Thread: McCain to lock up GOP nomination?

I found this interesting story at :http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...ey1219-ON.html

Disturbing news for the movement because if McCain locks up all of Bush's donors, he will have a clear path to the GOP nomination...He will be able to raise up to $100 millions and would scare off about everyone.

Money is huge in those primaries and if you dont have the money to put your message out, you will not even make it throught the first primary state.

Look at Bush, he was horrible and a terrible debater but money really pushed him up the ladder..i think McCain will have this thing lock by the end of next year.

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McCain taps Bush donor network

Billy House and Matt Dempsey
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 18, 2006 07:00 PM


WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain has tapped into President Bush's vast network of campaign contributors in greater numbers and amounts so far than has a leading potential rival for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, Rudolph Giuliani.

Officially, McCain did not establish a presidential exploratory committee until last month, a move that will enable him only now to directly start raising money for a possible presidential campaign.

But using an already-organized political action committee as a sort of proxy for his undeclared presidential campaign, McCain over the past 16 months has attracted more than $1.4 million from 640 of Bush's 2004 donors throughout 40 states. advertisement




That is more than double the $505,999 collected from former Bush donors by a similar leadership PAC belonging to Giuliani, the former New York City mayor. McCain and Giuliani have been running at the top of most early polls of potential 2008 Republican presidential candidates.

An Arizona Republic analysis of Federal Election Commission records also shows that nearly seven out of 10, or 436, of donors who gave to Bush in 2004 and have since given money to McCain's Straight Talk America PAC are entirely new supporters of the Arizona senator.

They were not among contributors to McCain's presidential campaign in 2000, when he bucked the GOP establishment by running against then-Texas Gov. Bush for the party's presidential nomination.

"Two years ago, this would have surprised me," said John Zogby, a independent national pollster and political analyst who in the past has done work for McCain, Giuliani and other Republicans, as well as Democrats.

"But it's become pretty clear that as McCain vigorously pursues the Republican nomination in 2008 and is viewed by many as a front-runner, he also has certainly found where the money is."

McCain aides downplay any notion that they have been actively targeting individual Bush donors, although they suggest there is a large base of potential support among that group.

"People believe in Sen. McCain's call for reform," says Craig Goldman, Straight Talk's executive director and now a spokesman for McCain's presidential exploratory committee.

Giuliani spokeswoman Sunny Mindel declined to comment.

Sweeping generalizations of the fund-raising strategies and successes of not-yet-announced presidential candidates are, at best, preliminary, because the levels of early preparation toward for a campaign and types of activity vary.

Still, McCain, like his potential foes, has not been sitting on his hands.


The undeclared campaign
The latest FEC filings show that since its reactivation in July 2005, McCain's Straight Talk pulled in more than $5.8 million from 4,044 individual contributors located in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. That is just a drop in the bucket compared with what would be needed for a presidential campaign: President Bush raised more than $270 million in 2004.

But through such leadership PACs, potential presidential candidates can build a broad base of national support and create goodwill in the years leading up to their official candidacies while also creating the initial stages of a fund-raising network.

Straight Talk's fundraising has already helped to make McCain a major presence in some key presidential primary states, such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. It also helped him pay more than $748,000 in political consulting fees to various advisers, including John Weaver, the chief political strategist for McCain's 2000 presidential campaign.

Consultants have helped the Straight Talk staff arrange McCain's travel schedule and decide which Republican candidates to assist, Goldman has said.

In all, the senator attended 346 events and raised more than $10.5 million on behalf of Republican candidates during the 2006 midterm-election cycle, which began in July 2005. Records show Giuliani has utilized his Solutions America committee to raise more than $2 million from 528 individual donors, including $505,999 from 125 former Bush donors.

Another potential 2008 GOP presidential candidate, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, has in roughly the same timeframe raised through his federal political action committee more than $2.5 million from 874 individual contributors, including $542,300 from 148 former Bush donors.

But in addition to his federal committee, called The Commonwealth PAC, Romney, as a state officeholder, has set up "affiliates" in Iowa, Michigan, South Carolina, New Hampshire and, formerly, in Arizona. That move has enabled some of his donors to evade the $5,000 per-donor annual limits that apply to federal committees, in part by spreading donor contributions across the various state affiliates.

Giuliani has not adopted that multi-state strategy.

Federal office-holders like McCain are not permitted to operate such affiliates, and their political action committees cannot accept more than $5,000 from any one contributor in a single year.

Through his multi-state setup, Romney's federal PAC and the affiliates have raised a combined total of $8.75 million since the start of 2005, said Romney spokesman Jared Young. He could not immediately say how many donations or how much money came from individual former Bush contributors. But like McCain, Romney has used some of the money to travel and develop political relationships around the country.


Just the beginning
Now that all three men and other candidates are starting to focus more intently on 2008, the fundraising efforts are really kicking into high gear.

The first leg of the race is to see who can lure the highest-dollar fundraisers from President Bush's former campaign fund-raising teams.

McCain, Romney, Giuliani and other potential GOP presidential candidates are scrambling to enlist individuals who can not only contribute the federal limit of $2,000 to presidential candidates but also persuade dozens of their friends and associates to do so.

McCain, Giuliani and Romney have all had success in grabbing the support of some of these Bush "Pioneers" or "Rangers," identified by their ability to raise at least $100,000 or $200,000 respectively.

"They bundle the money," said Stephen Hess, a professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University.

