It seemed odd to us at the time.
Headquarters was a busy place. Lots of people were on phones doing lots of things. Might be dialing for dollars (campaigns can always use that), working events, doing some in-house polling, working GOTV, working with volunteers, talking to the press, whatever. There are 1001 reasons people might be on the phone. I was just an occasional evening volunteer doing whatever was requested when I showed up (usually fundraising, at which I was pretty good). I did not hobnob with anybody of note.
I have no idea how widespread the alert was, but the impression I got was that everyone who might be talking to anyone outside the building should be on the alert for the name and report immediately if they caught a whisper. We weren’t directed to go fishing, just to note the name and report immediately if MM came up in conversation.
We were not told anything about who MM was, and I don’t suppose any of us knew. Nor were we told why he was of interest upstairs. None of the people with whom I was working had ever heard of such an all-hands alert. We noted the name and went back to dialing. Nothing came of it at that time, so I forgot about it.
I have no idea what might have been heard by someone upstairs, but for some reason the name was flagged. That’s all I know. That’s the only time I’ve ever seen anything like that happen. The Clinton-Gore campaign had been deep into illegal fundraising for two years and the RNC (and other GOP players) had been trying to push the issue, but with Janet Reno stonewalling and the media ignoring the story, we got nowhere. I suppose there are many ways MM might have become the subject of a rumor.
Very interesting — thanks.