Subject: First finance report article
From: "Molly Magarik" <[email-masked]>
To: "Jim Smith" <[email-masked]>, "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Kaufman Ted" <[email-masked]>, "Dennis Toner" <[email-masked]>, "Mike Donilon" <[email-masked]>, "Alan Hoffman" <[email-masked]>, "Eric Schwerin" <[email-masked]>, "Alexander S. Mackler" <[email-masked]>, "Josh Alcorn" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 19:08:49 -0500

Posted: Feb. 11, 2014
BIG BUCKS FOR BEAU
<http://www.delawaregrapevine.com/2-14beaucampaignfinance.asp>

By Celia Cohen
Grapevine Political Writer

Beau Biden collected more than $1 million in political contributions in
2013.

This does not look like the conduct of a sick man. This looks like the
conduct of a man who wants to be regarded as a future candidate for
governor.

Not that anybody is saying. Not that anybody ever does.

It is all still supposed to be about Biden running for a third term as
attorney general in 2014.

"He has not made any bones about his love of public service. At this point
he has not made any decisions. He's always taken it one year at a time,"
said Molly Magarik, who manages Biden's political operation.

Money talks, and maybe this money is as close as Delaware is going to get
to a statement about Biden's wellbeing.

It should be noted Biden continued to raise money after the mysterious
medical "procedure" in August at M.D. Anderson, the renowned cancer center
in Houston, and after the gala reception that was already planned for late
September at the Greenville home of his father-the-vice-president.

As a matter of fact, Biden continued to take in contributions until Dec.
31, the last day possible, for the 2013 financial disclosure reports, filed
Monday with the election commissioner's office for Biden for Attorney
General, his official campaign account, and for Beau PAC, his political
action committee.

What a haul it was, too.

Biden brought in more than $1.2 million for the campaign and more than
$162,000 for the PAC and banked nearly $1 million after expenses. The total
for the campaign is particularly impressive, because the maximum individual
contribution for a campaign is $1,200, while a PAC can accept unlimited
amounts, although there are some restrictions on what it can pay for.

All this, and Biden has yet to draw a Republican opponent. He never did get
one in 2010.

Money poured in from all over. From Luci Baines Johnson, LBJ's daughter.
From former Senate colleagues of Joe Biden's, like Chris Dodd, a Democratic
ex-senator from Connecticut, and Alfonse D'Amato, a Republican ex-senator
from New York. From Ellen Kullman, the CEO of DuPont. All of them maxed out
to the campaign at $1,200.

Even the dead did not want to be left out. The estate of Joe Jackewicz, who
was a potato farmer from Magnolia, gave $1,200. Politics is full of stories
of cemeteries voting, but contributing takes it to a whole new level.

There were also contributions from du Pont family members. Although the
family is known for its longstanding ties to the Republicans -- Charlie
Copeland, the state chair, and Laird Stabler, the national committeeman,
are both du Ponts -- the party here is just too depleted to hold much sway,
and the nature of money is to find its own way. Wealth chases power, and
power chases money.

Contributions related to the du Ponts ranged up to $10,000, like the one
from Tanya Copeland, the well-known arts patron who is the great-niece of
Sergei Rachmaninoff and married into the family.

Copeland sat on the host committee for the reception at the vice
president's house and split her contribution with $1,200 going to the
campaign and $8,800 to the PAC for a total of $10,000. This was the plan.

"We tried to get hosts to write or raise $10,000," Magarik said.

Biden's political operation was so flush, it could turn the old biblical
saying on its head. *As ye receive, so shall ye give.*

The PAC was particularly generous to other Democrats. The state party came
away with $12,000.

It was not a coincidence that the fund raising took off with the hiring of
Josh Alcorn last February. He was a bit player in the campaign for attorney
general in 2006, went to Iowa for Joe Biden's short-lived presidential bid
for 2008, and then signed on as the finance director for Harry Reid, the
Senate's Democratic majority leader. Family ties brought him back to the
area and to Beau Biden.

"Josh just clearly set the world on fire. It was the combination of Josh's
organization and Beau. It was honestly very humbling to have that much
support from so many folks, particularly in a non-election year," Magarik
said.

All that money, and yet something is missing. How about a penny for Beau
Biden's thoughts on how fit he is for this office and beyond?

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