Profile: Terry McAuliffe

— -- Terry McAuliffe may be chairman of the Democratic National Convention, but Al Gore has a different title for him: “The greatest fund-raiser in the history of the universe.”

That’s what Gore called McAuliffe during May’s record-smashing “Barbecue and Blue Jeans” gala at Washington’s MCI Center that raised $25 million in a single night, a figure unsurpassed by either party.

It is also why Gore, the Democratic presidential candidate, personally asked McAuliffe in June to step in and run the party’s convention, at a time when the host committee needed a quick $7 million infusion of cash to meet their needs.

There is no doubt that McAuliffe, a tireless worker with a talent for networking — who is a close confidant of President Clinton — has been at the heart of the Democrats’ money-gathering success in recent years.

According to his own estimate, McAuliffe has raised as much as $300 million for the Clintons and for the Democratic Party, allowing Democrats to close the fund-raising gap that had existed between them and the Republicans.

Raised as a Fund-Raiser

McAuliffe, 43, was born into the fund-raising life. He grew up in Syracuse, N.Y., where his father was treasurer of the Onondaga County Democratic Party. The elder McAuliffe started taking his son to fund-raisers when Terry was five years old.

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Soon after graduating from Catholic University in Washington, McAuliffe took his first political job, working for President Jimmy Carter’s re-election campaign. McAuliffe then rapidly moved up the ranks within the Democratic National Committee, although he did take time out to earn a law degree from Georgetown University.

Politics has been so central to McAuliffe’s life that he met his future wife, Dorothy, while organizing a 1979 campaign event for Carter. They now have four children.

Protege of Coelho, Friend of Bill

McAuliffe first gained public attention for his money-raising prowess in the 1980s, when he worked for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee under then-House Democratic Whip Tony Coelho.