Former Bush "Rangers" who have already joined McCain's exploratory committee men are Tom Loeffler, a former Texas congressman who is founder and chairman of the Loeffler Group, a lobbying firm; Lewis Eisenberg, a former partner at Goldman Sachs and a co-founder of Granite Capital International Group; and Jerry Perenchio, chairman, chief executive and controlling shareholder of Univision Communications Inc. That is not the full picture of the race for dollars, however.


Other fundraising efforts
Campaign finance experts say serious presidential contenders also will have to pursue significant Internet and other smaller-donor fund-raising strategies as a result of the 2002 campaign finance-reform law, which McCain himself sponsored.

That law did away with "soft money," the unlimited donations from corporations, unions and wealthy individuals to political parties that are then passed on to candidates.

The Internet played a major role in 2004 with the early fund-raising success of Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean.

And the extent to which politicians recognize and rely on the Internet has only increased since then, says John Horrigan, associate director of research at the Pew Internet and American Life Project. A Pew survey released in April found that 50 million Americans go online for news every day, up from 27 million in March 2002. The Internet is now available to 70 percent of Americans.

"And people are increasingly comfortable in using the Internet to do financial transactions," Horrigan said. "The ground for Internet fundraising has become increasingly fertile for these reasons."

Goldman, the spokesman for McCain's exploratory committee, agreed that "the Internet will play a huge role in our fundraising." The new exploratory committee sent out its first electronic solicitation to potential donors on Wednesday.

Donors over the past 16 months to McCain's Straight Talk committee may already reflect the beginnings of a national effort to attract smaller donors, a foundation built in part on Internet solicitations, as well as mailings.

Big-dollar individual donors to Straight Talk included such notables as Henry Kissinger ($5,000), Donald Trump ($10,000) and Georgette Mosbacher ($5,000), the Borghese chief executive and New York-based GOP fund-raiser.

But the Republic's analysis of Straight Talk's FEC filings also show 3,020 donations are less than $2,000, with 779 of those $200 or less.Romney's and Giuliani's committees attracted virtually no donations of less than $200.


Sending McCain money
Mary "Dixie" Stewart recalls that it was a Straight Talk mailing to her Macon, Ga., home that prompted her to send a $250 check in June. The travel agency owner said she doesn't know how McCain's committee got her name or address. She had given money before to state Republicans, the National Republican Congressional Committee and to the Bush's re-election campaign.

Organizations of other potential candidates are also contacting her.

But she thinks she might support McCain in 2008.

"Bush can't run again, and I don't see anybody else (among Republicans) other than McCain who can win, not really," she said. "I do like his stance in war. We can't just walk out of Iraq."

In Rockport, Mass., retirees Patricia Petrou and her husband John gave $250 to Straight Talk in September, after a solicitation. They also had contributed to a number of Republican causes over the years, including to Bush's re-election campaign.

While Romney may be the Massachusetts governor, Patricia Petrou said the couple leans more to McCain, "because his philosophy is more in tune with ours - socially more liberal, fiscally conservative."

"Bush isn't going to be running in 2008. And we were both very impressed with Sen. McCain in 2000. In fact, I voted for him in the primary," Patricia Petrou said.



Reach the reporter at billy.house@arizonarepublic.com or 1 (202) 906-8136. Read his blog on Washington politics at dcblog.azcentral.com.

I find it so disheartening that becoming the President if these United States, all comes down to how much money one has, instead of on personal merit, integrity,and honesty. I think we should limit campaigns to a low set amount for each candidate, then let the best man win not because he has more money then the others. I guess that is in effect saying our country goes to the highest bidder!

They're all playing a big game, trying to stay in the middle until the election is over. Not sure how MCcain can call himself a Republican(?)

The Republican party will be committing suicide if they attempt to elect someone like John McCain. I'm not sure it is salvageable as it is.

I am not getting any of the candidates so far. One is worse than the next. I wish Tom Tancredo would step up and say something. Maybe he is waiting for the Obama hype to simmer down(?)

McCain supports escalation of the War in Iraq to risk American lives and dollars we don't have supporting a US installed Islamo Fascist Regime defending a US protected Islam based new Constitution.

McCain supports shamnesty, illegal immigration, open borders and I'm sure supports NAU to the end of the United States.

McCain is a Free Trade Globalist.

The fact that this is totally opposite to the views of the vast majority of the Republican Party will probably prove irrelevant.

I, too, wish Tom Tancredo would step out and run for President ... even as an Independent if he must.

Tancredo has no chance because he's also hated inside the GOP circle....Getting into a battle with jeb Bush wasnt a smart idea and i doubt GOP elites will even allow him to debate the other guys...they just dont take him seriously.

Tancredo will probably no enter this presidential race because he will have to give up his safe heavy-republican leaning district seat and you dont do that unless you are sure you have a shot.

Then the Dems will win as planned and Hillary will be the next President of the United States ... right on schedule.

Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton

It was decided long ago.

i hereby proclaim that i will never vote for this man no matter what.
i do not want to hear about more in iraq. i want them on the mexican border.
i dont want to hear talk of amnesty, guest worker, or path to citizenship

NO WAY
NO HOW
HELL has not frozen over

Originally Posted by jamesw62

i hereby proclaim that i will never vote for this man no matter what.
i do not want to hear about more in iraq. i want them on the mexican border.
i dont want to hear talk of amnesty, guest worker, or path to citizenship

NO WAY
NO HOW
HELL has not frozen over

Then we've got to work harder to bust their plan...that was decided long ago.

Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton

vs.

America

It's time to do what we were born to do ... and that is preserve the United States by all legal means necessary whatever it takes.

Dennis Hastert with an A on Immigration is looking pretty right now. Unfortunately ... we missed our chance.