Fighting for their economic survival, these smaller billionaires are particularly desperate. Their key political spokesman is Tom DeLay, the Texas Republican leading the anti-Clinton charge, and a major opponent of federal environmental regulations that limit domestic oil drilling. It's no accident that the House of Representatives is the frontline for the anti-Clinton forces. That's where the Oil Patch has made its biggest political gains. But oil is not the only reason the bosses are at each other's throats.
Finance is another battleground.
This struggle goes beyond the Oil Patch-Rockefeller rift. The Eastern Establishment moneybags are fighting among themselves. Then there's discontent with Clinton from within the Rockefeller camp itself. Clinton took campaign money from Chinese businessmen in return for promises to supply advanced technology. Giving military secrets to a strategic enemy is a no-no.