How Hillary Clinton will raise gobs of cash from Wall Street while trashing the industry in public

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Hillary Clinton

Reuters

Hillary Clinton talks with locals as she campaigns at the Jones Street Java House in LeClaire, Iowa, April 14, 2015.

Here's how a politician would normally get money from Wall Street to finance their campaign.

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  • Stop by the office and visit the CEO, like Marco Rubio did with Blackstone founder Steve Schwarzman.
  • Throw some public events for younger donors and then have a private dinner with the heavy hitters at night to collect the big checks, like Jeb Bush did with Goldman Sachs.
  • Do something that billionaire hedge fund manager Carl Icahn has pointed out President Obama hasn't been able to do: Make nice with the Hamptons crowd.

Hillary Clinton is not likely to do these things.

If Clinton wants to keep her base happy and be a champion against income inequality and for the middle class, she can't be seen hobnobbing with Wall Street's elite.

So how does a candidate in Clinton's position still get Wall Street's elite money?

Very, very quietly, and through back channels.

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That's what we learned from speaking to a number of bundlers, donors, and political insiders.

Dinners with Wall Street will be private and small. And, likely, you will not see Clinton visiting any banks, hedge funds or private equity firms.

Marc Lasry

Photo courtesy of Tom Newton

Marc Lasry is known to play tennis with his peers.

There will be a number of industry leaders collecting checks for her quietly too, like Marc Lasry, the billionaire founder of Avenue Capital. He sent out emails to friends in an attempt to raise $270,000 within the first week of Clinton's campaign.

That kind of stuff works. The reality of political bundling is that donations are given not because of some PR stunt or because of some swanky party.

Donors give money to campaigns when the right people ask them for that money.

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Lasry, for one, is on that list of "right people." He runs a huge hedge fund and people want to be able to do business with him. Lots of those people will donate to whichever candidate Lasry wants them to, just to stay on his good side.

Meanwhile, Clinton will go out to the world with her populist, anti-Wall Street rhetoric.

Every once in a while, this will upset some of her donors. That sensitivity has already become apparent in the campaign. In an interview with CNN, billionaire Leon Cooperman complained that Clinton "hangs out with these people in Martha's Vineyard and in the Hamptons and the very first thing she does is criticize hedge funds."

This was in response to Clinton pointing out that "the top-25 hedge fund managers making more than all of America's kindergarten teachers combined. And often paying a lower tax rate."

She added, "So you have to wonder: 'When does my hard work pay off? When does my family get ahead? When?'"

See? Sensitive.

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Another way insiders expect Clinton to raise cash from Wall Street is through Wall Street's lawyers. Lawyers tend to lean more liberal than their Wall Street clients do, and Clinton can rally their support so that they can approach clients who might be able to sign a check or two.

The approach will work if only because, as everyone knows, Wall Street owes its lawyers a debt of gratitude or two.

The question is, then, will the Clintons still summer in the Hamptons?

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