In town raising cash for Hillary: Bill

A couple of hundred Hillary Clinton supporters, already high off her debate performance the other night, gathered at Philadelphia's Mutter Museum Thursday to hear her husband fan their fervor and rally them to reach for their checkbooks.

Bill Clinton is good at that.

Six black SUVs heralded the former president's arrival at the museum's rear entrance. And there he was, in a fitted blue suit, his iconic shock of white hair highlighted by the afternoon sun. He smiled, waved, and disappeared into the building to greet some 200 buttoned-up, high-powered lawyers and politicos, who later emerged from the closed-to-the-press campaign fund-raiser almost giddy.

"He seems to be bigger than life," said attorney Joe Mistrano.

"He's amazing, he's amazing!," said Donna Allie, CEO of Team Clean, a small business, who gave $2,700. "He's a dynamic speaker, so charismatic, and he knows how to throw shots at people but not in an offensive way."

The event was at the College of Physicians, better known as the Mutter Museum, a Philadelphia icon specializing in medical oddities and the "disturbingly informative."

Notable Democratic attendees included former Gov. Ed Rendell, mayoral nominee Jim Kenney, former U.S. Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz (she co-hosted), and Senate candidate Katie McGinty.

Donations ranged from $250 to $2,700, the maximum individual contribution allowed. Organizers did not answer requests for the total raised, though Schwartz said the event was expected to hit its goal.

"He talked a lot about how prepared and how ready Hillary is to be president, he's a big fan of hers," Schwartz said. "The mood was great - some people gave more than they might even have wanted to, because they share that feeling of pride in who Hillary is and her performance the other night at the debate."

Rendell, a longtime Hillary Clinton backer, called it a "great day to be a Democrat" in Philadelphia.

"I think this is basically old friends coming to support Hillary and to see the president," Rendell said. He said he hopes Vice President Joe Biden opts not to jump into the race as the two would appeal to a similar moderate Democratic base.

Clinton made the rounds, posing for photos with top donors in a private room, posing in the main hall for shots snapped on cellphones.

Speaking without notes - he's good at that, too - he told the audience an officeholder should be judged on three things he said his wife has mastered: Are people better off than before? Did you do something to make the world's children safer? And under your leadership, did you build things or tear things apart?

Aubrey Montgomery, founder of Rittenhouse Political Partners, a fund-raising firm, noted the event was planned by and co-hosted by women. Rendell "gets a lot of credit for being such a prolific fund-raiser, which he is, but this was really about women coming together and writing checks," she said.

Clinton, donors said, shared the kind of story only presidents can: About the night Osama Bin Laden was killed. President Obama called every living president to notify them, Clinton recalled. On the phone, Obama told him he assumed Clinton's wife - then secretary of state - had already told him the news.

Clinton said he assured Obama, 'She wouldn't have told me. She works for you.'"

Chuck Williams, 42, director of the graduate center at Lincoln University, gave $758 to and left beaming ear to ear.

"He put an exclamation point on her debate performance," Williams said.

One notable attendee was U.S. Rep. Bob Brady who arrived in a nondescript sweater an hour and 40 minutes into the event but said he there only for a one-on-one meeting with Clinton. In September Brady voiced his support for Biden, should he jump into the race.

Clinton talked privately with him for about 30 minutes following the event, Brady said. "It wasn't about the campaign. I've known him a long time. We talked about the economy, Congress, things like that."

While the museum stayed open during the fund-raiser, at least three people had their visits disrupted by security measures. Dave Boyd, of Lawrence, Kan., was in town visiting his brother and his brother's girlfriend, who uses a wheelchair.

They weren't allowed to use the handicapped entrance behind the museum while Secret Service agents waited for Clinton. But Boyd, who considers himself "politically ambivalent," wasn't angry. The museum operator apologized, promised them free tickets and suggested nearby places to visit while the hosted an ex-president.

"That's OK, we'll wait," Boyd said. "We want to catch a glimpse of him."