A funny thing happens when you take on Wall Street:
It’s a humbling moment for Democratic moneymakers in the richest city in the world, an uncomfortable and unfamiliar position for New York fundraisers after a long ride on the gravy train. Beyond a free-flowing financial market that managed to rebound after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, there were 16 flush years of having a Clinton family member in a position of power and working the Big Apple donor base hard.
Things are different now. While most Democrats blame the economy and anger from Wall Street for the fundraising predicament, President Barack Obama, whose own donor model was low-dollar contributors and Internet contributors over high-dollar types, has headlined just one major New York event so far this year, for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
And several fundraisers said they knew of very few major events in the Hamptons — the summer playground for the wealthy that was long worked by the Clintons, who used it for simultaneous socializing, vacationing and rainmaking for the national party committees.
Some Democrats called it the worst period for fundraising they’ve experienced in the New York area since 1994…
There’s a big donor model and a small donor model. And there are hybrids, which is, in truth, what Obama used to fund his campaign. Now a big chunk of Obama’s high donors are pissed off. If that makes him less beholden to Big Money then I’d count it as a blessing. But small donors will have to pick up the slack.
