The president has no public appearances scheduled for his trip to the Bay Area, but he is scheduled to attend four private local fundraisers. Air Force One touched down shortly after 5:30 p.m. Wednesday and Obama will spend less than 24 hours in the Bay Area.
Hundreds of protestors gathered about a block away from where the president will be attending a $32,000-a-plate dinner at the Getty mansion. The demonstrators are gathering in San Francisco's Pacific Heights to urge the president to reject the Keystone pipeline.
It should be noted that the host of one of his events is Tom Steyer, a billionaire asset manager who has been very active in opposing the Keystone project. So it's a safe bet Obama will be getting the "no pipeline" message on that one way or the other.
The message the president wanted to impart on Wednesday was gun control and he spoke about it during an afternoon stop in Colorado. The president went to Colorado to speak at the Denver Police Academy just four miles from the scene of the Aurora movie theater massacre.
Wednesday night Obama raised money for his congressional candidates for the Democratic Party. On Thursday he'll be in Atherton raising money for the Democratic National Committee. Sources say in total he is expected to raise between $3-4 million. The money will be used for next year's midterm congressional election in which Democrats are focused on retaining control of the Senate and trying to regain control of the House.
The president is staying at the Intercontinental Hotel in San Francisco, so Howard Street between Fourth and Fifth streets will be closed until the morning.
Obama will decide later this year whether or not to go through with the Keystone project. At Wednesday's fundraisers, he was said to ease concerns about the project as well as his commitment to climate change issues.
The last time President Obama was in the Bay Area was for a fundraising trip last October for his re-election campaign.
