Obama Looks to Recruit Clinton’s Top Fund-Raisers
By CHRISTOPHER DREW and LESLIE WAYNE
NYT
As Senator Barack Obama edges closer to the Democratic presidential nomination, his campaign is gearing up to recruit many of Senator Hillary Clinton’s top fund-raisers, a move that could provide him with a huge infusion of cash if the two camps can get past the rancor of the primary season.
Several of Mr. Obama’s finance officials say that if Mrs. Clinton drops out of the race, they will invite her top fund-raisers to join his national finance committee at a meeting in Chicago on June 19. They estimate that the well-connected Clinton team could raise $50 million to $75 million for Mr. Obama and even more for the Democratic Party, adding to the already record-shattering amounts he is receiving from small donors over the Internet.
So far, the contact between the two sides has been limited to informal talks among fund-raisers in major cities, and Mr. Obama’s advisers stressed that they would not take any steps to court Mrs. Clinton’s fund-raisers as long as she remained in the race. But top fund-raisers in both camps say they have always expected to coalesce behind the nominee. And Mr. Obama’s advisers say that strong support from the Clinton fund-raising machine could be important to their campaign if, as is widely expected, he opts out of the public financing system in the general election against Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.
Mr. Obama has already raised three times as much money as Mr. McCain. And the combination of his Internet appeals and the Clinton donors could lift Mr. Obama’s fund-raising total to an eye-popping $400 million to $500 million, practically ensuring that the Democrats would outspend the Republicans in the Nov. 4 election and be in position to mount the party’s largest advertising and get-out-the-vote drives ever.
(Continued here.)
NYT
As Senator Barack Obama edges closer to the Democratic presidential nomination, his campaign is gearing up to recruit many of Senator Hillary Clinton’s top fund-raisers, a move that could provide him with a huge infusion of cash if the two camps can get past the rancor of the primary season.
Several of Mr. Obama’s finance officials say that if Mrs. Clinton drops out of the race, they will invite her top fund-raisers to join his national finance committee at a meeting in Chicago on June 19. They estimate that the well-connected Clinton team could raise $50 million to $75 million for Mr. Obama and even more for the Democratic Party, adding to the already record-shattering amounts he is receiving from small donors over the Internet.
So far, the contact between the two sides has been limited to informal talks among fund-raisers in major cities, and Mr. Obama’s advisers stressed that they would not take any steps to court Mrs. Clinton’s fund-raisers as long as she remained in the race. But top fund-raisers in both camps say they have always expected to coalesce behind the nominee. And Mr. Obama’s advisers say that strong support from the Clinton fund-raising machine could be important to their campaign if, as is widely expected, he opts out of the public financing system in the general election against Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.
Mr. Obama has already raised three times as much money as Mr. McCain. And the combination of his Internet appeals and the Clinton donors could lift Mr. Obama’s fund-raising total to an eye-popping $400 million to $500 million, practically ensuring that the Democrats would outspend the Republicans in the Nov. 4 election and be in position to mount the party’s largest advertising and get-out-the-vote drives ever.
(Continued here.)
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