Already this year, George, his son Robert, Robert’s wife, Melissa, and another son, Jonathan, contributed $199,500. George, Robert and Melissa each gave $25,000 to the New York State Democratic Party and gave the maximum allowable personal contributions - $9,500 - to Eric Schneiderman, David Valesky, Craig Johnson and Joe Addabbo.

(Two other members of the Soros family also contributed this year. Son Jonathan gave $9,500 to Democratic State Senate candidate Rick Dollinger and his wife, Jennifer, gave $1,000 to a pro-abortion rights lobbying PAC that donated to Johnson and Dollinger.)

The Soros family -- and George in particular -- is a massive financial force in liberal politics. And while the name may mean little to the average voter, it always seems to trigger strangely intense -- and divergent -- reactions among Democrats and Republicans.

“It’s really an honor to have that,” said Bill Samuels, chairman of the New York State Democratic Campaign Committee. “I don’t think you can say specifically George. It’s the family.”

“It’s not surprising,” Republican consultant Roger Stone, who formerly worked for the Republican Senate majority, said of Soros contributions. “The Senate Democrats have put forward a radical, far-left agenda. Gay marriage is their first pledge: pretty extreme.” When asked if he thought the Soros family could have an impact in the races, Stone said, “Depending how big his checks are.”

“George Soros is a die-hard Democrat,” said Diane Savino, a Democratic state senator whose received contributions from George Soros back in 2004. “You’ve seen him demonstrate that commitment on a national level and a local level.”

Since 2000, the Soros family contributed $1,096,073.27.

Most of the money came from George, who contributed $441,000; his second wife, Susan, gave $26,000; one son, Robert, contributed $279,223.27; Robert’s wife Melissa contributed $198,000; son Jonathan contributed $113,750; his wife, Jennifer, gave $4,000.

Savino said the Soros family became more interested in helping the Democrats take over the State Senate primarily through a relationship that developed around 2004 with Schneiderman, a Democratic State Senator. Schneiderman declined to speak publicly about the Soros, but did say he was grateful for their support and looked forward to more of it in the future.

The Senate contributions from the family follow that timeline. Between 2000 and 2003, George Soros and his family contributed a total of $212,850, to state campaign accounts, with $125,000 going to a single lobbying group looking to change the state‘s drug sentencing law. The rest of the money went to supporting legislative candidates in Manhattan, Queens and Long Island, all of whom lost.

Then after that poor showing in the 2002 races, the Democratic Senate leader at the time, Marty Connor, was ousted in a coup, and replaced by David Paterson. The first Senate races under Paterson’s leadership came in 2004, and that year saw an influx of Soros contributions.

Within a five-month span in 2004, the Soros family contributed $252,500 to Democrats in the State Senate.

Not that George Soros is the only billionaire to have taken a stake in the outcome of the Senate elections.

“Rich people have the right to influence politics through campaign finance system, like everybody else,” said Savino. “The mayor does it. Tom Golisano is doing it right now. Rent stabilization supporters do it. That’s the system that’s in place now.”

Soros has clearly thrown his lot in with the Senate Democrats. Billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has written a $500,000 check to Senate Republicans, and spoken publicly about the benefits of having Republicans maintain their control of that house.

A third billionaire, Tom Golisano, waved a $5 million check in front of reporters in Albany earlier this month, pledging to support Democrats and Republicans in the hopes of, basically, creating a Golisano caucus within whichever party controls that house.

Samuels, the chairman of the New York State Democratic Campaign Committee, said that by comparison, the Soros’ involvement is dwarfed by Golisano's, who laid out eight financial and good-government changes he’d like to see in Albany.

“Golisano is talking about five million bucks,” said Samuels, “The Soros family hasn’t done anything close to that. We love what they’ve done, but we haven’t seen pronouncements like that.”

And we may not see any, either. Michael Vachon, a spokesman and political adviser to George Soros, said they have been trying to create a Democratic majority in the State Senate, but he said involving other political groups funded by the Soros, like America Coming Together, was “very unlikely.” Vachon declined to comment on Golisano and Bloomberg’s contributions.

