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First Lady Michelle Obama Fundraising In Bay Area

BERKELEY (CBS SF) - First Lady Michelle Obama dropped in on the Bay Area Tuesday for a two-stop fundraising visit expected to net thousands for her husband's re-election campaign.

The first lady's motorcade pulled up at 9:30 a.m. to the Claremont Hotel Club & Spa in Berkeley, where Obama hosted a breakfast fundraiser that cost attendees between $1,000 and $25,000 per seat.

Alice Waters, owner of the Berkeley culinary institution Chez Panisse, catered the breakfast.

KCBS' Margie Shafer Reports:

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, had encouraged the first lady to come to the East Bay, Lee spokesman Ricci Graham said.

She later took her campaign cash blitz to the Merchants Exchange Building in San Francisco's Financial District for a $2,500-a-head event.

Obama's trip comes less than two months after her husband kicked off his West Coast re-election effort in the Bay Area with several high-profile fundraisers in April. During that trip he also spoke at a town hall meeting at Facebook headquarters inPalo Alto.

The April fundraising events were estimated to have brought in millions of dollars for the president's campaign.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama became the first president since the John F. Kennedy to visit Purto Rico on Tuesday. The commonwealth is expected to play a major role in the 2012 election.

(Copyright 2011 by CBSSan Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services may have contributed to this report.)

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