Clinton Powers DNC’s Fund-Raising Revival

Muscular fund-raising efforts led by President Clinton have all but erased the Democratic National Committee’s $15-million debt.

Enveloped by a campaign funding scandal, the DNC just nine months ago had to return $3 million in questionable donations from Chinese and other foreign and domestic sources and pay piles of legal fees from resulting investigations. Now, thanks in part to a backlash against independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, the picture has changed.

All but a “manageable” portion of the debt has been repaid and contributions are coming in at a record pace. There is no guarantee that a newly moneyed party will claim victory at the polls--witness the recent losing, high-dollar campaigns of California gubernatorial candidates Al Checchi and Jane Harman. But political analysts believe the Democrats, armed with a new war chest of money, are at least competitive. And, say the experts, they might have a solid chance of helping their candidates retake the House, where a swing of a dozen seats could make the difference.

“It’s a very distinct reversal from where we were a year ago, when the whole atmosphere of the Democratic Party was one of being under attack,” said Roy Romer, DNC chairman and Colorado’s governor.

DNC officials credit Clinton’s breakneck fund-raising schedule--and, paradoxically, the legal offensive against him by Starr and other conservative critics--for the turnaround.

“It’s counterintuitive that a lame-duck president with a legal crisis on his hands would be a better draw than he has ever been--but it’s true,” said Michael Lewan, a Democratic lobbyist who has long raised money for the party. “I don’t know what happened during Watergate, but I suspect they weren’t parading Nixon around on fund-raising events.”

The DNC’s rapid recovery is a top priority for Clinton, who is determined to leave office having restored the Democratic Party to economic health. After Clinton’s 1996 reelection campaign was rocked by disclosures that the DNC accepted illegal foreign contributions, the White House was on the defensive. Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) charged that China had tried to influence American politics by laundering donations to the Clinton-Gore campaign from Asian interests.

But this year, Clinton has gone on the offensive. Since January, he has traveled to at least 11 cities, holding at least 20 fund-raising events for the DNC. According to a preliminary analysis by The Times, these events raised at least $12.5 million for party coffers.

Clinton also attended at least 40 big-ticket fund-raisers for other candidates over that frenetic period, raising more than $25 million. During one weekend in May, he attended six events in three major metropolitan areas, including Los Angeles. Vice President Al Gore and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton have also done their part.

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But the DNC revival is not limited to high rollers attending glamorous meet-and-greets. Ever since Starr broadened his Whitewater investigation to include allegations that Clinton had sex with White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky and urged her to lie about it, the DNC’s direct-mail appeals have hit pay dirt. In the first three months of the year, 162,000 people sent checks to the DNC. That is three times more than had done so in the first three months of 1994, the last midterm political cycle.

The difference in overall receipts was much more narrow--$10 million in the first quarter of 1994 versus $12.3 million in the same period of 1998--suggesting that much of the recovery is due to a flurry of checks from Jane and Joe Democrat.

DNC officials first realized the link early in the year when they received an avalanche of e-mail and letters from Democrats complaining about the Starr probe. They also got a huge response to a direct-mail letter from firebrand Clinton friend James Carville, who called the independent counsel “Federal Persecutor Kenneth Starr.”

“People are saying in their responses: ‘This president is doing the people’s business. The Republicans are becoming the party of investigation. You cannot use these tactics to keep us from having the government we want. We are going to support the president,’ ” Romer said. “They’re really ticked off about Ken Starr.”

As the investigation continues, the influx of checks appears to be stepping up. The DNC direct-mail effort for the second quarter of the year is doing even better, according to DNC spokeswoman Melissa Ratcliff, although no final tally is available.

The DNC debt is down to $5 million--less than a third of what it was at the end of last year--and officials could easily trim more, but they are so confident about their restored fiscal health that they are funneling their collections into campaigns instead, according to DNC projections.

And the DNC is not alone. The campaign committees for electing Democrats in the House and Senate are having unprecedented success raising money for the November elections--even though there are no big issues in play and despite the fact that a second-term president’s party usually loses seats in Congress.

