Hollywood is suffering nearly as much as the Democratic Party tonight.
Not only did the industry’s Texan favorite Wendy Davis get clobbered in her run for governor, Kentucky Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes went down quietly in her attempt to oust incumbent Sen. Mitch McConnell.
That fight had DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg’s fingerprints all over it. Or, rather, his bank account. Katzenberg gave heavily to the Grimes campaign, calling her battle a vital one for his fellow Democrats to win.
There is no more important election being held next year in this country,” Jeffrey Katzenberg wrote last September in an invite to a LA fundraiser for Grimes.
Yet Grimes couldn’t keep the election fight interesting for long. Fox News declared McConnell the winner at 7:10 p.m. EST.
It wasn’t for lack of trying on Katzenberg’s part.
As well as giving big bucks to anti-McConnell PACs and raising millions in LA and NYC fundraisers, Katzenberg personally donated the maximum contribution of $5,200 to Grimes’ campaign.
Grimes’ campaign also grabbed support from Barbra Streisand, director Rob Reiner and Leonardo DiCaprio.
As for Davis, she instantly grabbed Hollywood’s attention with her now famous 11-hour filibuster last year to battle abortion restrictions in Texas. In May, Katzenberg aligned with Steven Spielberg and director J.J. Abrams for a glitzy fundraiser on Davis’ behalf.
Late last month, The Daily Show host Jon Stewart lobbed a series of softball questions at the Texas Democrat in a last-ditch effort to boost her flailing campaign.