Bush's Brigadier of Bucks

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If Oliver has an analog in the Democratic Party, it is in party chairman Terry McAuliffe. Both are manic, adroit fund raisers, but while McAuliffe loves the limelight, Oliver shuns it. (Oliver declined to speak with TIME.) McAuliffe was the champ of raising soft money; Oliver does it the hard way, collecting prodigious numbers of $1,000--and now $2,000--checks.

Oliver has the job of raising money for a President who would rather do just about anything else. But compared with his Democratic predecessor, Oliver has it easy. He doesn't have to organize White House coffees for $20,000 party donors. For that amount, all he needs to do is get you a quick snapshot with the President.