Clinton planning Irish fundraiser

[JODO 2]

Clinton planning Irish fundraiser

He first came to help bring peace to Northern Ireland, but the next time Bill Clinton visits Ireland will be to fill a £249m election war chest.

His wife, Hillary, is aiming to become the first woman US president.

The Republican and Democrat parties are expected to choose their presidential candidates in early 2008, before the election in November.

The Clinton campaign aims to hold a fundraiser targeting Democrat supporters living in Ireland.

Irish-born publisher Niall O'Dowd, who is on the finance committee of the Clinton campaign team, believes Hillary has a lot of support among ex-pats in Ireland.

"I know there is a plan by the Clinton campaign to hold a fundraiser in Ireland for American citizens and green card holders," he said.

Obama

"There is a view that raising money abroad is actually an option now because there is such intense pressure to raise money within the US for all the political parties.

"A fundraiser in Ireland could actually work very well for Hillary Clinton because there is a tremendous amount of support among ex-pat Americans here for her."

The Clinton campaign team is currently raising money at the rate of £6m a month.

It is not clear if fellow Democratic Party candidate Barack Obama, who has ancestral links to Monegall, County Tipperary, aims to fundraise in Ireland.

"It has become a game of money raising, not really politics and that is the sad thing about what is happening in American politics," Mr O'Dowd told RTE Radio.

"Constant, constant fundraising is taking over the message of what is happening in healthcare, in Iraq.

"The obsession within the campaigns is 'get the money in the bank'."

The former US president made several high-profile interventions in the Northern Ireland peace talks. Last year he attended the Ryder Cup tournament in County Kildare and also spoke at a "leadership seminar" in Dublin's Burlington Hotel costing £675 a head.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_n...and/6978560.stm

Published: 2007/09/04 16:14:11 GMT

[GaryC 7]

I wonder if she will be hitting up the Buddist Monks again? Maybe go back to China?

[Nagishkaw 510]