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Originally Posted by tlakva Do you think Hillary will run ? I was wondering about that  |
there is much speculation, as expected:
Clinton Says New York, but Money Hints at '08
By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ
WASHINGTON, March 7 — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is locking up some of the Democratic Party's top fund-raisers, in a move that party officials and strategists say seems intended to complicate the efforts of any potential rivals in the 2008 presidential contest.
While Mrs. Clinton and her advisers insist that her only focus is winning re-election to a second term in the United States Senate in November, Democrats say that her finance team has undertaken a vigorous push to round up leading fund-raisers around the country, an effort that was underscored by a recent dinner in Washington at which former President Bill Clinton made an appearance and laid out his vision to the party's big money people.
The effort comes as Mrs. Clinton has embarked on a nationwide fund-raising spree herself, enabling her to collect cash while appearing before audiences outside New York. Democrats say her goal is to raise at least $40 million for her Senate race, money that could be used for a national run after this year's Senate re-election bid, for which she faces minor opposition.
Already, the Clinton finance team has amassed more cash than any other potential Democratic presidential candidate, $17.1 million, underscoring what many Democrats say is the tactical edge that Mrs. Clinton has going into 2008, with an experienced and well-financed campaign.
But as important, Mrs. Clinton's finance team appears determined to build such a big bank account and to develop relationships with many of the party's top fund-raisers in an effort to make it harder for potential rivals to compete in 2008, Democrats closely monitoring the Clinton camp's efforts say.
The talent that the Clinton camp is enlisting was on display at a dinner last month, when Mrs. Clinton's national fund-raising team quietly gathered to discuss political strategy at the Georgetown mansion of Elizabeth and Smith Bagley, two stalwarts of national Democratic politics.
The guest list included former Clinton White House advisers, as well as dozens of the most influential Democratic fund-raisers in the nation, including some who had worked for Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and other Democrats who ran for president in 2004.
There was the lawyer Fred Baron, one of Mr. Edwards's top money men from Dallas; Alan Solomont, an investor in health care companies who was Mr. Kerry's New England finance chairman in 2004; and Joyce Aboussie of Missouri, who was the vice chairwoman of former Representative Richard A. Gephardt's presidential campaign.
Over glasses of wine shipped in from New York and plates of lamb and bass, the group of about 140 listened as the former president and first lady laid out their vision for the nation, without ever explicitly mentioning a presidential run in 2008, according to people who were there.
Mrs. Clinton spent about $30 million in her campaign for the Senate in 2000, when she faced strong opposition. This time, she will likely face only minimal opposition, with state Republicans struggling to unite behind a candidate to run against her.
Terry McAuliffe, the longtime fund-raiser for Bill Clinton, is said by Democrats to be taking an active role in helping introduce Mrs. Clinton and her finance team to legions of new donors and fund-raisers that he met when he was Democratic National Committee chairman in the years after Mr. Clinton left office.
"There's a whole new generation of donors who have entered politics since Bill Clinton left the White House," said one Democratic strategist. "These are people who have never given to a Clinton before."
Chris Lehane, a Democratic operative who has worked on several presidential campaigns, said the Clinton team's strategy is reminiscent of the one used by George W. Bush, who, as governor of Texas, began amassing cash and quietly assembling a team including the nation's most powerful and influential Republican fund-raisers well before the 2000 presidential election.
"He put together a financial infrastructure that laid the foundation for a presidential run and locked down the Who's Who of the Republican fund-raising community," he said. "Hillary Clinton's ability to lock up fund-raisers is not only a positive for her, but also takes away those potential assets for others."
A strategist for one of the prospective Democratic presidential candidates agreed, saying: "The Clinton campaign's strategy is to blow every other Democrat out of the water early and to focus on a general election strategy. That is why they are piling up as much money as they can now."
Indeed, one prospective Democratic rival, Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, has $9.5 million in the bank, according to the most recent disclosure statements. And in December, Mark Warner, a former governor of Virginia who is mulling the race, raised more than $2.5 million at an event for his national political action committee, Forward Together.
Mrs. Clinton's network of fund-raisers is a varied group, from corporate executives, Hollywood figures and lawyers to political activists. They also include heavyweights like Susie Tompkins Buell of California, the multimillionaire co-founder of Esprit clothing who has donated hundreds of thousands to Democrats, and Alan Patricoff, the New York venture capitalist.
The group also includes William Daley, the brother of Chicago's mayor, Richard M. Daley, and the former chairman of Al Gore's presidential campaign; Fred Hochberg, the dean of the New School in New York; and James J. Blanchard, the former governor of Michigan. Her campaign has clearly drawn from a rallied base, including what it says are thousands of first-time donors.
Mrs. Clinton's finance team controls three fund-raising committees. By far, the most prolific is the committee that raises money for her re-election effort in New York, called Friends of Hillary. In the past five years, it has taken in $33.1 million in contributions and currently has about $17.1 million in the bank, according to the most recent finance disclosure statements. The bulk of the money has been spent on direct-mail solicitations. Money from that committee can be transferred into a presidential campaign.
The second-most prolific committee under her control is a so-called leadership committee known as Hillpac that Mrs. Clinton has used since 2001 to raise money on behalf of Democrats around the country. To date, that committee has raised $7.1 million. But it currently has about $71,000, according to records, reflecting her staff's focus on raising money for her re-election campaign. Finally, Mrs. Clinton has a state committee that raises money for candidates in New York.
In recent months, Mrs. Clinton has embarked on a fund-raising sprint around the country that her advisers have tried to orchestrate largely below the radar. Typically, her fund-raising excursions outside New York have been done under the cover of other business, such as campaigning on behalf of other Democrats. There is almost no end to the number of invitations Mrs. Clinton receives to headline events for candidates.
One pretty typical trip involved a recent swing to the West Coast. First, she traveled to Washington State, where she headlined an event that raised $500,000 for Senator Maria Cantwell, earning Mrs. Clinton good will and headlines in a swing state. Then, she headed down to San Francisco to attend a fund-raiser for her own campaign that raised $200,000 at the home of Thomas F. Steyer, a partner at a California investment firm who was a major fund-raiser for Mr. Kerry in 2004.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/08/ny...08hillary.html