(FORTUNE Magazine) – For some time now it's been apparent that the moral cloud hanging over Bill Clinton has a lining of silver--and gold. The President is in the biggest trouble of his life, yet the Democrats are raising money at a rate they haven't matched for years. What gives? Or, more to the point: Who gives?

It's no surprise that wealthy Democratic loyalists are doing their share. "People want to show support for the President at a difficult time," says David Steiner, who raised $450,000 at a Clinton reception he held at his home in New Jersey late this winter. Every fundraising event the Democrats have held since Monica Lewinsky became a household name has exceeded its money goal. Even the small fish who respond to telemarketing inquiries are making bigger contributions.

Think of Hillary Rodham Clinton as the solicitor general in this effort. A week before she began her television offensive on NBC's Today Show, the average pledge for telephone solicitations to the Democratic National Committee was $25.13. The day her musings about a vast right-wing conspiracy hit the airwaves, the average pledge jumped to $30.21--and it has stayed at that level. Since the First Lady's televised H-bomb, the Democrats' yield from direct-mail and telemarketing solicitations has consistently run eight percentage points ahead of normal.

Mrs. Clinton has done more than bail out her husband. She has also bailed out the Democratic Party, delivering what the Democratic National Committee chairman, Steve Grossman, describes as "nothing less than a clarion call to arms."

"People are worried about general fairness and general liberties--and they're more worried about public morality than private morality," says Mike Cherry, a Chicago lawyer who has been raising money for the Democrats all winter. Sandy Robertson, who runs a San Francisco investment banking firm, adds: "This President gets it in terms of the economy, and this other business doesn't interest me."

Indeed, the more trouble Clinton seems to be in, the more the contributions pour in. All this has upset the balance of power in the Washington money game, leaving Republicans confused--and envious. At a time when the GOP should be riding high, Republican insiders doubt that their money machine is keeping pace with the Democrats'. Although official figures won't be available for a month, Republican fundraisers believe the GOP hasn't been nearly aggressive enough. House Speaker Newt Gingrich has traveled widely on fundraising expeditions, but he hasn't kept the same focus on money when he's in Washington. "The minute he gets back, he's more worried about Puerto Rican statehood than getting money for the party," complains a leading Republican. "That's insane."

The Democrats' most unlikely hero here is independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr. Democratic fundraising appeals speak proudly of accomplishments such as more police officers on the streets and more jobs in the workplace. Then they go on to identify Starr as First Villain. One letter, signed by colorful consultant James Carville, includes a paragraph whose syntax is full of ellipses but whose meaning is anything but elliptical: "And now Federal Persecutor Kenneth Starr ... after spending tens of millions of your dollars and finding nothing ... and whose connections with the Republican Party, Pat Robertson, and the tobacco industry make him as objective as the Spanish Inquisition ... Starr's investigations have been flawed from the start and continue to include outrageous muckraking and leaking of confidential information to the news media."

Starr's investigation, top Democrats say publicly, is an outrage. Privately, though, they know it's money in the bank.

DAVID SHRIBMAN is the Washington bureau chief of the Boston Globe and a Pulitzer Prize-winning political reporter.