WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has apologized to California Attorney General Kamala Harris for causing a stir when he called her “the best-looking attorney general” at a Democratic fundraiser they attended together this week.

She’s been called the “female Barack Obama.” Kamala Harris; Born Oct. 20, 1964, in Oakland, California to;

Donald Harris, a Stanford University economics professor, and Dr. Shyamala Gopalan, a breast cancer physician who immigrated from India in 1960. Father Donald’s family hailed from Jamaica.

Harris became the first California Attorney General with African American or South Asian ancestry after defeating Republican rival Steve Cooley in the 2010 election for the position. Harris–formerly San Francisco’s District Attorney–is also the first woman to serve in the role.

A spokesman for Harris said she had a great conversation with Obama and strongly supports him but would not say whether she had accepted the president’s apology. Obama apologized to Harris by telephone Thursday night after returning from two days of fundraising in California, White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

At a fundraiser in Silicon Valley earlier that day, Obama raised eyebrows when he said Harris “happens to be, by far, the best-looking attorney general in the country. It’s true! C’mon.” He prefaced the remark by saying she is “brilliant and she is dedicated and she is tough, and she is exactly what you’d want in anybody who is administering the law.”

Harris was present and had addressed the crowd before the president spoke. The “best-looking” comment instantly lit up news blogs and websites, with some highlighting it as an example of the hurdles working women still face.

 Harris and Obama have campaigned for each other in prior elections. Some pundits also have described her as a female version of Obama because of her stage presence and because, like the president, she is of mixed race.