The Woman Behind Obama's Money Machine

Washington Post: Finance Guru Helped Transform A Fledgling Campaign Into A Fundraising Juggernaut

(Washingtonpost.com)  On a frigid day in early January, Barack Obama rode the three blocks from the Capitol to a nondescript, four-story, white-brick building where he had rented a spartan office suite.

Obama pulled out a folding chair and sat down with Julianna Smoot, the veteran Democratic fundraiser he had hired to raise the millions of dollars he would need for a presidential bid. Smoot thumbed through a thin list of potential donors that Obama had gathered during his 2004 Senate bid in Illinois and as he helped other politicians raise money for elections in 2006. She frowned.

"It wasn't much to work with," Smoot recalled. "But that was how we started. He asked me what he should do, and I said, 'Start calling. And don't forget to ask for their credit card numbers.'"

That was the beginning of a fundraising juggernaut that, perhaps more than any other single factor, helped transform Obama into a serious contender for the presidency. By the end of September, the senator from Illinois had raised more money for his primary bid than any other candidate in either party -- more than $75 million. He did it not simply by using the new possibilities of the Internet, for which he has received considerable attention, but by creating almost overnight a network of "bundlers" -- a core group of motivated supporters with the Rolodexes to bring along friends and associates.

But last week, for the first time, Obama was eclipsed by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who raised $22 million for the quarter to Obama's $19 million. Now, with Clinton widening her lead in national polls, Obama's ability to continue raising money will be seen as a crucial indicator of whether his candidacy can pick up momentum in time for the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary in January, or whether Clinton has become unstoppable.

Smoot, 40, the fast-talking daughter of a North Carolina golf pro, said she has never been fazed by the thought of competing with the most voracious Democratic fundraising team in recent memory, Bill and Hillary Clinton.

"I respect them. And I respect the people that work for them. But no, they're not intimidating at all," Smoot said last week.

Over the weekend, Smoot met in Iowa with more than 100 members of Obama's national finance committee, a group of bundlers she helped recruit. She and others with the campaign repeated what Obama's aides have maintained: Ignore the national polls and focus on Iowa and New Hampshire. Together, they mapped out a packed schedule of fourth-quarter fundraising events -- proof, they said, that the campaign is still on track. And they reminded the group that they consider the Clintons, while fierce opponents, visages of the past.

"All Democrats respect and admire the Clintons and are grateful for what they've done. But people want someone different now," Smoot said. "And you know what?" she added, her tone softening as if she was about to share a secret: "It's not a hard sell."

Wanted: 'An Honest Assessment'

The task of assembling a national fundraising operation has been compared to building a Fortune 500 company virtually overnight. For a candidate such as Obama, who began seriously considering a run for president only a year ago and had no experience in a national race, the challenge was that much more difficult.

Last November, three months before Obama announced his bid, two of his senior advisers quietly approached Smoot with a proposition: Write us a memo explaining how you would mount a presidential fundraising drive, and if we like it, we'll hire you.

"What we really wanted was an honest assessment," one of the advisers, Steve Hildebrand, recalled. "We told her, 'We'd like the ability to raise $12 million in the first quarter. We feel we need to do that.'"

Hildebrand and Obama's Senate chief of staff, Pete Rouse, had worked on campaigns with Smoot. Hildebrand was the campaign manager when Smoot raised a staggering $21 million for the failed 2004 reelection bid of Sen. Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.). As Obama started contemplating a White House run, Hildebrand had a feeling that Smoot's blend of Southern charm and brash straight talk might make a perfect counter to Obama's more languid approach to fundraising.

Obama had gathered a list of 15,000 potential donors, a number that might have been impressive for a statewide campaign in Illinois but not for a national bid. Although he had made important contacts while traveling the country in 2006 to stump for Senate candidates, there was no guarantee that these people would back him over other Democrats already aggressively courting donors.

Smoot returned to Hildebrand and Rouse with a detailed plan that described how the senator could build the foundation for a national campaign. She proposed a finance staff of 31, a minimum of 10 hours of call time by the candidate each week, and a first-quarter travel schedule to shuttle Obama to the party's traditional fundraising centers in New York, California, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

In each locale, she identified scores of people who could become the core of a robust network of bundlers. Still, "without an extraordinary time commitment to fundraising from the candidate on the front end of this endeavor," she warned, "the finance team can only do so much."