An invitation to Mark Green's upcoming comedic fundraiser listed as a vice chair of the event William Samuels, whose sister, Jacqui, is a fundraiser for Carolyn Maloney.

And two East Side District Leaders, Sally Minard and Linda Foa, who are listed as benefactor and patron, respectively, are also close to Maloney. (Ms. Minard held a fundraiser for the congresswoman at her home last year.)

The catch, of course, is that Maloney is supporting Andrew Cuomo, who won the endorsement of the Lex Club by a vote of 69 to 23 over Mark Green after she endorsed him.

Maybe her friends didn't get the memo.

—Nicole Brydson

For all the frenzy, however, it’s worth noting that this summer’s slate of events is somewhat slimmer than in recent years—certainly slimmer than last year, with its nonstop parade of Presidential fund-raisers. At the same time, most of these parties are being thrown for Democrats, with only a handful of Republican fund-raisers sprinkled in for good measure.

Robert Hornak, chairman of the Urban Republican Coalition, chalked this discrepancy up to what he called “different lifestyles.”

“Republicans tend to have more demanding jobs, and they don’t take off for long stretches of time to spend summer out in the Hamptons,” he said when reached on vacation in Florida.

But Robert Zimmerman, an active donor and Democratic National Committeeman, was quick to shoot back: “Why should they throw a party when they could just call Halliburton?”

Herewith, then, a list of some of this summer’s swankest non-Halliburton fund-raisers.

Margo and Robert Alexander host D.N.C. chairman Howard Dean

Amagansett, Long Island

Price: $5,000 per couple

Saturday, July 9, 7 p.m.

Stock-trading power couple Margo and Robert Alexander remained devout Deaniacs throughout the 2004 Democratic primaries, even during the dark days following the idiotically overhyped Dean scream. So while some members of the upper crust continue to quake at his freewheeling ways, it came as little surprise when the couple opened up their stone-and-glass Xanadu for a Democratic National Committee fund-raiser several weeks ago. Eighteen guests attended the dinner, including Neuberger Berman chief investment guru Jack Rivkin, Democratic high-rollers Betsy and Alan Cohn, former New York Democratic State Committee chair Judith Hope and attorney Susan Uris Halpern (daughter of skyscraper developer Harold Uris). Each couple was asked to plunk down $5,000, in exchange for which they were treated to a delicate nouvelle-Chinese spread prepared by caterer Karen Lee and a speech by the D.N.C. chief. “People were impressed with Dean. I think they admired his honesty,” said one guest. Afterward, the good doctor zipped to his mom’s East Hampton homestead for sweet dreams about large checks.

David Goodhand and Joshua Dunkelman host chairman Dean

The Pines, Fire Island

Price: $2,500 per person

Sunday, July 10, 10 a.m. to noon

While the people may have the power, as Dr. Dean is fond of saying, the 40 or so guests who anted up for this early-bird fund-raiser proved that they have the checkbooks. For the cost of a weeklong stay on Fire Island or a two-week trip to Paris, guests were treated to a rousing speech on grassroots party-building as well as an al fresco breakfast courtesy of retired Microsoft exec David Goodhand and Joshua Dunkelman. The event’s organizers—D.N.C. treasurer Andrew Tobias, fashion designer Charles Nolan and budding New York operative Corey Johnson—looked on proudly from the sidelines.

Later, when the clock struck 12, the chairman migrated to the ocean side of the island for a $50 fund-raiser at the beachfront home of longtime Dean devotee Brandon Fradd. Mr. Fradd is a doctor turned hedge-fund manager and, according to the GenForum genealogy Web site, a direct descendent of Queen Mathilde of Scotland (congrats, Mr. Fradd!). His event drew 150 supporters and, coupled with the Goodhand-Dunkelman gathering, wrangled some $80,000 for the DNC.

