The Money Trail: Putting on the Ritz, VIP Treatment for Big Money Democrats

"It feels very elitist," said Ellen Miller of the Sunlight Foundation, a non-profit group that pushes for openness in politics. "To flaunt the fact that there is a higher elite class of people who are big political donors, who have reached that status because they have more money, feels fundamentally undemocratic," she said.

Federal election laws permit individuals to contribute a maximum of $2,300 per candidate but contributors say the Democrats show how to work around the limit.

"They present us an entire menu and it can involve a million dollars or more spread around various candidates and committees around the country," said one wealthy lawyer who did not want his name used for fear he would be cut off from the VIP program.

Among those seen this week at one private luncheon for big donors and top Democratic Senators, was Fred Baron, the Texas lawyer who helped hide the one-time mistress of former Senator John Edwards.

Baron is a member of the "Legacy Circle" because he has given more than $25,000 to Democratic candidates for the US Senate.

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