WASHINGTON (AP) – Call it “Checks and the City.”

Needing to boost his donor base, President Barack Obama is banking on elite entertainers for help so often they have essentially become a cast of characters in his campaign. He is using his Hollywood access and raffling it off as a prize to others, tapping into a culture that revels in celebrity even in hard economic times.

Obama’s big-name tour makes its next stop on Thursday at Sarah Jessica Parker’s place in the West Village of New York City. The “Sex and the City” star, who is married to actor Matthew Broderick, is hosting a cozy $40,000-per-person fundraiser along with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.