Michael and Annie Falk host Attorney General Eliot Spitzer

Southampton, Long Island

Price: $1,000 per person (general admission); $10,000 per person (host committee)

Saturday, July 16, 6:30 p.m.

Challengers, schmallengers. Who needs ’em? Certainly not Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who seems to have modeled the campaign-finance strategy for his 2006 Gubernatorial bid after Colin Powell’s infamous doctrine of “overwhelming force”: be big, be bold, and obliterate the competition before they even exist.

Less than 16 months before E-Day, Mr. Spitzer still doesn’t have a single serious challenger. No Soviet Union to his United States, no Apollo Creed to his Rocky Balboa. But that still hasn’t stopped him from stockpiling cash as if it were an advanced weapons system.

And so it was, on a recent Saturday evening, that the lantern-jawed A.G. found himself standing on a plush Southampton lawn, pressing thousands of dollars’ worth of eager palms.

The lawn—and the elegant house that came with it—belonged to financier Michael Falk and his wife, Annie, who shared official co-host responsibilities with Democratic rainmaker William Samuels. Some 75 guests milled about the grounds, schmoozing, sipping cocktails and nibbling caterer Diane Gordon’s delectable treats. At some point during the money-scented night, former magazine babe Christie Brinkley asked a “very good” question about nuclear power, according to Mr. Samuels.

By the end of the evening, Mr. Spitzer had added yet another $150,000 to his campaign arsenal.

Howard Gittis hosts Senator John McCain

Southampton, Long Island

Price: Your presence is present enough

Saturday, July 23, 6:00 p.m.

Last Saturday night, the subtle perfume of political patronage hung around corporate kingpin Howard Gittis’ place in the Hamptons, as financial titans gathered to schmooze—but not to tithe!—Republican Senator John McCain. The guests, a hundred strong, included Peter Cohen, the founder of Ramius Capital Group, and mergers-and acquisitions avatar Henry Kravis. They showed up for cocktails at 6 p.m. and stayed for dinner.

“It was not a fund-raiser, just a meet-and-greet,” explained one attendee, who spoke under strict conditions of anonymity.  Hmmmm … not a fund-raiser? Sounds like fiscal foreplay, at least!

Senator McCain addressed the moneyed mass in a 10-minute talk, tackling topics from the war in Iraq to Supreme Court nominations to immigration. Our source described the Senator’s discourse as “very lively,” though it couldn’t have been lively enough to awaken his guests’ wallets, which slept soundly in their pockets all evening.

William Samuels and Vincent Roberti host Representative Nancy Pelosi

Southampton, Long Island

Price: Your presence is present enough

Saturday, July 23, 6 to 9 p.m.

In 2004, film financier Vincent Roberti and veteran Democratic big shot William Samuels joined forces to produce Going Up River, an election-season documentary that was meant to convey all the great things about their friend John Kerry that he couldn’t seem to convey himself. The film didn’t lead quite where they’d hoped—namely to the White House—but now they’re joining forces again, this time on behalf of their politician pal Nancy Pelosi.

On July 23, Mr. Roberts and Mr. Samuels sponsored a festive meet-and-greet for the Democratic Minority Leader, who was on a whirlwind get-to-know-the-rainmakers tour through the East End. The dinner took place at Mr. Samuels’ Hill Street home, where guests like toy manufacturer Steven Greenfield and power publicist Peggy Siegel got to talk political shop with Ms. Pelosi. “Part of what she’s doing at events like this is, she’s not raising money,” said Mr. Samuels. “She’s brainstorming with people about how we can build the base.”

Still, The Observer has a sneaking suspicion that the solicitation letters won’t be long in coming. “She has to raise $105 million between now and Election Day. That’s $1 million a week,” Mr. Roberts conceded.

Lisa and Richard Perry host Representative Pelosi

North Haven, Long Island

Price: Your presence is present enough

Sunday, July 24, 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.

