Candidates Pitch Pies, Dinner for Cash

ABC News’ Jennifer Parker Reports: Several presidential campaigns are devising increasingly creative gimmicks to bring in the dough, from an "intimate" dinner with Obama to raiding the Edwards family kitchen for the secret to scrumptious pecan pie. 

The campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., sounded more like a charity auction in an email sent to supporters Wednesday: "If you make a donation in any amount … You could join Barack and three other supporters for an intimate dinner for five."

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., sent an email to supporters earlier in the day asking them to donate in increments of $6.10, $19.53 or $54  in honor of the contender’s birthday on Sunday, June 10 — 54 years since 1953.

"This Sunday is John’s 54th birthday, and his mother Bobbie and I are working on a gift that only all of you can give," reads the email. "And don’t forget: Bobbie’s agreed to send you her old family recipe for pecan pie if you can donate before John’s birthday on Sunday!"

There’s even embedded video of campaign advisers Joe Trippi and Jonathan Prince — Edwards’ kitchen cabinet, so to speak — failing in an attempt at baking the Edwards family favorite.

Creative is becoming the standard this campaign cycle. 

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. is holding a "block party" $20-dollar-per-person fundraiser Wednesday evening geared toward attracting young women voters to the former first lady’s campaign. American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee and R&B singer Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds will perform while comedian Caroline Rhea  emcees.

Earlier this year, in an effort to bolster his wife’s war chest, former President Bill Clinton got in on the act, holding a unique fundraiser at a New York spinning class. Spinners dressed in spandex and sweat clothes spent $2,300 per bike to hear Clinton — who wore a suit — talk about his wife’s health care policy.