Hollywood women target U.S. Senate races

LOS ANGELES, June 18 (UPI) -- Female Hollywood power brokers are backing Democratic U.S. Senate candidates looking to take on GOP incumbents, sources told a political Web site.

The Politico.com Web site, citing unnamed sources, said 100 of the film and television industry's most powerful politically active women are banding together to revive a Reagan-era Hollywood coalition in an effort to elect a veto-proof Democratic majority to the U.S. Senate.

The Web site said the group includes such women as songwriter Marilyn Bergman, political consultants Marge Tabankin and Lara Bergthold, and film producers Paula Weinstein and Julie Bergman. They are reportedly planning a Sept. 27 political fundraiser at a private home that would raise $1 million for U.S. Senate candidates.

The Democratic Senate candidates in line to receive donations from the group include Maine's Tom Allen, Alaska's Mark Begich, Minnesota's Al Franken, New Hampshire's Jeanne Shaheen and cousins Tom and Mark Udall from, respectively, New Mexico and Colorado, the Politico.com said.