The palatial North Haven manse of hedge-fund guru Richard Perry and his philanthropist wife Lisa might once have been a cloistered bayside monastery, but the atmosphere at this Sunday afternoon meet-and-greet was more high-tea-by-the-Thames than monk-like austerity. During an intimate two-hour reception, a dozen or so guests munched bite-sized cucumber sandwiches and buttery scones while sipping lemonade and peppering the minority leader with questions about everything from Democratic messaging to the Supreme Court battle. (So this is what it’s like to be an A-list Dem!)

Later, when guests had finished tea and crumpets, they event-hopped to a Sag Harbor fund-raiser for the Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee, which was attended by Kerry Kennedy, Democratic Party doyenne Judith Hope and dueling Attorney General candidates Mark Green and Denise O’Donnell.

The Committee to Re-elect Vito Fossella hosts Representative Vito Fossella

Staten Island, New York

Price: $250 per person

Monday, July 25, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

The Democrats have the Hamptons, the Republicans have the Isle of Staten. The borough’s charms, and its Republican Congressman, attracted Vice President Dick Cheney, who described Representative Vito Fossella as “simply one of the best.”

Around 800 guests, including Long Island Congressman Peter King and Michael Long, state chair of the Conservative Party, dined and drank in the ballroom of the Excelsior Grand on Hylan Boulevard. Or, as Mr. Fossella put it, “Staten Island’s undisclosed location.”

Veal and tilapia were served amidst talk of terrorism. “When [the Vice President] talks so passionately about the need to protect our country, fight the war on terror and bring the war to the people who want to hurt us, people respond very positively to that,” reflected Craig Donner, a spokesman for Mr. Fossella. The event broke its fund-raising goal, topping $250,000.

Robert and Laura Sillerman host DSCC chair Charles Schumer

Southampton, Long Island

Price: $26,700 per person

Saturday, July 30, 6 p.m. cocktails, 7 p.m. dinner

Ka-ching! That’s the sound that Senator Charles Schumer, who recently took over the reins of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, can expect to hear when he waltzes through the doors of media macher Robert F.X. Sillerman’s Meadow Lane retreat. The event is just one of several high-dollar benefits the Senator has thrown since accepting the post, and it may help explain how the DSCC has managed to trounce its Republican counterpart in recent months. Guests wishing to attend the Sillermans’ bash have been asked to part with the tuition for their eldest child’s first year of college—or else simply their eldest child—but in exchange they’ve been promised an evening of scintillating conversation with literary luminaries Frank McCourt and Billy Collins (a former U.S. poet laureate, you poor cultureless sop!). No word yet, however, on whether Elvis, whose estate Mr. Sillerman recently purchased, will make a surprise return from the beyond to croon “Love Me Tender” to the stunned guests. Now that would be worth the price of entry!

Nazee and Joe Moinian host Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton

Quogue, Long Island

Price: $2,500 to $4,200 per person

Friday, Aug. 5, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Senator Clinton kicks off her 2005 magical money tour through the East End of Long Island with this cocktail-hour reception at the summer home of real-estate mover-and-shaker Joe Moinian and his wife Nazee. Despite the old-money setting—think lock-jawed ladies in Lilly Pulitzer—the Moinians are relatively new to the fund-raising circuit. They burst onto the scene just last year in a blaze of $2,000 and $10,000 contributions to John Kerry, Dick Gephardt and the Democratic National Committee, but already they’re making a play for a bigger role. Next up? A spot on some favored candidate’s finance committee, no doubt.

Helpful hint: Although the cocktail party is ostensibly a fund-raiser for the Senator’s 2006 re-election bid, expect lots of wink-winking and nudge-nudging about 2008.

Ambassador Carl Spielvogel and Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel host Senator Clinton

Southampton, Long Island

Price: $4,200

Friday, Aug. 5, 7 to 9 p.m.

