At recent campaign functions in New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton has been met by a GOP fanatic dressed up as Abraham Lincoln, carrying messages such as, “Who’s been sleeping in my bed?” Since Clinton launched her campaign for the Senate, 404 guests, excluding White House staff members, their families, and Camp David guests during the 2000 Middle East peace negotiations, have stayed overnight either at the White House or at Camp David.

Last Friday, the White House released a list of the guests broken down into categories: Arkansas friends - 51 people, longtime friends - 102 people, friends and supporters - 86 people, officials and dignitaries - 77 people, arts and letters and sports - 45 people, and family and friends of Chelsea Clinton - 43 people. Roughly one in four guests have supported the First Lady, giving $108,000 to her campaign and $516,000 to her affiliate committees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (Associated Press, Sept. 22, 2000).

Donors were not just invited to spend the night; some were also invited as guests at state dinners. White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart said, “Who do you expect you would go to if you were running for office, other than your friends? Do you think that you would go and try to get support from people who don’t support you, people who don’t like you? It is ...common sense that your friends and people you would have come stay in your home would also...support your efforts financially” (whitehouse.gov, Sept. 22, 2000).

Attorney General Janet Reno said, “It is their private residence, but they have also said that his is the people’s house... If the president of the United States wants to invite somebody to stay at his – what is, in effect, his home for a four-year or an eight-year period- he ought to be able to do it” (Associated Press, Sept. 23, 2000).

After the 1996 presidential campaign, the Clinton administration was criticized for rewarding donors with overnight stays in the Lincoln Bedroom. According to numbers released in 1997 by the White House, the Clintons hosted 938 overnights during the president’s first term, roughly 19 each month. Now, between July 1999 and August 2000, approximately 29 people have visited each month.

Mrs. Clinton said, “There’s certainly no basis for believing that [guests] are anything other than what they are, which is friends and supporters...The mansion is not used in any way for fundraising.”

The Clintons have a policy that houseguests, except family members, do not stay in the residence when they’re not there. However, there is a possibility that some people on the list came down to Camp David when the president’s schedule changed and he was not there. Some of them may have stayed more than once.

Lockhart said, “The Clintons will continue to invite guests to visit them at the White House and at Camp David during the President’s remaining months in office” (whitehouse.gov, Sept. 22, 2000).

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