Obama to attend star-studded events in LA

>> hour. president obama and his campaign might have broken a fundraising record last month, but he's still in fundraising mode, as i mentioned a few moments ago. president obama will land in los angeles where he will be attending a star-studded concert this afternoon followed by a $25,000 a plate dinner tonight. he'll end the evening at a private event with former president bill clinton and a dozen of his top donors. it's the latest in a series of trips to tinsel town to raise money . joining me now is our nbc white house correspondent. we've been talking about it all weekend. president obama 's record setting fundraising total for last month. $181 million raised in just one month. campaign clearly not hurting for money, so what's behind these continued trips to tinsel town ?

>> reporter: you've already answered your own question. you saw those polls tightening up. everyone considers mitt romney to have won the debate last wednesday. the president has these high-profile events in los angeles . he has three in los angeles , three more in san francisco . we'll talk about that concert in los angeles later today. you're right, he starts off with a smaller event. bill clinton , i think there are 12 people attendees at a private residence . george clooney hosts this concert. a lot of big names. jennifer hudson , katy perry , stevie wonder are going to be performing. another fundraiser after that. a smaller gathering. i think that's $25,000 a person. then it's on to san francisco where he's got even more high-dollar, high-cost per plate dinners. $40,000 per plate. big bucks in california, whenever a president, especially democratic president, goes out there. he's going out there for basically one reason every four years. that's to hit the atm. in between, he's got an event where he's going to dedicate a national monument to cesar chavez , the famous champion of immigrant worker rights in the agricultural sector in the '60s and '70s. he's going to have some campaign events in ohio on his way back. he has a down day here on wednesday. thursday it's back down to florida. perhaps the key swing state , craig.