Tom Daschle, a former Senate Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate, held a fundraiser Monday in his Washington law offices for DFL gubernatorial candidate Matt Entenza.
Those attending were encouraged to contribute the maximum $2,000 individual contribution allowed for a gubernatorial candidate in 2010. His campaign did not say how many attended.
Daschle and Entenza have connections going back years. Entenza's wife, Lois Quam, worked as a door-to-door canvasser in 1980 for Daschle, former Sen. George McGovern and the South Dakota Democratic Party. Entenza also did volunteer work for those campaigns.
Between 2002 and 2004, Entenza and Quam each gave $4,000 to Daschle's re-election campaign. He was defeated in 2004.
Quam is a former executive at UnitedHealth, the large health insurer, which gave a total of $9,000 to Daschle in 2002 and 2004. He has been active on health care issues both as a senator and in private practice.
The Washington fundraiser was held at the DLA Piper law firm, which Daschle joined last year as a senior policy advisor. Former Michigan Gov. Jim Blanchard, chair of the firm's government affairs group, joined Daschle in holding the fundraiser.
