The World's Greatest Fundraiser

(CBS)  Terry McAuliffe, the 43-year-old maestro of soft money, has been selected as the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

"With the Republicans holding the White House, the Congress and the courts, the American people are counting on us to get out of our seats and to fight for them! That's why our cause is so urgent and our time is so precious," he said in an acceptance speech.

McAuliffe's only opponent Maynard Jackson, the former mayor of Atlanta, withdrew from the race at the last moment, clearing the way for McAuliffe. Jackson got into the contest at the urging of Maxine Waters and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus and picked up support from a disparate group of reformers and disgruntled Democrats. Jackson was also backed by the Teamsters Union and campaign finance reformers Bill Bradley and Russ Feingold.

Bradley and Feingold’s opposition to McAulliffe was couched in the argument that it is a terrible symbol for the Democrats to pick as their leader someone whose only political accomplishment has been raising money. In May of 2000, McAuliffe was so successful in raising $26.5 million for the Democrats that Al Gore called him the "greatest fundraiser in the universe."

McAuliffe, the brainchild behind the White House coffees and the Lincoln Bedroom sleepovers, is especially close to the Clintons. Estimates are that he has raised over $300 million for the Clintons over the last 10 years. He also offered them a $1.35 million loan guarantee to buy the house in Chappaqua. (After a storm of controversy the Clintons secured a loan from a commercial bank.)

But, beyond being a fundraiser McAuliffe is a quintessential politician. He is the king of schmooze who works non-stop and who has patted every prominent back in the Democratic Party for the last 20 years. The Clintons are his most recent friends but he's a protégé of former Rep. Tony Coelho and House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt was in his wedding. When word got out that Al Gore was miffed that McAuliffe had been designated the heir apparent without his input, McAuliffe stroked Gore and he says they have been talking on the phone ever since. McAuliffe told the New York Times that Gore is the frontrunner for 2004—though he also gave a wink and a nod to John Kerrey and John Edwards.

There is a certain irony that the Democrats, who claim to support campaign finance reform and who were stung with scandals from the 1996 fund-raising which McAuliffe engineered, would turn to the king of soft money as their chair. If McCain-Feingold (which McAuliffe says he supports) were to pass, what would McAuliffe do?

"Get into the hard money business," says Democracy 21’s Fred Werhteimer. No problem says the McAuliffe staff. He "packed the boxes at the MCI Center" in May with hard money (the $50 seats in the peanut gallery as opposed to $500,000 tables on the floor). They add that he is a big belever in direct mail and wants to sponsor training programs for state parties in fundraising.

"There was life before soft money," Wertheimer says, and McAuliffe believes he can find a way.

But it may not be so easy.

During the Clinton administration the Democrats became quite competitive with the GOP on soft money ($244 million for the Republicans and $243 million for the Democrats in 2000), but trailed far behind in hard money contributions ($447 million for the GOP; $270 million for the Democrats).

The limit on hard money is $20,000 per individual, and the Republicans have a big head start in building lists of people who can write those checks. And now they have the White House as bait - even if the Lincoln Bedroom is no longer an option.


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