How much did Jim Neal raise for Erskine Bowles?

The Chapel Hill investment banker, who is running for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, says he doesn't remember offhand.

But he says it was a "big-ticket event" that drew between 50 and 75 people to his apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan to support Bowles' 2004 bid for U.S. Senate.

Neal co-hosted the cocktail and hors d'oeuvres event with Jay Alix, found of a Michigan firm that specializes in corporate turnarounds.

The guest speaker was retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, who had by then dropped out of the presidential race. Neal had raised money for Clark and donated to his campaign.

Neal said he didn't know Bowles personally, though as a teen-ager he volunteered for his father Skipper Bowles' unsuccessful 1972 gubernatorial campaign.

"He was a hell of a guy," he said. "Everybody loved Skipper."

Update: The fundraiser was held on June 28, 2004. Tickets cost $1,000 to $4,000, and the event raised about $100,000 overall.