From the Wall Street Journal:

Lawmakers Join Hunt
To Bag Big Donors Early
Presidential Herd Spurs
Rush for Limited Funds;
'I Get a Lot of Invites'
By LAURIE P. COHEN
March 28, 2007; Page A1

The unusually early and intense fund-raising push in the 2008 presidential campaign is spurring congressional candidates into a hasty money chase as well, just two months after the current class of lawmakers was sworn in.

The sheer number of campaigns hunting for seed money has intensified the competition to tap big donors before they bump up against either legal or self-imposed caps on what they can give during the current election cycle, fund-raisers say. The rematch between Democrats and Republicans for control of the House and Senate is also ratcheting up what has become a perpetual campaign-finance cycle.

Wealthy donors have always tended to give early in campaign cycles as favors to friends and business associates, or because they are acquainted with candidates. "More fund raising is going on by members of Congress because they're competing with so many presidential candidates," says Jan Baran, a Washington campaign-finance lawyer.

Individual campaign contributions are limited to $2,300 per candidate per election, and $42,700 for all candidates. Donors also can contribute an additional $65,500 to political action committees and parties.

"It's a small group of people, but 95% of them are in New York, Washington, Palm Beach and Hollywood," says David Hansen, who managed the 2006 re-election campaign of veteran Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch. This quarter is "light years more active" than previous election cycles, says Mr. Hansen.

Even though he isn't up again until 2012, Mr. Hatch attended a fund-raiser in his behalf this month in Palm Beach, Fla. Wealthy donors say they also met this month with Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.), whose term is up in 2010, at Donald Trump's 18-acre Mar-a-Lago golf resort, for a fund-raiser organized by longtime Republican consultant Roger Stone. "There's 11 guys running for president on the Republican side, and senators are competing with them for everyone's money," Mr. Stone says. Sen. Mel Martinez (R., Fla.), also up for re-election in 2010, has begun an early round of fund raising, too. This month he attended a fund-raiser at the home of a Fort Lauderdale attorney.

Much of the action has taken place in private homes and hotels in big-money hot spots. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D., W.Va.), Sen. Mary Landrieu (D., La.), Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.), Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa) and Sen. Richard Durbin (D., Ill.) all have had events in New York sponsored on their behalf in recent weeks. All are up for re-election next year.

Mr. Durbin has attended about 50% more fund-raisers for his 2008 campaign this quarter than in the same period in the 2002 election cycle, says his Illinois chief of staff, Michael Daly, who has run the Illinois Democrat's campaigns since 1982.

Seasoned politicos, for their part, have also noticed the difference. "I get a lot of invites, many more than in the past," says Gifford Miller, a former New York City Council speaker.

Concrete data on fund raising to date in 2007 won't be available until mid-April, when candidates are required to file their first-quarter reports with the Federal Election Commission. But campaign staffers say that beyond pressures caused by the early presidential jockeying, what could be a record-setting quarter for money gathering is driven by the ever-steeper cost of elections. And there is always a bit of a frenzied push early in campaigns to establish momentum.

At this stage, then, candidates tend to focus on corralling big-ticket contributors -- who can give campaigns an air of viability as well as cash -- before embarking on the more exhaustive hunt for small donors.

Other factors are also accelerating congressional fund-raising activity. The stakes in Senate races are particularly high, for one thing. Democrats captured control in 2006 with the narrowest of margins, making it extremely difficult to push legislation through the chamber, and the party is eager to increase its majority.

Republicans, meanwhile, hope they can regain control. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee yesterday emailed out a fund-raising pitch with the subject line "Nightmare Scenario" that opens: "One seat. That's all it would take to flip Senate control...in 2008." The pitch sets a goal of raising $300,000 by March 31.

Democrats see an opportunity to expand their majority next year, since 22 seats currently held by Republicans will be up for grabs compared with just 11 Democrats' seats. Just as Democrats wiped out moderate Republicans in liberal-leaning Northeastern districts in the House in 2006, they are now strategizing to upend moderate Republicans representing Democratic-leaning states in the Senate in the next election. One is Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Victor Kovner, a New York lawyer, and his wife, Sarah, a former official in the Clinton administration, hosted a fund-raiser in their home this month for Rep. Tom Allen (D., Maine), an incumbent considering a challenge to Ms. Collins.

For her part, Ms. Collins earlier this month attended an event sponsored for her by Republican Kathryn Patterson Kempner. Ms. Collins's chief of staff, Steven Abbott, says the lawmaker isn't racing for dollars faster than previous cycles. But, he says, "The parties are feeling a lot of pressure because the presidential campaigns pose direct competition for individual donors' money."

The House, too, is shaping up early as an expensive battleground. Republicans are already plotting to retake the House, targeting in particular the large number of freshmen Democrats, who are seen as the least entrenched and thus the most vulnerable. Earlier this month, the Kovners also hosted a fund-raiser for freshman Democratic Rep. John Hall of New York.

Ms. Kovner, a longtime political activist, says the early congressional fund-raisers are largely geared toward ensuring that newly elected candidates have large campaign war chests to discourage challengers. She adds that because of the presidential campaign, "there is a fear that donors to individual campaigns will reach their maximum spending limits sooner." Indeed, in addition to their two recent congressional events, the Kovners were among the hosts of an event on March 18 at a midtown hotel for New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign.

House and Senate control can also drive the policy debate on key issues donors care about, from Iraq and immigration to health care and taxes. Because both the presidency and Congress are up for grabs at the same time, the power of a new president to implement his or her agenda could hinge largely on which party prevails on Capitol Hill.

Overall, there are relatively few donors who come anywhere close to approaching the federal limits for total giving. In 2004, just 25,833 donors gave $10,000 or more, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit research group. But that number is expected to rise this year, partly due to the increasing political involvement of hedge-fund and Wall Street executives.

Many big donors are juggling both presidential and congressional candidates. Eric Mindich, a former Goldman Sachs Group executive and now chief executive of New York hedge fund Eton Park, co-hosted an event last month for Sen. Landrieu at the home of Laurence Belfer, a private investor. Mr. Mindich is also raising money for Illinois Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.

Mark Gorenberg, a San Francisco venture capitalist, spent the first quarter of this year raising money for Mr. Obama's presidential campaign. But Mr. Gorenberg says he plans to spend much of his time the rest of this year raising money for Democratic Senate candidates.

"Most people are unaware of spending limits and feel they can write many presidential checks," leaving less for congressional candidates, he says.

Thomas Quinn, a lawyer and registered lobbyist at Venable LLC in Washington, says he has already contributed to the primary races of Sens. Clinton, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Joseph Biden of Delaware, as well as to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, all Democratic presidential candidates. Mr. Quinn also says he would have given to the presidential campaigns of Mr. Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, but says they have refused contributions from registered lobbyists.

Meanwhile, several New York bankers and lawyers privately say that they, too, are spreading largess among multiple presidential candidates. Some say they are doing so to promote debate, giving multiple candidates an opportunity to state their views. "The contribution limits are so low, and you're dealing with people who can easily write a check for $2,300," says Kent Cooper of PoliticalMoneyLine, a Washington-based research group. People are also giving to multiple candidates as favors to friends and business associates -- and to hedge their bets to make sure they have done something for whoever becomes the general campaign's candidate.

"I'll be maxed out earlier than usual this cycle," Mr. Quinn says. "Everyone is in play."