When President Bush came to town this week, the line to exchange a few words and pose for a picture with him was thick with heavyweights. There, at a private reception, was Gordon Bethune, the chief executive of Continental Airlines, and Drayton McLane, the owner of the Houston Astros. And there was Paul Dickerson.
Mr. Dickerson is not well known, but he is highly valuable to the Bush campaign, one of 187 "Rangers" who have each raised at least $200,000. Only 33, he is one of many fresh faces behind Mr. Bush's financial operation, which has minted scores of new fund-raisers and molded them into the most effective money machine in presidential campaign history.
Mr. Bush as of this week has raised more than $159 million — an average of more than $590,000 a day — since June, breaking his own record of roughly $100 million from the 2000 campaign and establishing a vast financial advantage over Senator John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee. The bankroll is a driving force in this year's election, shaping strategy and tactics as Democrats struggle to compete.
While fund-raisers have long fueled Washington politics, the new McCain-Feingold campaign finance law changed the game when it limited individual contributions to $2,000 for candidates and banned the unlimited "soft money" donations to political parties that used to help drive presidential campaigns. Now, the campaigns turn less to established wealthy donors and more to people like Mr. Dickerson, who can collect large numbers of small checks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/14/politics/campaign/14MONE.html
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