COMMON CORE A PRODUCT OF SOCIALIST!
THIS IS NOT A CONSERVATIVE!
WASHINGTON — Jeb Bush hasn't declared his White House candidacy, but the former Florida governor is raising record amounts to build a political infrastructure that could overwhelm his rivals for the Republican nomination and break ground on campaign finance.
The Republican's allies have deployed three political arms — a traditional political action committee, a super PAC that can take unlimited funds and a non-profit group that can take donations of any size without disclosing donors' identities — to support his nascent campaign. Through his various political organizations, Bush has drawn an experienced cadre of political strategists, communication aides and technology experts to his campaign-in-waiting.
By waiting to declare his candidacy, Bush's allies argue, he can collect big checks for his Right to Rise super PAC without running afoul of rules that limit coordination between super PACs and federal candidates, who are barred from accepting donations larger than $2,700 for the primary election.
At a recent donors' gathering in Miami, Bush told supporters he had collected a record amount for a Republican candidate at this stage in the nominating process, but he has not released a fundraising total before required filings with federal regulators in July.
Bush, who has held scores of fundraisers around the country, probably will report "an extraordinary number no one has ever seen before," said David Beightol, a lobbyist and Bush supporter who has participated in three of his fundraising events in the Washington area, including one last week that Beightol and others in attendance said exceeded expectations.
The party's donors are drawn to Bush because of a "thirst for leadership," Beightol said. Bush, a former two-term governor and the son and brother of U.S. presidents, has a depth of experience on domestic and foreign policy issues that few of his rivals can match, he said.
"He doesn't want to have it on his résumé that he was the Republican Party's nominee," Beightol said. "He wants to be president."
Bush's fundraising prowess may have helped deter the 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney, from making a third bid for the White House. But it has not made him the front-runner in a tightly packed Republican field. A new Saint Anselm/Bloomberg Politics poll of likely GOP primary voters in New Hampshire voters puts Kentucky Sen. Rand Pauland Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at the front with 12% each, trailed closely by Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who each drew 11%.
The fat bank account will allow Bush to stockpile money and to start to assemble a campaign infrastructure and lock in GOP talent. Key aides associated with the Bush team include Scott Jennings, a Kentucky political strategist who ran a super PAC that was instrumental in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's 2014 re-election, and Andy Barkett, a former Facebook engineer who was the Republican National Committee's first chief technology officer.
This week, one of House Speaker John Boehner's top spokesmen, Michael Steel, joined the Bush camp.
Bush campaign officials did not have immediate comment Wednesday.
"Somebody like Jeb Bush doesn't need to be worried that his poll numbers are mediocre right now," said Fergus Cullen, a former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party. (Cullen is uncommitted in the race but has hosted meet-and-greet events for Bush and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.)
This year, Cullen said there are fewer opportunities for candidates to break from the pack than in earlier presidential contests. The 2012 election's crowded schedule of 20 GOP debates, for instance, allowed upstart candidates to garner attention, such as then-Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann's breakout debate performance in June 2011.
WASHINGTON — Jeb Bush hasn't declared his White House candidacy, but the former Florida governor is raising record amounts to build a political infrastructure that could overwhelm his rivals for the Republican nomination and break ground on campaign finance.
The Republican's allies have deployed three political arms — a traditional political action committee, a super PAC that can take unlimited funds and a non-profit group that can take donations of any size without disclosing donors' identities — to support his nascent campaign. Through his various political organizations, Bush has drawn an experienced cadre of political strategists, communication aides and technology experts to his campaign-in-waiting.
By waiting to declare his candidacy, Bush's allies argue, he can collect big checks for his Right to Rise super PAC without running afoul of rules that limit coordination between super PACs and federal candidates, who are barred from accepting donations larger than $2,700 for the primary election.
At a recent donors' gathering in Miami, Bush told supporters he had collected a record amount for a Republican candidate at this stage in the nominating process, but he has not released a fundraising total before required filings with federal regulators in July.
Bush, who has held scores of fundraisers around the country, probably will report "an extraordinary number no one has ever seen before," said David Beightol, a lobbyist and Bush supporter who has participated in three of his fundraising events in the Washington area, including one last week that Beightol and others in attendance said exceeded expectations.
The party's donors are drawn to Bush because of a "thirst for leadership," Beightol said. Bush, a former two-term governor and the son and brother of U.S. presidents, has a depth of experience on domestic and foreign policy issues that few of his rivals can match, he said.
"He doesn't want to have it on his résumé that he was the Republican Party's nominee," Beightol said. "He wants to be president."
Bush's fundraising prowess may have helped deter the 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney, from making a third bid for the White House. But it has not made him the front-runner in a tightly packed Republican field. A new Saint Anselm/Bloomberg Politics poll of likely GOP primary voters in New Hampshire voters puts Kentucky Sen. Rand Pauland Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at the front with 12% each, trailed closely by Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who each drew 11%.
The fat bank account will allow Bush to stockpile money and to start to assemble a campaign infrastructure and lock in GOP talent. Key aides associated with the Bush team include Scott Jennings, a Kentucky political strategist who ran a super PAC that was instrumental in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's 2014 re-election, and Andy Barkett, a former Facebook engineer who was the Republican National Committee's first chief technology officer.
This week, one of House Speaker John Boehner's top spokesmen, Michael Steel, joined the Bush camp.
Bush campaign officials did not have immediate comment Wednesday.
"Somebody like Jeb Bush doesn't need to be worried that his poll numbers are mediocre right now," said Fergus Cullen, a former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party. (Cullen is uncommitted in the race but has hosted meet-and-greet events for Bush and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.)
This year, Cullen said there are fewer opportunities for candidates to break from the pack than in earlier presidential contests. The 2012 election's crowded schedule of 20 GOP debates, for instance, allowed upstart candidates to garner attention, such as then-Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann's breakout debate performance in June 2011.