Party-hopping alert! Just when the Moinians’ cocktail bash has begun ramping towards ecstasy; when you’ve dipped into your fourth vodka tonic and finally worked up the nerve to ask the guest of honor that big question—no, not the one about voting for the Iraq war, but the one about that cute suit she’s wearing—the Hill-and-Bill show relocates to the chichi precincts of Southampton’s Gin Lane. There, at an estate named Longview, the Carl and Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogels have ordered up an intimate spread for 40 or so of Mrs. Clinton’s most ardent (and deep-pocketed) supporters. The Spielvogels are themselves diehard Clintonistas, veteran check-writers whose support during the early days earned the mister an ambassadorship in Slovakia during Bill’s second term. To this day, they preside over the fund-raising circuit like landed aristocracy, and their August event should be chock-full of muckety-mucks.

But Bubba-lovers and Hillaryites beware: If you want a place at the Spielvogels’ table, you had better start groveling. The event is already SOLD OUT!

Donna Karan and Nancy Corzine host Senator Clinton

East Hampton, Long Island

Price: $2,500 to $4,200 per person

Saturday, Aug. 6, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Now here’s a brunch that’s expensive even by the Hamptons’ hyper-inflated standards. At $2,500 to $4,200 a plate, the two-hour Hillary fest shakes out to between five and eight years worth of weekly Second Avenue Deli brunches—or one serious case of heartburn.

Fortunately for Mrs. Clinton, the ladies of Lily Pond Lane and Georgica Road don’t tend to worry about pinching pennies (calories, yes; pennies, no). To wit: The event’s hostesses, fashion maven Donna Karan and interior-design queen Nancy Corzine (not to be confused with Senator Jon Corzine’s mom, also named Nancy), have already begun rounding up some of their most fabulous friends, including jeweler Judith Ripka and leather-goods supplier Mark Locks. Thus far, the buzz is promising. The event is set to take place at Ms. Karan’s bayside estate (with two swimming pools!).

Ambassador Elizabeth and Smith Bagley host Senator Clinton

Nantucket, Mass.

Price: a lot

Friday, Aug. 12

There once was a Dem in Nantucket, who raised campaign cash by the bucket. And they called her Ambassador Elizabeth Frawley Bagley.

So the name doesn’t rhyme. Who cares? Certainly not Hillary Clinton, for whom Ms. Bagley and her husband, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco heir Smith Bagley, are planning a posh fund-raiser at their Nantucket mansion. Ms. Bagley, who served as the Clinton-era ambassador to Portugal, has hosted Hillary bashes before. At one fund-raiser in 2000, some two dozen guests paid $10,000 or more apiece to attend a dinner at Mille Fleurs, the Bagleys’ stately Georgetown home.

And lest you doubt that those Bagleys know how to get down, the power party couple once drew fire for fêting Cuban refugee Elian Gonzales and his family with one of their elaborate Washington gatherings. Neighbors were angered by the tight security and scarce parking on their block; pols were more concerned about the boy’s devolution into an international celebrity plaything.

The forecast for Aug. 12 predicts weather that’s less politically stormy, albeit with sudden downpours of cash. Bring your best umbrella.

Carol and Frank Biondi host Senator Clinton

Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard

Price: $1,000 per person

Saturday, Aug. 13 from 5 to 7 p.m.

F.O.B.’s and F.O.H.’s, ahoy! It’s party time again at the sprawling Katama Road residence of former Universal Studios honcho-in-chief Frank Biondi and his wife, child-health advocate Carol Biondi. The Biondis have been hoisting party tents in the Clintons’ honor since the halcyon days of White House coffee klatches and Lincoln Bedroom slumber parties, and if this year’s Clinton fest is anything like parties past, guests can expect emerald lawns, clinking cocktail glasses and a giddy happy-days-are-almost-here-again feel. Maria Cuomo Cole and her shoe-king husband, Kenneth Cole, have both signed on to the host committee, as has Clinton confidante Vernon Jordan, Hollywood honeys Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen and NBC Sports czar Dick Ebersol and his wife, actress Susan St. James (remember Kate and Allie?). This year, the host list also includes the entrepreneur-turned-aristocrat Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild. Like the Republicans, the Democrats do love their nobility.

