If you think you like Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for president better than his Democratic alternative, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), now’s the time for you to prove it.

Well, Wednesday actually. As the Press-Telegram’s Paul Eakins tells us this morning, the Vault 350 will host the “Barack the Vote Concert & Fundraiser” that night, featuring ex-Booker T. & the M.G.s frontman Booker T. Jones on organ–and hizzoner, Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster, in the house.

No word on whether Foster will be wearing Baloramas and a tonic mohair suit–which was the style at the time–but, you know, there’s still a day and a half.

Tickets and VIP packages range from $50 to $200, and as Assistant City Auditor James Johnson, president of the Long Beach Democratic Club, told Eakins, the goal is to raise $20,000 and “help put Long Beach back on the presidential political map.” (I’m quoting Eakins paraphrasing Johnson.)

Another, cheaper way to put Long Beach back on the presidential political map might be to vote for Obama–and keep your $50–but I guess that’s not how it’s done any more. (Plus, we already live in a blue state, so would it even matter how you voted? Um, yeah, actually it would.)

And for $50, you also get Booker T. Jones, former head of the house band for Stax Records. Can’t argue with that. Doors open at 6 p.m.; show starts at 7:30 p.m., and as its name implies, the Vault is at 350 Pine Ave.

In other not-so-sweet Obama news, Eakins’ bosses’ boss–that’d be MediaNews Group kingpin Dean Singleton–had consonant trouble at a recent lunch in Washington. (We caught this one first at LAObserved.com, where it’s still up if you scroll down just a bit.)

It was the annual luncheon for the Associated Press: a journalism group of which, strangely, Singleton is the chairman. (Dean Singleton: chair of a journalism group. Good night, nurse. At least he gave me my job back, with only a $5 pay cut.)

Anyway, Barack Obama got up and spoke, and was introduced by Singleton, who later asked one of the last questions of the afternoon.

The journalism guru wanted to know about Afghanistan, troops in Iraq–and the threat we face from “Obama Bin Laden.” Don’t you just hate it when you confuse a presidential candidate with the world’s most famous terrorist? Singleton must have.

“Obama quickly corrected Singleton,” the Editor & Publisher account runs. “ ‘That’s Osama bin Laden,’ he said. The crowd laughed a bit. ‘If I did that, I am so sorry,’ Singleton replied.

“Then Obama said, ‘This is part of what I have been going through for the past months, which is why it is impressive that I am still standing here.’ “ Hells yeah!

Oh, and you know who else is still standing–despite years of impressive bank leverage that would have toppled a lesser man? Dean Singleton.

I know you know who else else is still standing. It’s Osama Bin Laden. Sigh.

Tags: , Assistant City Auditor James Johnson, Associated Press, Barack Obama, Booker T. & the M.G.s, Booker T. Jones, California, dean singleton, Editor & Publisher, Hillary Clinton, Illinois, laobserved.com, Long Beach, Long Beach Democratic Club, Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster, medianews group, new york, osama bin laden, Ray-Ban Balorama sunglasses, Southern California, The District Weekly, Theo Douglas, tonic mohair