Clinton's cash stockpile strategy
Clinton's cash stockpile strategy
Her top fundraisers face an unexpected obstacle: Big donors who worry Donald Trump might not be the GOP nominee.
By Annie Karni
06/24/16 05:20 AM EDT
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“They’re worried about giving money to attack Trump before the convention,” said longtime Clinton ally James Carville. | AP Photo
Hillary Clinton’s top fundraisers are encountering an unexpected obstacle a month out from the party conventions: big money donors suddenly reluctant to give for fear of running Donald Trump out of the race before he locks up the nomination.
“They’re worried about giving money to attack Trump before the convention,” said longtime Clinton ally James Carville, who has been raising money for the campaign in New York. “A lot of New York people think he’ll just quit. People think they will run his ass out of there real quick.”
There’s no evidence that Trump is considering dropping his presidential bid, and it’s unlikely Republicans will dump him as the party nominee. But Clinton’s well-heeled supporters are nevertheless worried by the prospect of running against anyone other than him.
“That's all anyone's worried about,” said a Clinton donor who attended a fundraiser in Manhattan last week. “People wanted to know from her, 'what do you think the odds are that Trump's not the nominee.'” Clinton, the source said, responded that the chances of that outcome were very low.
With Trump still recovering from a difficult month-long stretch — he has struggled to build a battleground state infrastructure, lost the support of top Republican leaders who appeared just last month to be to falling in line, fired his campaign manager, and dropped behind Clinton in national polls — Clinton and her allies are feeling confident about the match-up.
But they’re also stockpiling cash in order to expand the campaign’s massive financial advantage over the presumptive Republican nominee. And Bill Clinton, who has disappeared from the campaign trail since the June 7 California primary, is playing the behind-the-scenes role of fundraiser-in-chief.
The former president is scheduled to headline 10 fundraisers in seven states over the next week, according to a fundraising schedule obtained by POLITICO — all of them to raise money for his wife’s Victory Fund, a joint fundraising agreement under which cash raised is split between the campaign, the Democratic National Committee and the 32 state parties that have signed on to participate.
His latest cash dash is a result of marching orders dictated from his wife’s Brooklyn headquarters, an aide said. Clinton officials told the former president that his highest and best use for now was to step away from public events and work the donor circuit while his wife delivered a series of high-impact policy speeches, honing her contrast message with Trump and attacking him on economic and foreign policy.
“All they want to do right now is get as much money as possible,” said another top Clinton fundraiser. In some ways, it’s a return to the beginning of the primary season last year, when Hillary Clinton spent months on the road getting out her own message while her husband remained in the background.
At back to back events in Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Chicago on Friday, Bill Clinton is scheduled to speak in front of donor groups where hosts raise between $33,400 and $50,000.
On Sunday, he will hold Victory Fund events in Seattle and Sherman Oaks, California. The following week, he is scheduled to raise money in Phoenix, Dallas and Austin.
The former president was also a surprise guest at a dinner at the Clintons’ Washington, D.C. mansion earlier this month, for fundraisers who have raised more than $500,000 for the campaign. He arrived late to the party at Whitehaven — where about 40 top fundraisers mingled with Clinton and top campaign operatives like Huma Abedin, campaign chairman John Podesta, finance director Dennis Cheng and senior adviser Jake Sullivan — after speaking at Muhammad Ali’s funeral in Louisville. Donors in attendance told POLITICO the takeaway message from the upbeat gathering was clear: ramp it up.
The fundraising blitz is an attempt to pile on an opponent in a deep cash hole: Trump had just $1.3 million in cash on hand at the beginning of June, trailing Clinton by more than $41 million. But the Clinton campaign is eager to refill its coffers -- it has already spent about $26 million on television ads this month, and is also seeking to increase its 700-person payroll.
A campaign aide said there has been an uptick in smaller, online donations — the week Clinton clinched the nomination and President Obama endorsed her campaign marked the best few days of online fundraising to date, the aide said.
Loading up Bill Clinton's schedule with fundraisers in the run-up to the convention is a source of relief to some Clinton allies, who want the presumptive Democratic nominee to use the critical window before the conventions to define herself on her own terms. On the evening of June 7, the night she clinched the nomination, Hillary Clinton notably made no mention of her husband or President Obama in her victory speech from the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
“It makes a lot of sense for the campaign to assign Bill Clinton a more behind-the-scenes role,” said Democratic strategist Lis Smith, a former top official on Martin O’Malley’s campaign. “He has — at times — been an unwelcome distraction when he's lost his cool with protesters. But more importantly, Hillary needs to put some distance between her vision and the 1990's Clinton-era policies that haven't worn well, namely NAFTA, Wall Street deregulation, and the 1994 crime bill.”
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, has also slowed her campaign schedule since the primary season ended June 14. While she has campaigned in key battleground states like Pennsylvania and Ohio — on Monday, she is scheduled to campaign in Cincinnati with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren — she is also busy raking in the cash.
She’s scheduled to host a fundraiser brunch in Westchester, New York, on Sunday, according to the schedule. The following day, Clinton will host a reception with actress Michelle Williams in Chicago, followed by a $100,000-a-head dinner. Clinton will then host a women’s fundraiser in Denver Tuesday, followed by a reception in Los Angeles, and a lunch with actress Jamie Lee Curtis in San Francisco. And the campaign is currently putting together a Hamptons fundraising schedule for the summer.
Clinton’s staffers are also increasingly spending face time with donors. Campaign manager Robby Mook is speaking at a $5,000-a-head event in Boston on June 23. And this month, deputy communications director Kristina Schake is fundraising in Texas; campaign strategist Jim Margolis and the campaign’s chief financial officer, Gary Gensler, are hosting a fundraiser in New York City; and campaign chairman John Podesta is hosting “an evening of cooking” in Alexandria, Virginia, with chef Javier Romero.
Clinton’s former top policy adviser Neera Tanden on July 14 will hold a fundraiser for her former boss in Los Angeles.
Between now and the July 25 convention in Philadelphia, surrogates are also being tapped to bring in more cash reserves. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is hosting a Clinton fundraiser in Miami. “Sex and the City” star Kyle Maclachlanand Full Picture CEO Desiree Gruber are hosting a soiree for Clinton in Paris. And Billie Jean King and Lionel Ritchie are also scheduled to host two fundraisers for the former secretary of state in London.
"No one thinks this is a glidepath," said a longtime Clinton confidante.
