WASHINGTON -- Some big-money donors to the Democratic Party had sleepovers at the White House or Camp David since Hillary Rodham Clinton opened her quest for a New York Senate seat in July 1999, records showed Friday.

The White House, under pressure from news organizations, released the names of 361 overnight guests at the White House and Camp David to try to quell a controversy over whether the first lady is using executive perks to advance her Senate campaign.

White House spokesman Joe Lockhart insisted the overnight stays were not intended as payoffs for campaign contributions or encouragement for donations.

"Who would you go to if you were running for office other than your friends?" he asked. "It's a basic common-sense issue that your friends and people who you would have come stay at your home would also, in some instances, support your effort financially."

Any other conclusion is "absolutely false," he said.

Among those invited for sleepovers were such contributors as Los Angeles entertainment executive Haim Saban, who has held a number of fund-raising events for President Clinton and various Democratic causes over the years.

Two others were S. Daniel Abraham, chairman of Slim-Fast Foods Co., and Internet entrepreneur Vinod Gupta. Each of them contributed or raised $500,000 for a big party extravaganza last May for Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.

Gupta also was among a number of contributors to the first lady's campaign who attended an official dinner Sunday night at the White House for visiting Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Sleeping over as well were Smith and Elizabeth Bagley, who according to federal election records have contributed $178,000 to various Democratic causes, including Mrs. Clinton's campaign, as well as $30,000 to the Clintons' legal-expenses fund.

The list included the names of supporters, family members, friends and public officials who have stayed overnight between July 1, 1999, when Mrs. Clinton's campaign quest began, and Aug. 31, 2000.

HOLLYWOOD HEAVYWEIGHTS WERE GUESTS

The rich and famous were well represented, including: film director Steven Spielberg; actress Meg Ryan; actors Dennis Quaid, Will Smith, Danny Devito, Chevy Chase and Ted Danson; singer Jimmy Buffett; and recording industry legend Quincy Jones.

And there was an eclectic mix of American Who's Who, from Clinton fund-raiser extraordinaire Terry McAuliffe and his family, to diet guru Dean Ornish, to basketball coach Eddie Sutton, to former President Jimmy Carter and his family, and to author Taylor Branch.

Asked if she knew everyone on the list, Mrs. Clinton told reporters: "Except for some of the notable people, the athletes, the entertainers, the royalty, they're people that we know but they're not close friends. It's exciting to have the opportunity to entertain people like that."

It took about 10 days for the White House to produce the list since Internet gossip Matt Drudge first raised the possibility that Mrs. Clinton might be using the White House and Camp David, the presidential retreat in the mountains of Maryland, to court big-money donors in order to help her candidacy.

In a biting commentary on Drudge, Lockhart told reporters that "this list was released after a non-journalist, gossip-monger on the Internet started this a week ago, without any facts."

Lockhart said the Clintons would "continue to invite guests to visit with them at the White House and at Camp David during the president's remaining months in office."

Clearly the White House strategy was to show that there was nothing unusual about the names on the list and that it included a mix of people who might be expected to stay overnight at some point during a presidency.

FIRST LADY'S OPPONENT REACTS

But the White House did not provide the dates of the sleepovers, a fact criticized by Mrs. Clinton's Republican opponent in the Senate race, Rep. Rick Lazio. His campaign already has called the sleepovers a "blatant abuse of power."

"We demand that Mrs. Clinton release the dates of the sleepovers of all of her White House and Camp David guests," said Lazio campaign manager Bill Dal Col.

"New Yorkers deserve to know if she was there, 'getting to know' these big donors or if they were merely renting out these taxpayer-owned monuments like cheap hotels."

The situation echoed the 1996 Clinton re-election campaign that drew fire over the number of White House coffees and sleepovers for potential donors.

The White House divided the list into Arkansas friends (51), longtime friends (102), "friends and supporters" (86), officials and dignitaries (77), and "arts and letters and sports" (45).

It said there were 43 family and friends of daughter Chelsea Clinton, but did not list their names.

Attorney General Janet Reno, talking to reporters at the Justice Department, sounded doubtful that any crime had been committed.

"If I invited you to my house and you stayed overnight and you gave me a contribution, we'd look at it on the facts of that case, if there are other circumstances. But I don't think it would be a crime," she said.