "My Brother Rahm Totally Parties With Barack!" Emanuel will be throwing an event for Obama in February, while the LAT's Cause Celebre column today notes that he may have already sown up the industry-kingmaking Gay Mafia vote of Velvet Potentate David Geffen:

Geffen's name surfaced immediately as one of Hollywood's early major supporters of the young senator, a significant snub to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-N.Y.) possible presidential bid. Although Geffen — once a powerful Clinton ally — has not yet spoken publicly on the matter, his longtime friend Arianna Huffington believes the message is clear: "David Geffen has already declared for Obama, and many other Hollywood power brokers, who are not ready to go public yet, are making it known in private that they are in the ABH (Anyone But Hillary) camp," Huffington wrote recently in a Los Angeles Times column. [...]

Geffen was once considered one of Bill Clinton's strongest Hollywood allies during his presidency, and then the friendship started to fracture. "They grew apart," said one Hollywood insider who declined to elaborate. "I won't even speculate on all the issues that go into any complex relationship."

Of course, both politics and Hollywood are dirty, dirty businesses, and Obama surely won't delude himself into thinking that a Geffen endorsement won't come without strings attached. When the senator arrives in L.A. in the thick of February's Oscar frenzy to solidify his showbiz base, he'll be expected to dedicate a few moments of any media appearance to discussing how Geffen's Dreamgirls is the "most important movie of the century," and offer over-reaching, crowd-pleasing promises that if it takes home the Best Picture trophy, he'll personally guarantee an immediate withdrawal from Iraq.