Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle
Comedian George Lopez told his agent Christy Haubegger a couple of weeks ago that he wanted to campaign publicly for Sen. Barack Obama. Haubegger, an executive with the Hollywood talent firm Creative Artists Agency, knew the person to call: her old friend from the Stanford Law Review, Tony West.
West is one of the California finance co-chairs of Obama’s campaign, helping him raise a record $65 million in the state, and he also advises the candidate’s national finance committee. And he is more than Obama’s confidant. West is part of a new generation of African American politicians who grew up outside the black churches or the civil rights community and now are finding their voice – and political power – in the tone of Obama’s campaign.
