Obama Dinner 40% Off, Just $3 to Enter Raffle

Michelle Obama has some advice for you - yes, you - if you're thinking about going out to dinner with her husband.

Just relax, she wrote in an email to supporters Thursday.

You could be in good company. That's probably what she told Barack on their first date, too.

More good news for you, the prospective dinner guest: Barack Obama is the cheapest date you'll find. As part of his re-election campaign, Obama is offering anyone who donates $3 or more to his campaign by Friday a chance to have dinner with the president.

That's even cheaper (40 percent off, to be exact) than the $5 donation the campaign originally set as the threshold to be entered into the contest. So you can buy yourself a pack of gum before the dinner. Or, save it, of course, in these economic times.

These dinners mean a lot to Barack, Michelle wrote in the email. They're a chance for him to talk with a few of the people who are driving the campaign - and a chance for him to say thank you.

Ah, but The New York Times reported last Saturday that these people, in fact, are no longer driving President Obama's campaign. The Times interviewed dozens of low-dollar contributors that were so vital to Obama's 2008 run who said they had become frustrated with his first term in office and have, in effect, stopped donating.

According to the Times, about a quarter of Obama's record haul of donations came from people giving $200 or less. So this dinner, then, is a way to hopefully get some of those crucial small-money donors back.

Hmm. Dinner better be free.

So come prepared to tell your story, and say whatever's on your mind, Michelle continued in the email.

Really? Whatever? I would think the President would not like to talk about work at the dinner table. Fine. We'll talk about his days as a food critic.