With the clock ticking on the end-of-the-month fundraising deadline, former President George H.W. Bush is fishing for dollars on behalf of his son, Jeb Bush, telling potential donors that it is “imperative” that the former Florida governor’s White House campaign closes out the first quarter in a robust fashion.
The elder Mr. Bush’s pitch includes a stark warning: If donors don’t listen to him, they will have to deal with former first lady Barbara Bush.
“Remember, I’m asking, so my wife, ’The Enforcer,’ doesn’t have to. Trust me, you don’t want her following up,” the 41st U.S. president said a fundraising email Monday.
The online blast from the Bush camp is part of a flurry of activity from the Republican presidential candidates and their allies, who are looking to collect every cent they can before the Federal Election Commission closes the book on first-quarter fundraising, which began April 1 and ends Tuesday night.
The FEC reports, to be made public July 15, traditionally serve as an early gut check for the White House hopefuls — potentially giving some of them a lift and dragging down others.
“A lot of attractive candidates never get off the ground because they can’t raise the necessary cash,” said Henry Barbour, a member of the Republican National Committee from Mississippi who serves as an informal adviser to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a declared presidential candidate.
Mr. Barbour and others, though, said reports from the official campaign arms must be viewed in tandem with supportive super PACs, which sprung out of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling and are free to raise unlimited amounts of money.
These groups, which also must file reports with the FEC, are expected to play a bigger part in the presidential election next year, taking some of the pressure off the official campaign operation through a mixture of, among other things, television advertising, direct mail and even get-out-the-vote efforts.
As a result, some strategists and fundraisers are predicting that a candidate will need to have raised $50 million between the campaign and their supportive political action committees before the nomination fight.
“There is the recognition that at any time an advantage of $5, $10 or $15 million can be overcome by the contribution of a few donors to the super PAC,” said Anthony J. Corrado Jr., a professor of government at Colby College in Maine who specializes in campaign finance.
“The money, I think, will not have the winnowing effect that it had in the past — in terms of relegating some to front-runner status and others unable to fund meaningful campaigns,” he said.
Still, the last-minute push from the candidates underscores the focus on producing respectable numbers and sending messages that they have the fundraising chops necessary to go the distance.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky sought donations through an end-of-quarter online “money bomb,” the intense Internet fundraising bursts popularized by his father, former Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.
“With the June 30th date rapidly approaching, I need your immediate help to stay at the top of the pack,” Mr. Paul said in a voice recording posted on his Facebook page. “We may not have billionaires helping us, but we have a strong army of 2 million on Facebook that is growing daily. If just five percent of your Facebook followers donated $20.16 before the deadline, we would have an extra $2 million to report.”
Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania told supporters he was $10,395 shy of his fundraising goal, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said he was short $6,545.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas warned that he was “still 2,394 donations short.”
“I cannot overstate the importance of us positing strong fundraising numbers,” Mr. Cruz said in an email.
Political observers said all eyes were on Mr. Bush, who was said to be aiming to raise more than $100 million between his campaign and supportive super PACs — though his allies have recently tried to lower expectations.
“He has to throw a big number, or else people are going to think maybe he is not inevitable,” said Mike McKenna, a Republican Party strategist. “If you are the bully, you have to win every fight; otherwise, people are going to say, ’I can take him.’”
Sean Noble, president of American Encore, a conservative group, said he expects Mr. Bush to hit his goal.
“The Bush machine has always been a fundraising machine, and it would be shocking if he didn’t post higher than $100 million,” Mr. Noble said.
Others said the reports also are crucial for candidates who are stuck in the middle of the pack because they offer a chance to grab momentum ahead of the first party-sanctioned debate Aug. 6 in Cleveland
The debate, sponsored by Fox News, is limited to the top 10 candidates based on national polls.
Mr. Santorum, as well as former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, are among the Republican candidates who have tried to raise money off the prospect of being left out of the debate.
On Monday, the Carly for America super PAC warned in a fundraising email that “Fox News has announced it will limit the number of candidates in the first debate to ten participants.
“To ensure that Carly is among them, and there to take the fight to Hillary [Clinton] and the rest of her machine, please donate,” the group said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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