Mordor calls the minions to battle! Sid Blumenthal can't be far behindFormer Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe has told business associates and Democratic donors that he will chair Sen. Hillary Rodham ClintonÂ’s (D-N.Y.) presidential campaign next year, according to several Democratic sources.
Together, Clinton, the favorite to win the Democratic nomination, and McAuliffe, the top money man in Democratic politics, have a good chance of raising $100 million before the first official contest, the Iowa caucuses in January 2008.
While Clinton and her staff insist she is focused solely on winning reelection in New York this November, the decision over who will be in charge of getting her elected to the White House is already settled.
McAuliffe told The Hill yesterday that Clinton has not made a decision on running for president and will not do so until after Nov. 7. McAuliffe also denied telling friends that he will serve as chairman, although sources contradict him.
He acknowledged that he would play a “huge role” in her presidential campaign if it materializes and that he has recruited donors for a possible White House run.
“I would just say that I hope she runs,” said McAuliffe. “She’s focused on the Senate and I’m focused on helping Democrats.
“Would I have a huge role on the campaign? Of course, that’s not real news. People know that I have has been around lining up people if she decides to run.”
Clinton referred questions to her Senate campaign, where spokeswoman Ann Lewis said, “There is no decision, there is no [presidential] campaign; if there is no campaign there are no titles.”
ClintonÂ’s camp is not the only one among presidential hopefuls lining up donors for 2008. Allies of each of the Democratic contenders are aggressively seeking commitments because of the huge amount of money that will be needed next year.
McAuliffe, who became DNC chairman in 2001, said he has had no conversations with Clinton about titles and that Democrats are merely speculating about the role he would serve in the campaign.
Since he stepped down as DNC chairman after the 2004 election, he has been involved with about a dozen private companies by his own estimate. He said he has raised money for investment funds and real estate deals, and even dabbled in the energy sector. He has also served on the advisory board of Carret Asset Management, an investment firm in New York.
But McAuliffe said he would quickly drop these commitments to help Clinton if she ran for president.
“I would take off time and go full time,” he said of his expected level of commitment.
Early next year, around the time Clinton is expected to launch an exploratory campaign committee, McAuliffe’s new book “ What a Party!: My Life Among Democrats” is expected to be in stores. It will span McAuliffe’s 25 years in politics and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of his party, including the successes of the Clinton presidency.
Although McAuliffeÂ’s specialty is raising money, he would probably not be satisfied serving only as ClintonÂ’s presidential finance chairman.
“To be finance chair would be beneath him,” said one Democratic donor close to Clinton, who added that McAuliffe is “trying to make his presence felt” in moneyed Democratic circles.
No Democratic fundraiser has as high a profile as McAuliffe. Nevertheless, he may be feeling some competition from the many Clinton allies who are positioning themselves as important financial players for her presidential campaign.
“She’s got a full operation,” said Wade Randlett, a prominent Democratic fundraiser based in San Francisco, of the network of Democrats who are laying the financial groundwork for Clinton in the Bay Area. “There are many, many friends who are active for her.”
Randlett said donors who have met Clinton leave the room certain that she will run for president. He said the same clear impression is given by two other hopefuls, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (D).
“For Kerry, for Warner, and for Hillary, they are all a certainty,” said Randlett. “People leaving the room all think she’s running for president.”
Randlett also said Bay Area donors have been told that Clinton will not visit there again between now and Election Day so as not to compete for campaign contributions in a Democratic fundraising hub with candidates running for the House and Senate.
Democratic fundraisers report that all politicians with an eye on the White House have been vigorously recruiting donors for primary season. ThatÂ’s because the Democrats have front-loaded the season even more than in 2004.
With key contests crammed into the first few weeks of 2008, giving the early front-runner the chance to eliminate rivals almost in a fell swoop, there is a premium on raising primary money next year ready to hit the early races in a winter avalanche.
“People are going to have to telescope and enormous amount of fundraising in a very short period of time,” said Steve Grossman, a Democratic fundraiser who served as DNC chairman under Clinton. “In my judgment, if you can’t raise the better part of $50 million, you’re not going to be a first tier candidate.
Given ClintonÂ’s stature and McAuliffeÂ’s stature as a fundraiser, Republicans have little doubt that she will have close to $100 million in her presidential campaign coffers at the end of next year.
Raising that amount of money in the year before an election year would not be unprecedented. The Bush-Cheney Â’04 campaign reported $99.1 million in its account at the end of 2003.
“There’s a growing consensus that the top-tier candidates of both political parties are going to opt out of the public financing for the general election as well as the primaries, which [would be] the first time in history that has occurred,” said Federal Election Commission Chairman Michael Toner.
If candidates forego public funding for the 2008 presidential primary and general elections, they will be able to collect contributions for both elections as soon as they form exploratory committees.
Said Toner: “The higher contribution limits of [the] McCain-Feingold [campaign finance law] combined with candidates raising money for general and primary combined with a polarized electorate sets the stage for record-breaking fundraising.”