Fundraising Breaks Political Alliances

More evidence of Obama's remarkable success drawing support from major Democratic fundraisers:

But Clinton was less successful than Obama in courting new, younger high donors just starting to be active in politics - an oversight her fundraising team vows to correct this time.

She was also less successful than Obama in courting a group of well-connected donors who had pledged their support to former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner. Almost all of his national fundraising leaders decamped to Obama after Warner withdrew from the race.

Don Beyer, a businessman and the former lieutenant governor of Virginia under Warner, said he was drawn to Obama as someone who could repair years of political polarization.

"Even Bill Clinton, whom I very much admired as president, didn't get 50 percent of the vote either time he ran," Beyer said. "And the whole Monica Lewinsky thing - it was a divisive period in political life. I'm hungry for a president who will bring this country together."

 

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Fundraising Breaks Political Alliances
By JIM KUHNHENN 04.21.07, 12:55 PM ET

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/04/21/ap3637911.html

Not long ago, Washington lobbyist Wayne Berman and California investor Tom Tellefsen shared the same goal: Raise as much money as possible for George W. Bush. Now they are in opposite presidential camps; Berman with John McCain and Tellefsen with Mitt Romney.