Clintons Make Financial Appeal to Jews, Immigrants

Senator Clinton is turning to well-heeled members of the Jewish community, as well as various immigrant groups, to close her financial gap with Senator Obama's prolific and unflagging fund-raising operation.

President Clinton quietly swept through Los Angeles yesterday for a $2,300-a-ticket morning fund-raiser that prominent Jewish philanthropists organized to benefit Mrs. Clinton's presidential bid. Mr. Clinton's Southern California visit came after stops in the San Francisco area on Monday, where the former president sought money from Asian Americans and Americans of Indian descent.

Today in Manhattan, Mrs. Clinton is expected to attend a $2,300-a-head lunchtime fund-raiser targeting the Irish-American community. A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, Howard Wolfson, acknowledged that the Los Angeles event yesterday was part of what he called "Jewish outreach."

Asked if Mr. Clinton or the campaign was making any argument that the former first lady's stance on Israel was superior to that of Mr. Obama, Mr. Wolfson said the message was a "positive pitch" stressing Mrs. Clinton's record and views.

Precisely what Mr. Clinton told donors at the various fund-raising events this week is not known. His stops in California were not listed on his public schedule, and reporters were not admitted. The Irish-American reception today, first reported by the Irish Times, is also absent from Mrs. Clinton's public schedule. Aides to Mrs. Clinton did not respond to questions about the attendance or fund-raising totals for the Jewish, Irish, Indian, and Asian events.

However, her campaign said yesterday that it raised a total of $15 million online in the first half of February. A report on a San Francisco television station, KGO, said Mr. Clinton raised $1 million at his three Bay Area fund-raisers on Monday. The events aimed at Americans with roots in foreign countries or in a specific religion could allow Mrs. Clinton to overcome one of her biggest fund-raising challenges. About half of her donors have "maxed out," having given the maximum primary-season contribution of $2,300, according to an analysis by the Campaign Finance Institute at George Washington University. However, only a third of Mr. Obama's donors have hit that level.

While many politically active donors who back Mrs. Clinton have done as much as they can do, legally or given their own financial constraints, the religious- and national-origin-themed events are designed to tap into social networks whose members may not have been reached in earlier appeals.

A spokesman for Mr. Obama's campaign did not respond to an inquiry about whether his bid was planning similarly focused fundraisers.

"Both sides are really looking hard at new money," the executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, Ira Forman, said. "All the low-hanging fruit is gone."

In recent weeks, Mr. Obama has been the target of e-mails falsely labeling him as a Muslim, as well as Internet articles suggesting that he harbors anti-Israel views. Mr. Obama's campaign and senators who serve with him have denounced the messages.

Mr. Forman said he did not think the Clinton campaign was making such arguments. "I've heard it from right-wing blogs and anonymous emails," Mr. Forman said.

According to an invitation obtained by The New York Sun, hosts for Mr. Clinton's fund-raiser yesterday at the Regency Club in Los Angeles included the chairman of the National Bank of California, Joseph Kornwasser; real estate investors Richard Ziman, Bradley Mindlin, and Benjamin Ringel; a cable television pioneer, Marc Nathanson; a top executive with a global shopping mall developer, Peter Lowy of Westfield Corporation, and a former lobbyist, Yashar Hedayat.