In the weeks leading up to Obama's election night celebration in Grant Park, Mayor Richard Daley estimated that the event would draw one million spectators and cost the city $2 million. Ultimately, the rally saw a crowd of only 240,000, but its $1.74 million cost came close to the mayor's prediction, The Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Though Daley's assessment of the event—he described it to The Sun-Times as "a homecoming...a baptism...a bar mitzhah...everything all put together"—suggests that he found the celebration worth its cost, he assured taxpayers in October that Obama's campaign would reimburse the city. "They raised quite a bit of money," he reasoned then. "There's no [shortage] of money in that campaign."
Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt declined to elaborate on the details of the reimbursement today, but Democratic National Committee rep Stacie Paxton assured The Sun-Times: "It's a D.N.C.-sponsored event. We're discussing it with the city."
