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"Scam" ads the norm Trail Mix: Hillary haters spam cyberspace Gunning for the center Democrats make Hillary legit The blundering pundit Don Giuliani Campaign video: |
Giuliani rakes in $12 million
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Jan. 19, 2000 | NEW YORK --
A subdued but proud Bruce Teitelbaum, campaign manager for Friends of Giuliani (FOG), noted that his team had not only beaten the previous record for off-year New York fund-raising -- $6.2 million held by Sen. Al D'Amato in 1997 -- but that FOG had raised $1 million more than the combined off-year fund-raising totals of D'Amato and his challenger, Rep. Chuck Schumer, who amassed $4.2 million in his successful bid to unseat D'Amato. But, while Teitelbaum said that FOG had exceeded its own fund-raising goal of $8.2 million by 46 percent, and skyrocketed past the paltry $524,000 it had raised as of last March, he sounded a note of caution. Giuliani's campaign fully expects to be outraised by Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign. "The Clinton fund-raising machine will raise and report considerably more than we have been able to raise," he predicted. Clinton and her spokespeople were in Buffalo and unavailable for comment. Her fund-raising figures are expected to be released Jan. 31, when the final 1999 filings are released by the Federal Election Commission. The Clinton campaign has said that it hoped to raise $25 million or more for the entire race.
Apparently, she is well on her way. Some published estimates have Clinton's war chest at $8 million already. Clinton has been making use of soft-money campaign loopholes to boost her effort. She has already helped raise more than $350,000 in a special Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fund established specifically for her race. Such a fund will allow contributors to give unlimited and unregulated money to the Clinton campaign effort. In November, the New York Democratic Party spent $340,000 on television ads that were apparently OK'd by the Clinton campaign, asking voters to "Call Hillary." In the face of "pressure ... to remain competitive" posed by the "Clinton fund-raising machine," the Giuliani machine seems to be chugging along quite well. Ten U.S. Postal Service bins overflowing with an estimated 6,000 letters to the campaign were wheeled out as props at Wednesday's press conference. Many of the letters' postmarks were from outside New York, though FOG campaign workers whisked off the bins as soon as reporters started pointing out Utah and Georgia and Ohio return addresses. Teitelbaum said that FOG was running a "very aggressive direct mail operation in state and out of state." Teitelbaum brushed aside questions about whether sizable chunks of change had been donated by a growing national network of Clinton-haters. "People are giving us money because they see the difference [Giuliani has made] in New York," he said. The fund-raising letters, however, reveal a brazenly anti-Hillary approach. "Hillary Clinton as a U.S. Senator?" one fund-raising envelope asks. "Here's your chance to vote ..." Asked if the campaign would have raised as much if Giuliani's likely opponent were matronly Westchester County Rep. Nita Lowey, who had been planning to run before being bigfooted by the first lady, Teitelbaum said that he couldn't respond to any hypothetical. "In all probability we will be running against Mrs. Clinton, and that's the yardstick we'll be measuring against," he said. Teitelbaum was happy about the 90,000 individuals who had given FOG money. Each of the Empire State's 62 counties is represented, he said. Further, 63 percent of the donors had given $100 or less, meaning that FOG could raise all of its money from the donors it already has if they keep giving. "One of the most important things a campaign can have is an expansive donor base," he said. "Ninety-one percent of the people have not maxed out or have not given the maximum allowable contribution ... therefore, even if we don't receive a single additional contributor ... we could fund the campaign for the rest of the year." Online donations weren't really a factor as only about $100,000 had been raised through the Internet. At the end of 1999, FOG sent out an e-mail urging contributions before the Dec. 31 FEC deadline. Teitelbaum said $15,000 came as a result. Up in Buffalo, it didn't sound as if Clinton was having as good a day as the mayor, at least in terms of headlines. Local morning radio host Tom Bauerle asked Clinton if she had "ever been sexually unfaithful to [President Clinton] and specifically ... with you and Vince Foster." Clinton said that those questions were "out of bounds," but Bauerle persisted. "Of course it's no," she finally said. Bauerle then asked if she had "ever used pot or cocaine." Again, Clinton said no. "Tom, what did you have for breakfast this
morning?"
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