Posted on 07/16/2006 8:49:56 PM PDT by kristinn
WASHINGTON -- As if celebrity name recognition and superstar political status weren't enough, Sen. Hillary Clinton has added another tool to her mega-fund-raising arsenal: her newly renovated Washington mansion.
In work that ended last month according to District of Columbia building records, Clinton, D-N.Y., spent well over $800,000 expanding and updating her Embassy Row manse, adding a new pool house and a giant ballroom-like addition for entertaining.
She has been quick to realize a return on that investment, holding major money-raising bashes over the last few weeks.
"I like having people over to my house," Clinton told the New York Daily News.
And she made sure it's a nice place to visit in the sultry D.C. summers, installing three new high-efficiency air conditioners, 60 new indoor lights and 20 outside to go with her spiffed-up pool.
"It's a really good place for people to be able to come," she said. "It's easy to get to and people like coming, and I can really help raise money for other Democrats."
She's not kidding. A recent fund-raiser at the home for Tennessee Senate candidate Rep. Harold Ford Jr. took in more than $300,000. An event last Wednesday for the Democratic National Committee earned about $550,000.
"The house will have great cachet in a place like D.C., especially at a time when the Democrats don't control either houses of Congress or the White House," said Chris Lehane, a Democratic consultant.
Clinton's also using the 7,218-square-foot brick colonial to boost her own record-breaking reelection campaign, hosting $4,200-a-head fund-raisers. Her campaign declined to disclose how well those have done.
While the attractive home would be an asset for raising money in Washington during a presidential campaign, it could also have a downside on the campaign trail.
"One thing's for sure: She can't run for President as a populist," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "With that kind of house, she can't tell people in the rest of the country that she's a Washington outsider."
He added that while the home is an advantageous tool, it cements her insider status for an election that will feature no sitting President or vice president.
"She's the closest thing in this election to an incumbent," Sabato said.
She is also the closest to being Prince Machiavelli!
So how much is the "mansion" worth now? I can't recall how much the Clintons (aka Hillary, the lawyer and breadwinner of the family prior to 1992) paid for the house when they bought it. Anyone else know?
I'm not sure. Well over $1 million, maybe $2 million.
Public "service" sure is heavy lifting. I can remember when they worked for us. As a schoolboy during world war II we heard things like sacrifice, honor, duty, respect, and pride in government. We had the best form of government on the planet. Now we have the worst government that money can buy.
I thought she lived in Chappaqua, so she could get to the Yankees games.
""The house will have great cachet in a place like D.C., especially at a time when the Democrats don't control either houses of Congress or the White House," said Chris Lehane, a Democratic consultant."
That rat nose puke who spread the 11th hour story about George Bush and drunken driving during the campaign in 2000 really knows about cachet. The biggest difference between him and garbage collectors is that garbage collectors do honest and necessary work.
Who would ever guess slime could ooze so far. God sorts them out in the end. May she relish in the earthly riches which will not cool her eternity. And I won't apologize because I find that amusing. :-)
Of all the Freepers on this panel, you should at least be able to get an invite to see her new digs. Wouldn't that be a hoot!
It seems like only yesterday that she and Bill were struggling to get by on his salary of $37,000 a year as governor of Arkansas and up to their ears in debt on a second home in Whitewater by the landfill...
"She's the closest thing in this election to an incumbent," Sabato said.
She's the closest thing to the elephant act in Ringling Bros Circus! GOD help her guests if she shows up poolside with her humungous cankles waddling thru the shallow end!
Plus the house in Chappaqua - and what are her digs in NYC? - and what kind of a crew does it take to maintain these mansions? (Seriously, some investigative reporter aught to find out.)
Compare these to the modest ranch house in Crawford...
Oh, bwwwaaaaahhhh. You know what? I myself had almost forgotten that MRS BILL CLINTON actually is supposed to live in New York! No wonder the MSM never mentions that fact!
Do you think New Yorkers might notice that the Missus is quite entrenched in, um, Washington? Or does that only happen (after several decades) in South Dakota?
My guess: paid for out of her PAC funds or similar; but when the house is sold, she pockets the full amount. Remember, selling a house shields you from most if not ALL capital gains taxes; if you do a 1031 exchange per IRS rules, you pay NO taxes.
Where does Bubba live ?
Is she still married to him?
You forgot the apartment at the Clinton Liebrary in Little Rock.
I would hate to see how she 'decorated' it. If the WH is any indication it looks like crap!
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