Jamie Drake hosts Manhattan Borough President candidate
Brian Ellner

East Hampton, Long Island

Price: $150 per person

Saturday, August 13, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

In a well-feathered display of political panache, designer Jamie Drake is planning a fab-u-lous cocktail party at his East Hampton estate to raise money for Democrat Brian Ellner, a candidate for Manhattan Borough President.

Mr. Drake, whose clients have ranged from Madonna to Michael Bloomberg, will host the $150-a-head soiree with his partner, Jason Witcher. They’re expecting between 50 and 75 guests. “I, for one, can’t wait to see the interior of Jamie’s house,” gushed campaign manager David Meadvin. 

According to Mr. Drake, who speaks of himself in the third person when excited, the home is full of “Jamie Drake’s signature color, celebrating his love of the new American glamour.” His interiors, he explained, are a festival of yellow and turquoise. There’s also plenty of pink outside to match the hibiscus blooms in his garden, where drinks will be served, weather permitting.

“Gosh, I don’t know what the menu is yet, but I’m sure we’ll have a specialty drink called the Ellner Cooler … because he is so coooool,” Mr. Drake ad-libbed. What does one put in an Ellner Cooler? “I don’t know yet,” Mr. Drake said. There was a thoughtful pause before the political liquor kicked in.  “I think something sweet, and something spicy, and something wise.”

"This is John Kerry with John Lennon at a peace rally in Bryant Park," he said, gesturing toward a glossy 1971 photograph of Mr. Kerry, then a budding anti-war leader, looking smooth-skinned and pensive next to a bespectacled Lennon. There were other pictures, too, from another age, another era: Mr. Kerry leading a troupe of Vietnam veterans to Congress in 1971; Mr. Kerry, hands stuffed in his pockets, after he lost a bid for Congress in 1970; Mr. Kerry with his first wife, Julia Thorne, at their wedding.

"You know, these photos show a side of John Kerry that no one else can show," the 60-year-old Mr. Butler said, referring to these and some 6,000 other pictures he has taken of the candidate since 1969. He chuckled lightly: "If the Republicans knew where they were, they would probably steal them."

And not entirely without reason.

Mr. Butler's photographs are the building blocks of a controversial 90-minute documentary he is directing about the life and times of Candidate Kerry. Based loosely on Douglas Brinkley's biography, Tour of Duty , the film chronicles Mr. Kerry's heroics in Vietnam and his subsequent turn as the earnest, fatigues-wearing leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. To help pull the project together for a September release, Mr. Butler-who made Arnold Schwarzenegger a star with his 1977 documentary Pumping Iron -has amassed $1.3 million and a crew of Academy Award–winning editors and big-name producers like Kill Bill's Lawrence Bender. When the film hits theaters shortly after the Republican National Convention, it could become one of Mr. Kerry's most potent campaign tools, burnishing his image as a seasoned leader while molding his identity as a loyal family man Americans can trust.

But the film could also backfire on itself, as Republicans begin loading their howitzers for a blistering attack on it. Some critics already have begun blasting it as nothing more than a glorified campaign ad, a sophisticated strategy for side-stepping new campaign-finance laws. Others, meanwhile, have begun preparing for an aggressive assault on Mr. Kerry's Vietnam record, both during combat and as an anti-war leader. If the film strikes a false note-or even if it hits all the right ones-it could easily become a quagmire for the Kerry campaign.

Mr. Butler stumbled on the idea for the as-yet-untitled documentary during the summer of 2002, when it had become clear that the Massachusetts Senator was considering a run for the White House. He had known Mr. Kerry since 1964, from their days traveling the New England social circuit, and he'd always been intrigued by his story. "I've said this before, but John's got the most interesting life of [any Presidential candidate] since Theodore Roosevelt," the filmmaker said.

Mr. Butler had just returned home to his gray-walled townhouse after a day in Tribeca filming two of Mr. Kerry's old boatmates, Del Sandusky and James Wasser. He was dressed in a blue button-down shirt tucked neatly into a pair of jeans, which he accessorized with a pair of metal crutches he was using for a torn leg muscle. He was trim and fine-featured, with a reserved propriety that seemed surprising for a man who made his career by filming Arnold Schwarzenegger pumping iron in a Speedo bikini.