If everything went perfectly during the first three months, she told them flatly, they could expect to raise $9 million. Rouse and Hildebrand were sold.

During the first week of December, Obama flew to New York, where billionaire George Soros had gathered wealthy executives in his office to meet the senator. Among those attending was Robert Wolf, the chief executive and chairman of UBS Americas, who had helped raise money for Sen. John F. Kerry's 2004 presidential bid. They talked presidential politics, Wolf said, "but at that point there was no ask." As he left, the banker handed his card to an Obama aide, and the senator called him early the next morning to invite him to dinner.

During the second week of January, with Obama's announcement still a month away, the two dined alone at Olives on K Street for more than two hours. "We talked about things important to me, and to him, and the future of the nation, and family values, and our ideas on health care and the war and the economy," Wolf recalled. "At this point, it was certainly clear that a presidential bid was much more likely."

They had a second dinner a few weeks later. This time Obama, Smoot and a small group of New Yorkers joined them to talk about how they would tap Manhattan for campaign funds. Wolf was on board and was on his way to becoming one of the senator's most prolific fundraisers.

As Obama's announcement neared, his outreach intensified.

Smoot began traveling regularly with the senator so he could work the phones as he drove to events. It got so that Obama would grimace every time she got in the car with him, she said. Smoot's previous job was with Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), an aggressive fundraiser who worked the phones fanatically and who had no hesitation about making "the ask."

Obama worked more slowly, she said, and resisted her efforts to have prospects stay on hold so he could jump briskly from call to call. "He's nice like that -- not like Chuck," Smoot said with a smile. "Last week in the car, we got through four or five [calls] in 45 minutes. He chats with them a lot longer than Schumer does. I'm just, like" -- snapping her fingers -- " 'hurry up, hurry up.' "

On Jan. 24, when Kerry announced he would not run, Smoot called all regional staffers and urged them to pounce. "We were all over it," Smoot's deputy, Ami Copeland, said. "You just knew if someone hasn't gone with Hillary, there's a reason."

[gaye5]

hey, if this man one of the elect, haven''t all the other presidents (except one) all been from the same ancestral line.. I have heard that if they don''t come from the same ancestral line that they haven''t a show... talk about the royal line...

[prinzowhales]

Here''s a link to the Obama positions on unlimited immigration:

http://profiles.numbersusa.com/improfile.php3?DistSend=IL&VIPID=1162

You''ll also read in the following link how his biggest supporters ARE LOBBYING FIRMS!!--He''s as big of a joke on lobbying reform as McCain was in campaign finance reform. He gets support not only from the Pritzkers of Chicago, but the Crowns as well--this is a name synonomous with concrete and corruption...connected at the hip with General Dynamics for years, if memory serves, even at the time of the JFK assassination. He has the support of international bankers and their former Clinton officials.

Obama is a turkey! NAFTA, hypocrisy, a closet War Pig...

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/11/0081275

[prinzowhales]

Want to see how the Israel-firster Obama stands on amnesty? He voted for the amnesty bill that would forgive aggravated felons, give them amnesty and five-years of Income Tax forgiveness...He voted against a border fence. This is the same policy that the Foundations favor...He has voted for unlimited entry for work visas...

People dumb enough to buy the Obama message would be at home in the Hillary or Giuliani Open Cities camp.

[consciousnes]

If I had a choice between Obama and Clinton, I would pick Obama even though I don''t think he is ready for such a job. He needs much more experience, but he does not have the skeletons in the closet that the Clinton''s do.

[prinzowhales]

Same old political gang backing a new face. Smoot worked for Schumer--Israel-firster and a corruptionist. The Pritzker family that runs Hyatt is also backing him--without doubt, he is Israel''s dog. Just as the old Harriman sow backed Bill Clinton from Paris...and the Harriman interests and the Bush interests were always arm-in-arm....this tentacle of the Oligarchy is lifting up Obama.

[hwy71so]

Oh, I thought it was going to say Hillary was his backer...