Lord Murdoch endorses and raises funds for Hillary

What's in a Murdoch-Clinton Alliance? Something for Both Sides
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT

WASHINGTON, May 9 — Strengthening a pragmatic rapprochement, Rupert Murdoch has agreed to give a fund-raiser this summer for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the latest sign of cooperation between the conservative media mogul and the Democratic lawmaker who has often been a prime target of his newspaper and television outlets.

Asked about her relationship with Mr. Murdoch, Mrs. Clinton described him as simply "my constituent," and she played down the significance of the fund-raiser. Both sides said that Mr. Murdoch and Mrs. Clinton were joining forces for the good of New York, where Mr. Murdoch's $60 billion News Corporation employs about 5,000 workers.

"I am very gratified that he thinks I am doing a good job," Mrs. Clinton said in the Capitol on Tuesday, according to a transcript made available by her office after word of the fund-raising event was first reported by The Financial Times.

Yet the developing relationship between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Murdoch — who has built an empire in part on the strength of media outlets like Fox News and The New York Post that delight in skewering the Clintons — has drawn special attention, perplexing some political analysts and infuriating some liberals already suspicious of Mrs. Clinton's centrist positioning. Although she is ostensibly raising money for her re-election to the Senate this year, she is widely considered to be laying the groundwork for a presidential bid in 2008.

"The brazenness of this move is almost too much to stomach," wrote David Sirota, a liberal commentator, on his blog. "Here you have a leading Democratic U.S. senator engaging in a 'mating ritual' with the head of the news network that has overtly worked to systematically destroy both the Democratic Party and her own husband's administration."

Mr. Murdoch, known for his shrewd business skills and his tendency to prize political power over ideology, gave a similar fund-raiser for Senator Charles E. Schumer, also a Democrat, in 2003, and has donated money to several Democrats.

Paul Waldman, a senior fellow at the liberal advocacy group MediaMatters.org, said the outcry from liberals over the Murdoch fund-raiser was to be expected. "People on the left don't like it because they find new things not to like about Hillary all the time," he said. At the same time, he said, Mr. Murdoch would only stand to gain by helping elevate a political figure who helps drive up ratings and circulation.

"Nothing could be better for his media properties than for her to be president of the United States," Mr. Waldman said. "I just can't figure out what's in it for her. She doesn't need the money, and it doesn't really buy her any credentials as a moderate."

How much slack the relationship has bought her is up for debate; while The Post attacked her former Senate opponent, Jeanine F. Pirro, and has praised Mrs. Clinton's work in Washington, her advisers note that the most vocal figures on Fox News still lacerate her frequently.

Nonetheless, both Mrs. Clinton and former President Bill Clinton have nurtured ties to Mr. Murdoch and his organization over the last few years. Mr. Clinton recently accepted an invitation from Mr. Murdoch to speak to a gathering of executives in Pebble Beach, Calif., later this year. He will also include Mr. Murdoch in his Clinton Global Initiative conference on climate change, poverty and corruption this September, for the second year in a row.

"While they disagree on a lot of political issues, they've found some areas, like the Clinton Global Initiative, that transcend politics," said Jay Carson, a spokesman for the Clinton Foundation.

Last month, Mrs. Clinton was one of only two Democratic senators who appeared at a Fox News Sunday anniversary party at the Cafe Milano in Georgetown, where Mr. Murdoch was in attendance.

Mrs. Clinton's office declined to give details of how the Murdoch fund-raiser came about; she rarely divulges her fund-raising calendar and bars the news media from almost all donor events with fewer than 200 guests.

Mr. Murdoch, for his part, is said to view the fund-raiser as a wise business move. His company has numerous holdings beyond the most visible New York media organizations. "I think he, as a constituent, and as a business leader in New York City, wanted to demonstrate his support for the work she has done on behalf of the state and for her advocacy of the city after 9/11," said Gary Ginsberg, a News Corporation executive.

Mr. Ginsberg provides another link between the two camps: he was a White House aide during the Clinton administration. The same is true of Howard Wolfson, one of Mrs. Clinton's closest political advisers, who counts the News Corporation among his clients at the consulting firm Glover Park Group.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company