"John Kerry has a fascinating life, but no one knows what's in it," he said. "So I just thought I had all of this interesting information about him, and when I talked to a couple of people, a lot of them sort of agreed that it was an interesting idea."

One of the few people Mr. Butler said he didn't solicit for advice was the subject himself-although Mr. Kerry cooperated with the film by sitting for interviews. Indeed, Mr. Butler and his producers said they have done everything possible to create a firewall between the film and the campaign, including hiring a Federal Election Commission lawyer to monitor all communications between Mr. Butler, his investors and the Kerry team to avoid any violation of federal campaign-finance law.

"I don't think I've ever discussed the film with John," said Mr. Butler, adding that he rarely talks to Mr. Kerry these days because of the candidate's busy schedule.

"The filmmakers are being very careful, for legal reasons," said one investor, R. Boykin Curry. "Besides, Butler wants to keep his vision; he wants to make a great movie, and if he produces a propaganda piece, it will be bad for his career."

Nevertheless, there is a clear, and perhaps unavoidable, symbiotic relationship between the campaign and the film. They each figure to benefit the other. Certainly the film would have a diminished audience if Mr. Kerry were not running for President-as became evident last fall when Mr. Kerry's poor showing in the early polls scared off investors and nearly ended the project.

At the same time, the documentary plays a valuable supporting role for the campaign, a way to shape Mr. Kerry's image on the eve of the election.

"This is not going to be a commercial," said William Samuels, one of the film's executive producers who has been a friend of Mr. Kerry's since the early 1970's. "This is going to be a complex picture about a complex man."

But if the film's layered portrait of Mr. Kerry could help shape a more intimate, human image, it could also draw unwanted criticism of the Senator by highlighting some of the more controversial episodes of his life. The film's focus on Mr. Kerry's anti-war activities-particularly his allegations that U.S. soldiers committed atrocities in Vietnam-could anger more conservative audiences.

Two veterans groups already have gone on the offensive concerning Mr. Kerry's anti-war activities. The first group, Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry, has accused Mr. Kerry of everything from cheating his way to a Silver Star to aiding the Soviet Union by leading "one of America's most radical pro-communist groups"-meaning Vietnam Veterans Against the War. The second group of veterans is equally aggressive. Calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group is made up of members of Mr. Kerry's old unit who have questioned the Senator's "honesty" about his military record and his "ability to serve" as commander in chief.

"I would say [the film] is going to bear as little relationship to reality as Gladiator does to Roman history," said John O'Neill, a Texas lawyer who helped found the Swift Boats in early May.

This isn't the first time Mr. O'Neill has led the charge against Mr. Kerry. During the early 1970's, the Nixon administration tapped Mr. O'Neill to lead a countercampaign against Mr. Kerry and his fellow Vietnam Veterans Against the War. More than 30 years later, he still speaks of the time he debated Mr. Kerry on The Dick Cavett Show about whether war atrocities had occurred in Vietnam.

Mr. Butler hasn't forgotten it either, apparently. "John O'Neill was recruited when Dick Nixon tried to attack John [Kerry] in 1971, and he had virtually no effect," he said, a rare twitch of anger in his voice. "So why would he suddenly become more powerful now?"

"Look, this is going to be a fight," said Mr. Samuels. "But if the film is intellectually honest, and if it gives us insights into Kerry's mind and how he makes decisions and what's his character, then the Bush people are going to have to fight this tooth and nail. And to do that, it's very important that George Butler makes the film."