“It’s a weird time in politics,” said Lewan, the Democratic lobbyist. “A lot of conventional wisdom goes out the door because of the events of the last few months. Whether we win back the House or not, the party is in pretty good shape.”

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The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee--which helps Democrats win House seats--is particularly gleeful about Clinton’s devotion to its cause. In addition to the fund-raisers that the president has traditionally attended for the DCCC--in Los Angeles, New York and south Florida--Clinton broadened his schedule this year, going to the group’s events for the first time in Chicago, Philadelphia and Houston, according to executive director Matt Angle. In each city, more money was raised than ever before, he added.

“Because the president is so popular and our base likes him, I would give him some responsibility for every dollar we raise,” Angle said.

Angle agreed that Starr’s investigation has motivated the party faithful to sit down and write checks. Hard-core Clinton backers are angry that the attacks have made it easier for Congress to reject Clinton’s priorities. They also realize that a Democratic House would be an inhospitable place for Starr’s report on the president’s alleged wrongdoings.

Even though Democrats have no hope of taking back the Senate, where Republicans hold a 55-45 edge, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has also been pleasantly surprised by a steady inflow of money. “In fact, we’ve experienced record-breaking months as far as fund-raising is concerned all last year as well as this year,” said Michael Tucker, spokesman for the committee.

The Democratic Senate Committee’s efforts still lag behind its Republican counterpart’s--but the gap is closing. From January 1995 to April 1996, the DSCC earned $17 million to the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s $44 million, roughly 2 1/2 times less. From January 1997 to April 1998, the Senate Democrats’ campaign committee brought in $25.1 million to the NRSC’s $48.9 million.

But Republicans--still socking in money--credit a strong economy and general voter optimism. “Last year we raised more money than any other post-presidential off year,” RNC spokesman Tim Fitzpatrick said.

And that trend seems to be continuing. In their annual joint fund-raising dinner last week, the Republican Senate and House fund-raising committees raised more than ever--about $11 million.

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Democrats are hoping that the GOP-led Congress’ resistance to Clinton priorities--like legislation to reduce teen smoking that the Senate killed last week--will keep its base interested in sending money. “It’s another example of the Republicans pandering to special interests,” Ratcliff, the DNC spokeswoman, said of the tobacco bill. “Come this fall, they’re not going to have anything to run on except the investigations.”

To bring home the point to voters that Republicans sold out to big tobacco companies by defeating the measure, the DNC announced Friday that it will repeat a tactic that got some attention during the last presidential campaign--with a twist. To emphasize how much money the Republican candidates had taken from tobacco companies, volunteers dressed up as 7-foot-tall cigarettes--called the Butt Man--and heckled candidate Bob Dole across the country. This year’s version, which has pimples and braces and is called Nicotine, will show up at Republican incumbents’ campaign events and do the same thing.

“People really believe what we are fighting for--early child care, education, providing access to college, the HMO bill of rights, keeping kids from tobacco,” Romer said.

Despite all the accusations against him, Clinton remains the best spokesman for his party--as well as its best money magnet. He is so popular at this point, activists say, that he is welcome even when delivering critical messages.

Just hours after heaping blame on the entertainment industry for violent movies that might have helped inspire a recent rash of school shootings, Clinton showed up at a fund-raiser in movie mogul Lew Wasserman’s elegant modern Beverly Hills home overlooking the city. In one evening, he raised $1 million.

Political activists in Hollywood say the president is well liked, so that no matter what he says about the entertainment business, the money will keep coming.

“This is an extremely charismatic, bright, articulate leader of our generation, so there are a lot of natural affinities, and he has been by almost any measure quite effective leading the country,” said Andy Spahn, a political advisor at DreamWorks, who attended the DNC fund-raiser at Wasserman’s house.

Hollywood friends say the political and legal campaigns against the president only underscore the need to support the Democratic Party. “I think there are a lot of scary things happening in the Republican Party,” Spahn added. “That certainly has increased donations.”

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Washington Bureau Chief Doyle McManus and researcher Tricia Ford contributed to this report.