Yerington woman lunches with President Obama

Kathie Toigo of Yerington, above right, volunteered four years ago to work on Barack Obama's presidential campaign in Nevada.

On Friday, she got her reward — lunch with the president in Washington with three other faithful supporters.

The four supporters who broke bread with Obama also happen to be from swing states that could decide whether he wins another term: Nevada, North Carolina, Colorado and Georgia.

Toigo and the others won the date with Obama by entering a "Dinner with Barack" campaign contest and donating at least $5 to his re-election effort.

Toigo, 64, is an early-childhood special needs teacher with the Lyon County School District. She attended a house party in 2008 to support Obama and plans to volunteer again this year when the race might be closer. Obama won Nevada by 12 percentage points in 2008, but the contest is expected to be much closer in the Silver State in 2012.

"The idea that someone from Lyon County won the dinner with him might be just a spark" to rev up the re-election engine in rural Yerington, she said, according to a Democratic Party official.

The campaign paid for the flight and the meal.

Reporters weren't allowed into the lunch except for a few minutes.

A White House pool report filed by a journalist who got a glimpse said the group dined inside Scion restaurant, which serves Asian-influenced cuisine.

The president had his jacket off and shirtsleeves rolled up and the restaurant appeared empty, the report said.

Obama "was engaging his supporters in small talk, asking about their children and where each was from, how long they had lived there," the pool report said.

Obama's intimate get-togethers with supporters are a key part of his re-election strategy to get voters involved at the community level. This was his second meal with volunteers and he plans a new contest every three months — or fundraising quarter — according to his campaign.

"Dinners like these are how we will continue to put people at the heart of this campaign — and prove that we don't need checks from Washington lobbyists or special-interest PAC money to win an election," Obama wrote in an email last fall announcing the contest that quarter. "We can do it person to person, in our neighborhoods and backyards, and over the dinner table."

Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate who appears headed for the GOP nomination unless there's an upset, held a similar fundraising contest. Supporters donated at least $5 for a chance to "grab a bite with Mitt.”

The promotion last fall said, “We don’t know when, where, or what the food will be – if it’s up to Mitt, it will probably be pizza."

No word on what the Obama diners had, although the Scion restaurant menu includes everything from burgers and crab cakes to lobster Reuben sandwiches. Entrees cost $9.95 to $18.95.