Old Friends

Mr. Butler first met John Kerry in June 1964, a few weeks after the future filmmaker had finished his sophomore year at the University of North Carolina and the future candidate had wrapped his second year at Yale. They were both travelers in the rarefied East Coast world of cocktail parties and country clubs, patrician drawls and white-gloved girlfriends. And while neither young man came from the same kind of affluence that their friends did, they both had enough blue blood running through their veins to mingle comfortably with such pedigreed schoolmates as Richard Pershing, grandson of World War I General John Pershing, and Harvey Bundy, the nephew of McGeorge and William Bundy. It was Mr. Bundy-whom Mr. Butler knew from boarding school and Mr. Kerry from Yale-who introduced the future friends.

"I thought John was going to be President even back then," said Mr. Butler.

Indeed, it was that oracular premonition that prompted him to begin photographing his war-hero friend after Mr. Kerry returned home from Southeast Asia in 1969. (Mr. Butler himself did not serve in the military.) Mr. Butler became Mr. Kerry's personal, unofficial paparazzo during those years, turning up, Zelig -like, in all the right places at all the right times, camera in hand. When Mr. Kerry married Julia Thorne in 1970, Mr. Butler was in attendance at the lavish ceremony in Bay Shore, Long Island. (Mr. Kerry and his wife subsequently joined Mr. Butler and his bride, Victoria Leiter, on their honeymoon in Jamaica.) When Mr. Kerry ran for Congress that same year, Mr. Butler chronicled his failed attempt-and ran the campaign. Mr. Kerry wrote his famous testimony for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at Mr. Butler's in-laws' place in Washington, D.C. And when he testified the next morning, a bearded Mr. Butler was sitting in the audience one seat behind him. Not long after, when Mr. Kerry threw his war ribbons over a fence in an act of protest, Mr. Butler immortalized the moment by taking a photograph of a weeping Mr. Kerry huddled with his wife, Julia.

Investors like Mr. Samuels think they've got a box-office winner on their hands, thanks to Mr. Butler's long history with Mr. Kerry. But the relationship also invites the questions: How can a good friend be anything but partisan? How can he make an honest, objective film?

Mr. Butler shrugs off such questions with a quick and seemingly well-practiced response. "Arnold was a very close friend when I made Pumping Iron ," he said, "and all of those people who wrote books about [John] Kennedy-[Arthur] Schlesinger, Ted Sorenson and so forth-were close friends of his who worked in his administration, and those books succeeded. So what's wrong with it?"

Such Yoda-like calm must have come in handy last fall when, several months into filming and just as Mr. Butler was coming to the end of his first infusion of cash, Mr. Kerry plummeted in the polls. Until then, Mr. Butler's strategy had been to cobble together a sample reel with that initial lump of funding and then coast to financing nirvana as Mr. Kerry piled up victories in the primaries. "I wouldn't have started to make this film unless I thought that John had the ability to go all the way," Mr. Butler said. But as Mr. Kerry's prospects seemed to fade, so did Mr. Butler's film, leaving him with a slurry of raw footage that even he, a self-described resourceful guy, couldn't think of a use for.

"I was in a very difficult position, because I couldn't raise any more money," Mr. Butler said. "All I could tell people was that John Kerry's going to win the primaries, but all people would tell me was, 'You're a very stupid man, George.'" And then he won.

Mr. Kerry's victories in Iowa and New Hampshire pumped new life-and financing-into the film. As Mr. Kerry racked up primary victories, Mr. Butler raised the requisite $1.3 million to fund his movie. Mr. Samuels came on board as an executive producer, as did Vincent Roberti, who runs Palisades Pictures, and together they recruited investors from across the country.

But if raising money has been easier since the primary, the film is hardly a "slam-dunk," as Mr. Samuels warned investors. The producers are still negotiating with distributors-a precarious process in wake of Disney's decision to dump Michael Moore's Fahrenhiet 9/11 -and the Republicans have only begun warming up for their attacks.

Above all, Mr. Butler has to complete the film: He has to shoot roughly 50 more hours of footage (for a total of 100 hours), head to Vietnam for some scene-setting shots, then edit the whole mass of celluloid down to 90 minutes. And all of this in three whirlwind months.

"We're in a race to get this film finished by Labor Day, so it's going to be tight," said Mr. Butler. "It's going to be a long, hot summer."