Campaign 2008: How Big Money Picks a Winner

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The Clinton campaign has been aggressive about demanding loyalty as well. Many donors and bundlers (who collect cash from supporters and give it to campaigns in a lump sum) have traditionally hedged their bets by raising money for multiple candidates, particularly this early in a race. But this month Clinton's campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, put out a veiled threat to those who might stray, telling a reporter that donors who support more than one candidate "come off as not really being a supporter of anyone." Now the Clinton camp is trying to distance itself from that remark. "That's just Terry being Terry," says a figure associated with the campaign.

Beth and Ron Dozoretz, longtime Clinton supporters, seemed to brazenly defy this request for deference when they were hosts of an event on Feb. 2 for New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, another Democratic candidate for President. Ron Dozoretz claims that the event--a "meet and greet," he says, not a fund raiser--harks back to a close personal relationship. But Washington insiders, looking for an explanation about why a Clinton supporter might have risked wandering, point to the Dozoretzes' company, ValueOptions, which oversaw $300 million in New Mexico mental-health services last year under a state contract approved in 2005. Dozoretz insists that's immaterial: "We're a leading provider of mental services to governments all over the country; when the bid came out for New Mexico, we bid on it, and we won."

But in myriad other ways, career or business ambitions play a role in deciding which candidate influential fund raisers choose to back. They might be on the hunt for an ambassadorship. Or maybe they work in financial services and would like to get in good with an almost certain also-ran who will still be chairing, say, the Senate Banking Committee long after the election is over. Hence the nifty $3,422,982 that Senator Chris Dodd--the Democrat from Connecticut who oversees that key Senate panel--socked away in the last quarter of 2006, the highest of any announced presidential candidate.

Obama hasn't been in the Senate long enough to inspire much hope of patronage or quid pro quo, but many of his backers at least say they're motivated by infatuation as much as anything. Mark Gorenberg, who was Kerry's California finance chairman, says of his decision to throw in with Obama, "It was a combination of head and heart, but in some ways it was the heart that was really there." When I ask him if he has fallen in love, he doesn't hesitate: "Yes!"

Fund raisers are volunteers, and they often get in the game because they like the ego boost. Joining a more fledgling operation can enhance that feeling. "If I walked into Dodd's office with $250,000," says a Democratic fund raiser, "I've hung the moon. $250,000 for Barack? I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread. Walk into Hillary's office with $250,000? Get in line."