McCain Fundraising Lags, Fails To Woo Bush/Cheney Donors
"Even though he all but secured the Republican nomination by mid-February," Sen. John McCain has so far managed to enlist "only a fraction of the heavyweight bundlers of campaign contributions who helped drive President George W. Bush's two runs for the White House, an examination of McCain's fund-raising network shows."
Well over half of the top fund-raisers for Bush, who raised a record $274 million for him in the 2004 primary season, stayed on the sidelines through this year's Republican nominating contests. Others wound up working for Rudolph Giuliani, who signed up the most top Bush fund-raisers, and Mitt Romney, who had about the same number as McCain.
The dearth of Pioneers and Rangers, the elite fund-raisers for Bush who collected more than $100,000 or $200,000 respectively for his re-election bid in 2004, is illustrative of just how far McCain has to go to build up his financial operation.Several former Bush fund-raisers said in interviews that they believed many more Rangers and Pioneers would mobilize for McCain, now that he is the presumptive nominee. But some also said they might not, citing reasons like personal circumstances, a lack of enthusiasm for McCain (especially compared with Bush) and exhaustion.
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International Herald Tribune | March 31, 2008 09:35 AM