Rather than television studios or props for expensive commercials or lavish fund-raising events, retail politics rule in New Hampshire.
He scoffs at candidates who arrange lavish fund-raisers with food and entertainment, calling them a waste of money.
Next week, he's scheduled to attend another lavish fund-raiser, this one in Palm Beach, where he could raise five million dollars.
Critics who denounce his aggressive tactics -- from backroom showdowns to lavish fund-raising galas where attendance is virtually required -- also question his motives.
The F.E.C. had accused it of improperly funneling corporate executives' donations to candidates and holding lavish fund-raisers that often benefited congressmen on an influential House committee.
Fierce competition puts enormous pressure on candidates to conserve money, and group donations are far less expensive than mailings or lavish fund-raising parties.
He is a populist who holds lavish fund-raisers, a partisan who covets civility, an outdoors enthusiast who gives conservationists heartburn.
But later in her narrative, as she attends a lavish fund-raising dinner in Washington, she feels that something darker is at work: a mixture of "fear, injured pride, ignorance and perceived victimhood" whose brooding extremism could have dire consequences.
And while elected officials and members of a president's administration are legally restricted to soliciting a maximum of $5,000 for super PACs and 501(c)(4 s, they are free to attend lavish fund-raisers for these groups, which are often run by their own former staff members and strategists.
Their divorce in 1996 had been bitter and hard fought, but Mr. Azulay believed the effort to secure a pardon would be doomed without the support of Ms. Rich, a friend of President Bill Clinton and a lavish fund-raiser for the Democratic Party.
