Bill Clinton to Raise Money for Maloney

July 02, 2009 2:51 PM

ABC News’ David Chalian Reports: The Obama White House and Sen. Charles Schumer have worked diligently to try to clear the Democratic primary field for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. in the Empire State, but to no avail.

And Bill Clinton appears to be complicating matters by headlining a fundraiser for Gillibrand foe Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) in Manhattan on July 20. However, an aide to the former president says that should not be perceived as an endorsement of any kind. In fact, former President Clinton also served as the headliner for a Gillibrand fundraiser back in March.

After giving some very public consideration to the race, Rep. Maloney has made her decision to challenge Gillibrand for the Democratic nomination next year, according to Paul Blank, a senior adviser to the Maloney campaign.

"When we agreed to do this event, it was a ‘thank you’ event for her House account as a way of saying thanks for all her HRC work in 2008,” said the aide to the former president who was referring to Maloney’s support for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign last year.

Of course, all $1.3 million sitting in her House campaign account (as of March 31, 2009) is completely transferrable to a Maloney for Senate campaign account. The Senate campaign account is expected to be created within the next two weeks timed to a formal Maloney announcement which is likely to occur prior to the July 20 fundraiser with Bill Clinton.

As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is unable to return all those endorsement and campaign favors by hitting the fundraising circuit for some of her strongest allies and supporters. So it is left to her husband to help fill the campaign coffers of those who came out strongest for his wife during her losing primary battle against Barack Obama.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel recently described to reporters how he nudged his friend and former colleague Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., out of the race by making clear that the full force of the White House would be behind Sen. Gillibrand.

“I just told Steve, on my back porch off the office, ‘We’re going to be involved in the primary helping her and I don’t want you to get into the race and find out after the fact,’” Emanuel said.

A Marist Poll released yesterday showed Sen. Gillibrand has her work cut out for her in the primary. In a statistical tie among Democrats, Rep. Maloney takes 38 percent of the primary vote compared to Sen. Gillibrand’s 37 percent.

To be sure, it will be much easier for Sen. Gillibrand to woo New York Democrats to her campaign with the support of President Obama, Vice President Biden, Schumer, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and most of the New York Democratic establishment. 

Nevertheless, Rep. Maloney sees an opening in an election where more than 50 percent of the electorate comes from New York City and its surrounding suburbs. Sen. Gillibrand has been carefully calibrating her positions, statements, and public schedules with an eye toward that Democratic primary electorate now that she is no longer just representing a Republican leaning upstate New York house district.

Rep. Maloney’s formal entrance into the Senate race timed to the previously scheduled Clinton fundraiser is no coincidence, and likely designed to provide the appearance of an endorsement. But reading the tea leaves of who Hillary Clinton would like to see as her elected successor in the United States Senate can be a tricky business. One adviser to Bill Clinton suggested that Rep. Steve Israel almost entered the Senate race and he too would have received a “thank you” fundraiser.