It was the kind of evening Hollywood is known for: a gathering of deep-pocketed entertainment industry liberals to discuss a strategy for electing a Democratic president next year.
But as guests arrived at the Beverly Hilton on Tuesday night, the meeting had become a target of conservatives, who attacked it as a symbol of excessive liberal rage toward President Bush.
Campaign finance reform advocates, meanwhile, worried that it exemplified efforts to dodge new campaign finance laws banning unlimited political contributions.
The session -- initiated by Laurie David, wife of HBO star Larry David, and co-hosted by actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus and 20 others -- was an attempt to acquaint the liberals with America Coming Together, an initiative to mobilize Democrats in 17 states that may prove crucial to the outcome of the 2004 presidential race.
The event also was intended to build support for the Media Fund, an effort organized by Harold M. Ickes, a former key aide to President Clinton. This group hopes to raise as much as $80 million to fund an independent advertising campaign for the eventual Democratic presidential nominee.
The invitation to the gathering, which was closed to the media and lacked the glitz that usually marks such events, said the fund "will provide a strong message on television and radio by trumpeting the shortcomings of the Bush Republican agenda and articulating the positive differences in Democratic policies."
It added: "This is the most important meeting you can attend to prevent the advancement of the current extremist right wing agenda."
Leaders of America Coming Together and the Media Fund say they are simply pursuing the type of political activities that have helped the Republican Party for years. They note that the GOP has benefited from ads and other political efforts financed by numerous pro-GOP business organizations and advocacy groups that oppose abortion and restrictions on gun ownership.
But by Monday, Matt Drudge, the creator of the online Drudge Report, was reporting on the Internet that the event's organizers were billing it as a "Hate Bush Meeting" -- a charge its orchestrators vehemently denied and seemed to stem from wording added to the invitation by someone as it percolated through e-mail.
Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh called it a meeting of "Left Coast Hollywood Kooks" and on his Web site posted photos of Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand and liberal filmmaker Michael Moore -- though they were not associated with the event.
