Dodd’s backers look past the polls

SAN FRANCISCO —  He isn’t married to a former president, never won the vice presidential nomination and is no rock star. He barely registers in the polls that measure Americans’ preferred candidates for the White House.

So Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) worked the crowds extra hard last week in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Crowds? Who is giving Dodd the money to soldier on, and why? How does a little-known candidate from a small state 3,000 miles away crack the crowded California fundraising market?

One supporter is television producer Tom Werner, who turned over his Pacific Palisades living room to the Dodd campaign Thursday night. It overlooks the Riviera Country Club, and the backyard grass is putting-green quality.

Werner is co-owner of the Boston Red Sox. Dodd, an avid member of Red Sox Nation, took extra time to admire Werner’s most noteworthy living room objet d’art, the Red Sox World Series trophy. Werner and Dodd have spent many days at Red Sox games. Then Werner turned serious.

“This is a very perilous time,” he said. “Here is a man who has wisdom. There is real value in somebody who knows the complexities of the world. I’m tired of a president who is learning on the job.”

Dodd is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. He has served 33 years in the House and Senate.

And he has a national network of relationships with people like Werner and San Francisco attorney Chris Locke.

“It is a long way to the primary,” said Locke, who worked as an aide to Dodd 30 years ago and remains a friend. He helped organize Friday’s fundraising lunch at the St. Regis Hotel in downtown San Francisco. “I think he will emerge as the most experienced and most eloquent candidate.”

Dodd, 62, is not the only second-tier Democratic candidate; he mentions Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. All like to remind listeners that Jimmy Carter lagged behind in the polls too.

“How can we be called not-serious candidates, simply because we don’t have celebrity status?” Dodd asks.

“This polling data means absolutely nothing.”

Dodd and the others are competing for attention and campaign money against front-runners Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards. The leaders tend to measure their California fundraising jaunts in the millions of dollars.

About 65 people showed up for Werner’s event, which is thought to have raised about $200,000. At the St. Regis, about 20 people, mostly bankers and lawyers, sat at a table set for 30.

Unlike the best-heeled candidates who fly on charters, Dodd arrived in California by commercial airline. His entourage consisted of one or two assistants, and he traveled in a single SUV, not accompanied by a caravan. Eager for coverage, his campaign opened the fundraisers to a Times reporter; most candidates like to raise their money behind closed doors.

Many insurance companies are based in Dodd’s home state. His Banking Committee position provides access to Wall Street and banking interests nationally. At the end of 2006, he had nearly $5 million on hand.

“When you’re trying to build a campaign bank account, it helps being the congressional regulator of bankers,” said Massie Ritsch, of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks federal campaign money. “They’ve got the money to give and so they give it.”

But first-quarter fundraising reports, to be released in coming days, are likely to show that the top candidates have raised more than $20 million apiece, with Dodd likely to be below $10 million.

A practiced speaker, Dodd stood in Werner’s living room and addressed topics including banking, the disparity between rich and poor, the prospects of immigration legislation, and bills he sponsored on family leave and healthcare.

Guests said they liked him.

“The country is in dire need of real change,” said Mike Medavoy, chairman and chief executive of Phoenix Pictures, who has known Dodd for more than 30 years.

“Anybody can give $4,600. To me it is more than the money; it is putting the effort into introducing him to people.”

Financial advisor Paul Wachter, whose clients include Werner and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, also showed up, having donated $2,300.

“He seemed to be motivated for the right reasons,” Wachter said. “I didn’t feel this guy wanted to be president because he is a power freak. He can’t do what he wants to do as a senator. But he could as president.”

Dodd’s donors are not neophytes. They know the odds are long.

“It’s tough, but you never know,” said longtime Dodd fan Tom Kaptain, a Los Angeles political consultant who gave $1,000 to attend Werner’s event. “Who thought Jimmy Carter would win?”

Arthur Leeds, an attorney and producer who is one of Werner’s neighbors, said the need to elect a Democrat was overriding, and he is convinced Dodd will compete well.

“The question to ask yourself is, ‘Do you believe Hillary can win? Do you believe Obama can win?’ ... If you’re worried about that, then you need to say, ‘I cannot risk it.’ ”

At the San Francisco lunch, Dodd’s aide tells the senator he has time for one more question before catching a flight to a Seattle fundraiser. Commercial jets don’t wait. Dodd takes one question, then two more.

“You’re giving me a chance to be heard, and I thank you for that,” Dodd told the crowd.

By the weekend, he was spending the money, meeting voters in Iowa.

dan.morain@latimes.com