July 1, 2004

BY LYNN SWEET WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF

He's back. He's big. And for $10,000, you can have dinner with him.

President Bill Clinton barnstorms Chicago today combining his book tour with some significant fund-raising for Democrats.

Clinton signs copies of his bestselling My Life at Barbara's Bookstore at 1218 S. Halsted and then later in the day headlines separate fund-raisers to benefit presidential hopeful John Kerry and Illinois U.S. Senate contender Barack Obama. Obama has the luxury of running against no one at the moment, since the Illinois Republican leadership, after helping to shove Jack Ryan out of the race in the wake of sex club allegations, will not decide on a replacement in their second-chance sweepstakes until about July 12.

Clinton, just in Chicago last month to tout his book at the big Book Expo, remains the best draw the Democrats have. During the Clinton years in the White House, the Clintons cultivated a whole circle of Chicago area donors, dispensing strokes and perks for dollars.

Obama is getting the full Clinton treatment. Last Thursday, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) hosted an event at the couple's home in northwest Washington, and today it is the former president stumping for Obama at a reception at the home of real estate mogul Neil Bluhm. Because both Clintons can attract significant money, people are being asked to not only write checks to Obama's campaign fund but to other related political pots as well.

The party at the senator's house -- among the guests, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Washington, D.C., Mayor Tony Williams and a slew of lobbyists -- was for Obama, and the first $2,000 of any donation goes to his Obama for Illinois fund. The rest goes to a new war chest, Illinois Senate 2004, which is controlled by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

The Kerry fund-raising concert (it will be without Kerry, who was in Chicago on Tuesday at the Rainbow/PUSH convention) is at the Civic Opera House, scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., but don't count on Clinton any earlier than 9 p.m. People who give or raise at least $10,000 are being invited to a private dinner with Clinton at the Tower Club in the Lyric Opera Building that is set to start at 8 p.m. Clinton often runs late.

Unlike other Kerry concert funders, the Chicago night out will not feature any Hollywood stars. The lineup is a rainbow of music tastes that matches the Democratic electorate: blues, jazz, rock, folk, samba. Headliners -- besides Clinton -- are comedian Mort Sahl, author and Chicago icon Studs Terkel and North Shore based producer/director/actor Harold Ramis.

Kerry and the Dems expect to haul $750,000 from the event to go into two cash pools. Illinois donors have contributed 5 percent of all the money the Kerry campaign has collected as of May, compared with 22 percent from California donors, 14 percent from New York and 11 percent from his state, Massachusetts.

While the first $2,000 of the Kerry event actually goes to his fund, the rest of the money goes to the Democratic National Committee, which can allocate it and spend it as it wants; but since the Kerry forces control the committee, it will be a distinction without much of a difference.

In Illinois, with Gov. Blagojevich playing out a power struggle with state House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), who is also the state party chairman, it is a different story.

The Obama camp is also raising money for the Democratic Party of Illinois, but they do not trust Madigan to run a coordinated campaign that will be tailored to help Obama rather than the state House members Madigan needs to keep his majority. That's why Obama's camp is preparing a backup plan for field and get-out-the-vote work normally the task of a coordinated campaign with a different funding stream.

Sen. Smugmug

Borrowing a page from the Howard Dean presidential campaign, the Obama campaign is putting pictures from grip and grins at funders, press conferences and other sorts of happenings in a photo album powered by Smugmug. But it's not free; one has to subscribe to Smugmug ($50 a year) to get the pictures.

Dem convention

Kerry leaked it while at the Rainbow gathering -- Obama will address the Dems in Boston at the end of July. "I can't wait to hear his voice first at our convention,'' he said. The Obama camp now has to make sure Obama gets a decent time to speak.