White House in Retreat

WASHINGTON: Whoever is in charge of scheduling fund-raisers at the DNC needs to get a clue. Clinton spokespeople were left floundering Wednesday as they tried to defend the President and Vice Presidents Democratic donor retreat in Florida which takes place over Halloween weekend, and which you can attend for the bargain price of $50,000 a head. Pushed on the fact that Clinton would be the first sitting President to attend such an event, Mike McCurry fell back on his usual wry humor: "Democrats had a little problem electing sitting presidents," he said.

For all the droll comments, this fund-raiser has attracted a lot of unwanted attention at a politically sensitive time. Yesterday, Fred Thompson blasted the President over "blatant manipulation" of the electoral system, and accused him of "perpetrating a ruse on the taxpayer." The sense that Clinton was morally in the wrong seems to be spreading now even leading Democrats such as Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut say the White House fund-raisers "made me itch."

Never mind that Thompson's committee was halted Wednesday as senators protested campaign finance reform. That hardly made headlines next to the $50,000 Florida retreat. Tape-weary journalists everywhere must be praying no one brings a video camera along.