doc_text: Just last week, he was feted at the Spy Club, a chic Washington watering hole.
  Among those who helped round up contributors for the $250-a-head fund-raising event were Terence McAuliffe, Gerald Cassidy and Patrick Griffin, three veteran Democrats who also head prominent Washington lobbying firms.
  Mr. McAuliffe says the crowd at the Spy Club soiree, which brought in more than $150,000, was young and wasn't dominated by "the Democratic old-guard."
  But lobbyists were in heavy attendance at two $1,000-a-person Washington fund-raisers the Harkin campaign staged earlier in the political season.
  Lorraine Voles, Mr. Harkin's campaign spokeswoman, emphasizes that the bulk of the $1 million that he has raised has come from small, direct-mail donations or from grassroots fund-raising events, not from Washington operatives or political action committees.
  But the campaign certainly hasn't spurned financial support from the Washington establishment.
  "If you want to be competitive, you have to raise the money," Ms. Voles says.
  Despite his reputation as a Senate maverick, Mr. Harkin appears to be the 1990 candidate favored by Washington's lobbying community, the spawning ground for many of the Democratic Party's mightiest fund-raisers.
  Mr. Harkin's wife, Ruth, is a lawyer-lobbyist at one of the city's most prominent Democratic law firms, Akin, Gump, Hauer &amp; Feld.
  Moreover, Sen. Harkin's important positions on the Senate Appropriations and Agriculture Committees are lobbying-intensive.
  The Washington firms headed by Mr. Cassidy and Mr. McAuliffe both lobby the appropriations committees extensively.
  Mr. McAuliffe says his support for Mr. Harkin has nothing to do with his business activities -- Mr. McAuliffe himself doesn't lobby -- and grows out of friendship.
  A spokesman for Mr. Cassidy says he, too, is supporting Mr. Harkin because he is an old friend.
  Both men were big supporters of Mr. Harkin's Senate bids.
  Sen. Harkin is by no means the only Democrat reaching inside the Beltway for campaign help.
  Bill Clinton, the Arkansas governor who has emphasized his southern, outside-of-Washington base, has an array of notables serving on his campaign's executive committee.
  The group includes Anne Wexler, a former Carter White House aide who heads the Wexler Group, a lobbying powerhouse.
  Robert Farmer, a former Democratic Party treasurer who was chief fund-raiser for Michael Dukakis and was, until recently, a member of the Cassidy firm, is raising funds for Mr. Clinton, as is Charles Dolan, another Cassidy lobbyist.
  Democratic lawyer David Ifshin, who also advises the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), is the campaign's general counsel.
  The Clinton campaign raised $100,000 last month at a cocktail party at the home of Vic Raiser, a politically connected Washington lawyer and also a former Democratic Party treasurer.
  Even with anti-Washington voter sentiment running strong, Ms. Wexler says the demand for seasoned campaign strategists and fund-raisers is still strong among Democratic presidential candidates.
  "There is something to be said for an institutional memory and experience," Ms. Wexler says.
  "It isn't a question of insiders or outsiders."
  Sen. Robert Kerrey of Nebraska has fewer ties to Washington insiders.
  However, he has appointed John Quinn, a Washington lawyer-lobbyist and veteran of other Democratic presidential efforts, as his campaign's general counsel.
  Mr. Quinn, in turn, has brought other Washington lawyers onto the Kerrey team.
  The Kerrey campaign will have its own Spy Club fund-raiser, for a more modest $50 a ticket, early next month.
  Mr. Quinn, for one, says he is comforted by the absence of other Washington insiders on the Kerrey bench.
  "The inside-the-Beltway political community has the best record of being wrong," he observes.
  In 1988, many Democratic lobbyists flocked to the unsuccessful campaign of Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt, a powerful member of the House Ways and Means Committee and the future House majority leader.
  Mr. McAuliffe, in fact, was Mr. Gephardt's chief fund-raiser.
  Despite his relative paucity of connections with the Washington establishment, Sen. Kerrey does have an in with another important community: Hollywood, where he is best known for his relationship with actress Debra Winger.
  Last week, Barry Diller, chairman of Fox Inc., a unit of News Corp., Sydney, Australia, hosted a Kerrey fund-raising event at his Beverly Hills home.
  Among the co-hosts of the $250,000-plus event were Hollywood notables Ted Field, David Geffen and Sherry Lansing.
  Former Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas, who himself did some Washington lobbying for his law firm, based in Boston, has a number of Washington lawyer-lobbyists helping him with fund-raising.
  Douglas Wilder, the Virginia governor, is relying on Robert Blair, another wellknown Washington lawyer-lobbyist, to help raise money.
  Even former California Gov. Jerry Brown, who has made running against special interests and the Washington establishment the centerpiece of his campaign, has a few Washington politicos working on his campaign.
  But Mr. Brown isn't accepting contributions of more than $100.
  Some of the Democratic Party's most experienced campaign veterans are still standing on the sidelines.
  Richard Moe, a former top adviser to Walter Mondale and an attorney in the Washington office of Davis, Polk &amp; Wardwell, says he's taking a "self-imposed sabbatical" from politics these days.
  Michael Berman, another Washington lawyer-lobbyist who was a top aide to Mr. Mondale, says he has offered advice to several candidates at their request, but will wait until the Democratic convention to become immersed in the presidential campaign.
  Thomas Donilon, another Washington attorney and campaign veteran, is also eschewing presidential politics for the moment.
  The Washington insiders who have already affiliated with campaigns have their work cut out for them.
  According to the most recent Federal Election Commission filings, the Democratic presidential candidates, as of Sept. 30, had together raised only $2.3 million.
  At the same point four years ago, five Democrats had each raised more than $2 million, with Michael Dukakis topping $8 million.
  Among the factors that have deeply depressed Democratic fund-rasing so far are the recession, President Bush's strong standing in the polls for much of 1991, the lateness of many candidates' entry into the race, and uncertainty about the intentions of New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.
  Alone among Democrats, Mr. Cuomo is thought to have powerful fund-raising potential, and he would begin the race with a sizable warchest left over from his New York re-election campaign.
  The one candidate with even fewer money problems is President Bush.
  Two events held last month in Dallas and Houston brought in more than $2 million; a Nov. 12 New York luncheon raised $2.2 million and a gala last week at a Washington hotel added more than $1 million.
  The president's early fund-raising advantage could well be doubly damaging to Democrats.
  That's because the federal matching campaign fund, which is financed through a $1 checkoff on federal tax returns, is strapped for cash; the president could deplete the fund by qualifying for larger pay-outs early in the primary cycle.
  Qualifying candidates will receive their first matching funds in January.
summary_text: Democratic presidential candidates, while claiming outsider status, nevertheless employ Washington insider lawyer-lobbyists to raise money for their campaigns.
  Senator Tom Harkin, Governor Bill Clinton and Senator Robert Kerrey rely on DC lobbyists and Kerrey has a strong Hollywood connection, too.
  Senator Tsongas, Gerry Brown and Douglas Wilder also employ Washington lawyer-lobbyists or politicos for their fund-raising efforts.
  Democrats are behind in fundraising this year due to the recession, Bush's high ratings and the late entry of other candidates, particularly Governor Cuomo, while Mr. Bush has raised over $5 million for Republicans.