McAuliffe, the Clintons' moneyman, suffers humiliating political defeat

Anyone who knows anything about the political success Bill and Hillary Clinton have enjoyed knows that Terry McAuliffe was the indispensable campaign fundraiser who made it all possible.

As it happens, I know a little more than most about their relationship – having worked down the hall from Terry when he was serving as chief fundraiser for the Clinton-Gore reelection campaign in 1996. (I was just a foot soldier who served as the national procurement coordinator for the campaign.)

But suffice it to know that Terry was as much a personal friend of the Clintons as he was their fundraiser. Therefore, Bill and Hillary were probably motivated as much by friendship as by indebtedness when they threw their considerable clout behind Terry’s bid to win the Democratic nomination for governor of Virginia.

More to the point, not so long ago, such an endorsement would’ve guaranteed victory in any Democratic primary. Then along came Obama:

Here’s to the ascension of Obama as the new leader of the Democratic Party, and to the end of Bill and Hillary’s self-indulgent reign.

[Obama Clinches Democratic nomination, TIJ, June 4, 2008]

I have no doubt, however, that if the Clintons had run a more respectable and less imperious campaign, they would have retained much of their clout:

[C]lose friends say Sen. Kennedy had become so disgusted with the Clintons’ race-baiting tactics to marginalize Obama that he regarded Bill’s pleas [for the Kennedys to endorse Hillary] as nothing more than a pathetic attempt to spin him. But far more troubling for the former president is the cognitive dissonance developing in Democratic circles that he is showing himself to be little more than the white equivalent of Rev. Al Sharpton.

[The Kennedys: Dissing Hillary, endorsing Barack…, TIJ, January 29, 2009]

Unfortunately for Terry, nothing demonstrates how much influence and goodwill the Clintons have lost within the Democratic Party quite like the results in yesterday’s primary race in Virginia.

Because, despite the Clintons’ endorsement, being a nationally known political celebrity in his own right and having unlimited campaign funds, Terry was “trounced” by obscure state legislator Creigh Deeds. In fact, Deeds won over 50 percent of the votes; whereas, Terry won only 26 percent; and another former state politician, Brian Moran, won 24 percent.

Meanwhile, even though he never endorsed any of the candidates, it was generally assumed that President Obama wanted Deeds to win. Not least because, in addition to being the chief fundraiser for Hillary’s ill-fated presidential campaign, Terry was one of her most vicious attack dogs against Obama.

Therefore, Terry’s humiliating defeat must have provided a second dose of vindication for Obama’s supporters, if not for the president himself.