CLINTON GETS BIG BUCKS FOR PARTY; PRESIDENT PRESIDES OVER RETREAT TO FASHION DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS.

Byline: Sandra Sobieraj Associated Press 

Power mingled with wealth on the sunny Florida coast Saturday as President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore traded an intimate day of schmoozing and the promise of taking back Congress for $3 million in political largess.

``The party with the most money wins,'' Clinton said as he kicked off the unusually gluttonous weekend of fund raising that proved less glamorous than its price tag.

With 50 loyal donors paying $50,000 each plus expenses for two souvenir golf shirts, a free movie and two days of policy gab in the Ritz Carlton's dim, windowless banquet rooms, what was most clearly for sale was the president's ear.

There, contributors got a serendipitous bargain: Still nursing a voice hoarse from allergies and overuse, Clinton had little choice but to listen.

Officials from the Democratic National Committee, which planned to use proceeds to pay down its $15 million debt and to gear up for 1998 elections, sought to defuse criticism of the retreat by opening it to news coverage. An NBC reporter even joined the president's golf foursome.

``There's two press for every guest here, and that's the way Democrats like it,'' said Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, the DNC's general chairman.

Some donors were uncomfortable with the bank of cameras. ``To some people it's so annoying that they won't come and participate,'' said Len Barrack, a Philadelphia lawyer. His wife, Lynne, added that contributing has ``been made to be something that's negative, but it's not.''

Sitting in on an education discussion among 21 donors, Clinton managed just nine words of welcome in his first 15 minutes at the table. Clinton, in khaki slacks and a sport shirt, took notes and sipped from a steaming mug of tea before making an abbreviated pitch for improved schools and child care.

``You're not here for the entertainment, you're here because of issues. It's about supporting leadership,'' said attendee Bill Titelman, an attorney from Harrisburg, Pa.

Several lucky donors played golf with the president: Wayne Rogers of Annapolis, Md.-based Synergics Energy Development; Stuart Moldaw of Ross stores; William O'Reilly of Michigan, an executive of the Montana Corp.; and Richard Lawrence, a Cincinnati attorney. NBC's John Palmer also made the rounds. Other donors were offered tennis courts or a showing of the Kevin Kline movie ``In & Out.''

Where the retreat's program focused on policy, Clinton's unabashedly political speech to donors the previous evening pinned Democratic chances in 1998 on their willingness to contribute.

``Usually at the end of these campaigns, the party with the most money wins'' because television advertising is so expensive, Clinton told dinner guests in Boca Raton.

From his two days of fund raising, Clinton was headed briefly to the stump today to campaign for Democrats running in Tuesday's elections without benefit of much financial help from the cash-strapped DNC.

On Saturday, Clinton focused exclusively on the 1998 midterm elections and said Democrats can pick up at least 30 seats in next year's congressional races thanks to his administration's redefinition of Democrats as tough on crime, welfare, defense and deficit reduction.

Acknowledging that fund raising has become ``somehow suspect'' after extensive probes of the Democrats' 1996 practices, Clinton added: ``I am unapologetic about being here.''