When Mrs. Clinton sought to help Jean Carnahan, a senator facing a tough re-election battle in Missouri, the Carnahan campaign chose an unusual venue to do it: a closed fund-raiser in Los Angeles.
In an effort to provide a more substantive story line, the Romney campaign gave an impromptu background briefing late Thursday with a senior policy adviser in the lobby of the Mandarin Oriental hotel, where Mr. Romney was attending a closed fund-raiser.
The comments were Mr. Romney's attempt to find some benefit in the political furor after the disclosure of statements he made at a closed fund-raiser in Florida in May, where he spoke of nearly half of Americans who pay no federal income taxes and, in his analysis, would never vote for him.
The Denver Post cited Mr. Romney's secretly recorded comments at a closed fund-raiser in May, in which he said he believed that 47 percent of Americans consider themselves "victims" and are dependent on the government, as one of the factors in their decision.
Nonetheless, in a suggestion of some concern in Mr. Lazio's camp, the candidate took a break from a closed fund-raising tour in California to chastise Mrs. Clinton for her remarks and note several issues on which Mrs. Clinton disagreed with Mr. Lieberman, including his support for school vouchers.
There was nothing like Mr. Romney's remark at what he believed was an off-the-record fund-raiser earlier this year that 47 percent of Americans see themselves as victims, or like Mr. Obama's remarks at what he thought was a closed fund-raiser that small-town Pennsylvania voters, bitter over their economic circumstances, "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them".
Another buy was the Greater China Fund, a closed-end fund that invests in Chinese companies.
But the New Ireland Fund, a closed-end fund that trades on the New York Stock Exchange, holds all four.
The gurus also made a big buy into the Templeton Dragon Fund, a closed-end fund that invests primarily in the equities of Chinese companies.
