WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama put his fundraising machine on display in Beverly Hills last night, tallying more than $9 million at star-studded events that included a $28,500-per-person dinner and a private concert by Barbra Streisand.

Obama raised more than $66 million in August, a one-month record. He faces a greater fundraising burden than GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain because he decided to bypass public financing, banking on being able to raise more than the $84.1 million grant and not have to abide by corresponding spending limits.

CEO: CANDIDATES LACK BUSINESS SKILLS

NEW YORK — An economic adviser to Sen. John McCain says neither the presidential candidate nor his running mate is qualified to lead a large corporation.

Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard CEO, was asked by KTRS radio in St. Louis yesterday whether she thought vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin had the experience to run a big company.

"No, I don't," Fiorina replied. "But that's not what she's running for. Running a corporation is a different set of things."

Later on MSNBC, said she said the same of the presidential nominee. "I don't think John McCain could run a major corporation."

Fiorina said the Democratic candidates also don't have the business background for such a task.

Fiorina served as president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 until 2005, when she was fired. She pushed through a $24 billion acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. in a deal that caused job losses and cut her company's value, although it later rebounded to overtake Dell as the No. 1 seller of PCs.

WORKERS IN PALIN CASE WON'T TESTIFY

JUNEAU, Alaska — Alaska's attorney general says state employees subpoenaed in the investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin will not testify.

In a letter to the Democratic state senator overseeing the investigation, Attorney General Talis Colberg asks that the subpoenas be withdrawn. He also says the employees will not appear before the investigator unless either the full state Senate or the entire Alaska Legislature votes to compel their testimony.

Last week, a committee of lawmakers issued subpoenas for 13 people, including Todd Palin, the governor's husband, in the investigation of whether the governor fired her public safety chief for refusing to dismiss her former brother-in-law, an Alaska state trooper.

All those summoned are state employees, except Todd Palin.

WOMEN'S GROUPS ENDORSE OBAMA

WASHINGTON — Women's rights groups endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president yesterday, asserting the historic selection of a female Republican vice presidential candidate does not make up for Sen. John McCain's lack of support on issues important to women.

"We don't think it's much to break a glass ceiling for one woman and leave millions of women behind," said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation.

Smeal was among leaders from six organizations that announced their endorsement of the Democratic presidential nominee at a news conference.

Obama also won the support of the National Organization for Women, which said it has not endorsed a candidate for president since Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro shared the Democratic ticket in 1984.

MCCAIN ADVISER'S 'JOKE' FALLS FLAT

MIAMI — Move over, Al Gore. You may lay claim to the Internet, but Sen. John McCain helped create the BlackBerry.

At least that's the contention of a top McCain policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin. Waving his BlackBerry personal digital assistant and citing McCain's work as a senator, he told reporters yesterday, "You're looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create."

A McCain aide later dismissed the remark as "a boneheaded joke by a staffer."

McCain has acknowledged that he doesn't know how to use a computer and can't send e-mail, one of the BlackBerry's prime functions.

Holtz-Eakin's argument is similar to one advanced by Gore, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2000. Gore once boasted about "taking the initiative to create the Internet" through technological and educational policies. He later was mocked for claiming to have invented the Internet — although he never made such a claim.

Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said McCain's service on and leadership of the Senate Commerce Committee put him at the intersection of a number of economic interests, including the telecommunications industry.