WASHINGTON - Former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to attend fundraisers for two Arkansas Democrats in early April, continuing a trend over the past year of campaigning for Democratic friends.
Two political scientists said last week that the two-term president is strengthening relationships he has within the Democratic Party in preparation for a potential 2016 run by his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Saturday’s fundraiser for James Lee Witt, a Democrat running for the 4th District seat in the U.S. House, will be at the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs. Witt led the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the Clinton administration.
The fundraiser for Patrick Henry Hays, a Democrat running in the 2nd District, will be next Sunday at the Argenta Community Theater in North Little Rock. Hays said he has been Clinton’s friend for a long time. He was one of the Arkansas Travelers who stumped for Clinton across the country in 1992. Staff members said Thursday that about 400 tickets have been sold.
Tickets for the events are $250 each. Neither fundraiser is open to the media,according to the Democratic Party of Arkansas.
On April 10, Clinton is scheduled to appear at a fundraiser in Philadelphia for Marjorie Margolies, who in 1993 cast the decisive vote for Clinton’s economic policy after saying she would oppose it because it raised taxes on upper-income Americans. She lost her re-election bid in 1994 but is running for her old House seat this year. Margolies’ son Mark Mezvinsky is married to the president’s daughter, Chelsea Clinton.
The April events aren’t Bill Clinton’s first of the campaign season.
In February, he attended an event for Alison Lundergan Grimes, a Democrat challenging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky. In the fall, Bill and Hillary Clinton attended fundraisers for Terry McAuliffe, campaigning to be Virginia’s governor, and Bill de Blasio, who was running for mayor in New York. Both men won.
Bill Clinton is an old friend of Jerry Lundergan, Grimes’ father. McAuliffe is the former national Democratic Party chairman and a longtime friend. De Blasio worked for the Clinton administration and was campaign manager for Hillary Clinton’s 2000 U.S. Senate run.
Bill Clinton also headlined U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor’s re-election campaign kickoff in March 2013. Pryor’s campaign finance reports show he raised more than $632,000 in a three-week period around the time of the fundraiser.
State Sen. Joyce Elliott, who benefited from a Clinton fundraiser when she ran for Congress in 2010, said she isn’t surprised Clinton is returning to speak for Arkansas Democrats.
“He still sees Arkansas as a part of him and a part of his legacy,” the Little Rock Democrat said. “He feels some responsibility to get behind some people that he really believes in.”
She said Clinton will always be linked to Arkansas.
“It’s as if he’s left Arkansas bodily, but the spirit of who he is is still here, and you’ve got to feed the spirit,” she said.
But Gary Jacobson, a political science professor at the University of California at San Diego, said Clinton is helping old friends while keeping an eye on how it might benefit Hillary Clinton in 2016. She hasn’t said whether she’ll run for president again, after narrowly losing a bid for the Democratic nomination in 2008.
Jacobson has written extensively on campaigns and elections, including several articles on Bill Clinton’s role in fundraising for congressional candidates.
“I imagine now he’s kind of accumulating favors that will benefit his wife if and when she runs for president,” Jacobson said. “Rewarding your friends, making new ones, helping the party, this is politics. Bill Clinton will have done favors for a number of politicians whose support and endorsement Hillary might want to have in 2016.”
Paul Herrnson, the executive director of the University of Connecticut’s Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, agreed. He also has written extensively on congressional campaigns and elections.
“I’m certain that he’s probably thinking about it. Politics is about building coalitions; it’s about helping each other out when possible. That’s what political parties are for, and I’m sure that is part of the calculation,” Herrnson said.
Clinton will likely be selective, focusing on repaying old favors or building relationships that could help Hillary Clinton, he said.
“He’s a resource. He needs to strategically allocate his time,” Herrnson said. “He’s a wonderful politician. I’m sure he is very careful.”
Jacobson said candidates are more eager to campaign with Bill Clinton, but President Barack Obama will still raise millions of dollars for Democrats running in areas where he is more popular.
Clinton is better suited for stepping in for Obama in states such as Arkansas where the president is not as popular, Jacobson said.
“Both of them are going to be out there hustling money for their party and their candidates. Clinton is better situated to show up and meet with the candidate and be seen with the candidate, etc., simply because he’s popular,” Jacobson said.
Herrnson agreed, saying Clinton and Obama will raise money where they have the most support.
“President Obama will not be a big draw in many states in the South, but he will be a huge draw in the Northeast,” Herrnson said.
He said Clinton’s endorsement lends credibility to candidates and attracts donors.
“The impact of a visit is enduring,” Herrnson said. “When a party leader comes, there is the immediate impact at the fundraiser. Then it also attracts the attention of others in the donor community and so they contribute because the congressional leader and the party signified that this is someone we think is [viable]. It starts a snowball effect.”
Herrnson said no Republican equivalent of Clinton has appeared to fundraise this cycle. He said former President George W. Bush could be helpful to some candidates, but he has not done much fundraising so far. He also pointed to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, as a potential major fundraiser in 2014.
One of Arkansas’ most well-known conservatives, Mike Huckabee, has endorsed 10 candidates through his political action committee HuckPAC. Only one, attorney general candidate Leslie Rutledge, is from Arkansas.
Arkansas, Pages 15 on 03/30/2014