Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Former President Bill Clinton dined in Chicago on Tuesday night at the home of Fred Eychaner, the philanthropist, Newsweb Corporation chair and major Democratic donor. The dinner was at Eychaner’s Lincoln Park home, next to his Wrightwood 659 art and architecture gallery designed by the noted architect Tadao Ando. Eychaner is a longtime supporter of the Clinton Foundation, Hillary Clinton’s presidential bids and Democratic causes and candidates. The dinner was a fundraiser for the Clinton Foundation, with the attendees described by a source as “old friends getting together to support President Clinton and his foundation.”

Democrats are building a multimillion-dollar machine to focus on winning back state offices and legislatures lost under former President Barack Obama. Some of the Democratic Party's wealthiest backers have joined the effort, according to the Associated Press. Billionaires George Soros, Donald Sussman, and Fred Eychaner have together contributed at least $15 million. The Tea Party wave of 2010 installed six new Republican governors, flipped 21 state legislative chambers, and replaced nearly 700 Democratic state legislators with members of the GOP. The sweep gave Republicans an advantage in state politics and, even more importantly, greater control over the once-a-decade redistricting process...