Michael Kelly Mort Kondracke Ch. It is a Democratic fund-raiser, and Dick Gephardt stands in front of the buffet table, hugging and kissing people, seemingly at random.
Faces are flushed, spirits are high, and the air is pregnant with possibilities.
If the Democrats raise enough money, they figure they can take back the House of Representatives, make Gephardt the speaker and Charlie Rangel, whose 70th birthday is being celebrated this night, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. But money does not come through magic. It comes through guys like David Jones. For many, merely meeting Gephardt, the House minority leader, is enough. They want to go to a fund-raising event and rub elbows with CEOs, the managing partners of law firms, business people.