Bush warchest bulging, eyes turn to GOP

updated 3:10 p.m. ET Feb. 7, 2004

WASHINGTON - Now that President Bush’s goal of amassing $150 million for his re-election campaign is in sight, many of his leading fund-raisers soon will open their Rolodexes to solicit contributions for the Republican Party.

Ohio GOP Chairman Robert Bennett is a Bush “ranger,” a supporter who raised at least $200,000 for the president. Bennett anticipates that Bush campaign officials will suggest after the president’s money is in hand, possibly this month or early March, that rangers and other volunteers begin helping the national and state parties.

Most will not need any urging, Bennett said. “They know what has to be done.”

Bennett is eager to begin collecting millions for party activities in Ohio, an important electoral state.

Bush brought out his volunteers last May, about six months after most of the Democratic hopefuls began raising money. By year’s end he had taken in about $133 million, beating the presidential record of $106 million he set in the 2000 primaries. Bush raised almost as much as the original 10 Democratic candidates combined.

By late January, Bush’s total topped $144 million. Should the recent pace of $2 million to $4 million a week continue, he can expect to have his $150 million by mid-February.

'Rangers,' 'pioneers' and 'mavericks'
Bush is doing so with help from at least 423 volunteer fund-raisers. They include at least 156 “rangers”; 245 “pioneers,” who collected at least $100,000 each; and 22 “mavericks,” who brought in at least $50,000 each.

The fund-raisers are a valuable party resource, made even more important as national party committees try to compensate for the loss of big corporate, union and unlimited “soft money” donations now banned.

Republicans have long had a multimillion-dollar advantage over the Democratic Party in the limited individual donations the national parties still can collect, “hard money” that ranges from $5 or $10 checks to the maximum $25,000 per year a person can give a to party committee.

Both parties raised millions in soft money, and before it was outlawed in November 2002 they were nearly even in the big checks. Rules required that soft money be used to finance general party-building activities such as get-out-the-vote drives and ads on political issues.

Now, the parties must rely on tougher-to-obtain hard money to pay for election activities.

Pioneer John Saltsman Jr., former Tennessee GOP chairman, said most pioneers and rangers also help the party, and many did before they became Bush fund-raisers.

“The real advantage of having all those pioneers is you cover so many cities and states and each one has a different realm of influence and connections that they can raise money from,” he said.

In the past year, Saltsman has also raised money for Senate and House candidates and for two newly elected Southern governors, Mississippi’s Haley Barbour and Kentucky’s Ernie Fletcher.

“I’m by no means finished,” said Saltsman, chief executive of a Nashville, Tenn.-based information technology consulting company.

The new law lets state and local parties collect corporate and union money in donations of $10,000 or less for a range of election activities, if state law permits.

Because most of Bush’s volunteers are not official decision-makers for his campaign or the GOP, they can also raise soft money for state and local parties and unlimited amounts of it for interest groups.

Awaiting FEC signal
Las Vegas ranger Sig Rogich said he will consider raising soft money for pro-Republican interest groups if the Federal Election Commission signals it’s OK for them to involve themselves in the presidential and congressional races. The FEC is considering the question.

Rogich is national finance chairman of the Republican Governors Association and plans to raise money for a range of candidates. He is putting together Las Vegas fund-raising events for Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter and Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman in the next month.

Fund raising for Bush, however, is his first priority. “I’m not done,” said Rogich, president of the Rogich Communications Group.

The Bush campaign has said its goal is $150 million to $170 million. Spokesman Terry Holt would not say whether Bush would stop fund raising at some point or encourage his supporters to raise money for other GOP causes.

At least three dozen Bush rangers and pioneers already are major Republican National Committee fund-raisers, having solicited donations for a $14 million RNC gala last fall. Many raised $250,000 or more for the event.

Collectively, the RNC and two GOP congressional fund-raising committees took in $204 million last year and began 2004 with about $52 million left. The DNC and Democratic Senate and House committees raised $93 million and had about $21 million left Dec. 31.

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