Right to the end, Donald Trump campaign spent less than Hillary Clinton’s
Donald Trump‘s campaign spent about $94 million in its final push for the White House, according to new fundraising reports filed Thursday. The Republican continued his campaign-long trend of spending far less than Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Her campaign blew through almost $132 million in its closing weeks, according to reports filed Thursday with the Federal Election Commission. The latest reports cover Oct. 20 through Nov. 28. Over the course of the primary and general elections, the Trump campaign raised about $340 million. That included $66 million that the billionaire businessman contributed from his own pocket. The Clinton campaign, which maintained a longer and more concerted fundraising focus, brought in about $581 million. Brad Parscale, Trump’s digital director who was empowered with spending decisions across the campaign, credited strategic last-minute investments with helping propel the political newcomer to victory. Specifically, he told The Associated Press, the campaign and Republican Party spent about $5 million in get-out-the-vote digital advertising targeted in the final few days to Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida. That proved critical; some of those states were won by razor-thin margins. “You think, what if we hadn’t spent that?” Parscale said. “We might not have won.” Another investment that he said paid dividends was $7 million to air a two-minute “closing” television commercial. “Our movement is about replacing the failed and corrupt political establishment with a new government controlled by you, the American people,” he said as images from his rallies rolled across the screen. The final FEC report showed the extent of the Trump advertising splurge. The campaign spent nearly $39 million on last-minute TV ads and another $29 million on digital advertising and consulting work done by Parscale’s firm. Clinton’s campaign placed a far greater emphasis than Trump on television advertising, a more traditional way of reaching swaths of voters. She spent $72 million on TV ads and about $16 million on internet ads in the final weeks. The former secretary of state also spent more than $12 million on travel — about double what Trump spent. Clinton, who not only had a money advantage over Trump but a staffing edge, spent more than $4 million on a nearly 900-strong payroll. Still, Clinton’s top campaign aides have acknowledged in post-election appearances that it didn’t always spend money in the right places. Her campaign manager Robby Mook said at a gathering of political strategists and journalists last week at Harvard University that he regretted not putting more staff in Michigan. When the state certified its results — 20 days after the election— Trump had won by just under 11,000 votes. Outside groups that spent money on the presidential election also filed reports Thursday. Trump got help from the super political action committees Future 45, Make America Number 1 and Rebuilding America Now. Future 45 and a partner nonprofit that does not disclose donors spent late in the campaign but became Trump’s biggest outside investors. Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, together gave $10 million to Future 45 in the final weeks of the campaign, the new reports show. Former wrestling executive Linda McMahon, who Trump named this week as head of the Small Business Administration, gave $1 million to the group in October. She’d earlier given $6 million to Rebuilding America Now. Make America Number 1 benefited from a $1 million donation by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, now an executive on the Trump transition team. On Clinton’s side, Priorities USA — which raised and spent more than any super PAC in history — landed $16 million in the final weeks of the campaign. That brought its total haul to about $192 million. Some of the group’s final seven-figure contributions came from its most loyal donors: media mogul Haim Saban and investors James Simons and Donald Sussman. The 2016 election is over — but the fundraising continues. The president-elect has raised millions of dollars since Nov. 8. That money is coming in mostly through purchased merchandise such as hats and ornaments and is paying for Trump’s “thank you” tour, which took him to Ohio and Iowa on Thursday. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Sheldon Adelson to boost Donald Trump with $25M of ads in campaign final days
Donald Trump is set to receive more than $25 million of new advertising, thanks to a pair of outside groups looking to boost the GOP candidate in the final days of a grueling presidential campaign. This unexpected boost, first reported by CNN, could help the GOP nominee come in line with Hillary Clinton’s television ad buys. Two outside groups supported by billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson are looking to bring Trump into dollar-for-dollar parity with Democrats. Future 45 super PAC, along with the affiliated nonprofit 45 Committee will sink another $25 million, according to Brian Baker, the group’s president. Baker tells CNN it is “one of the biggest political efforts launched in the final week of a presidential campaign ever.” Included in the new ad buy is another dozen new ads on social media platforms such as Snapchat, as well as spots targeting Spanish-speaking voters and millennials. One of the spots, which premiered on YouTube Thursday, features a woman impersonating Hillary Clinton using a hammer and drill to smash phones and computers – a nod to Clinton’s persistent email controversy. Despite strong fundraising in September, both groups have not spent much recently, at least until this new wave of cash and advertising. As his campaign winds down, Trump and his committees were expected to spend about $20 million, a figure much less than that of Clinton and her supporters. Nevertheless, both Clinton and Trump – as well as their outside groups – have spiked in television purchases during the final days. Clinton and her allied groups expect to spend $53.5 million; for Trump and his groups, ad buys equal about $30.5 million.
Business owners replace idealists in legal-pot movement
Business owners are replacing idealists in the pot-legalization movement as the nascent marijuana industry creates a broad base of new donors, many of them entrepreneurs willing to spend to change drug policy. Unlike in the past, these supporters are not limited to a few wealthy people seeking change for personal reasons. They constitute a bigger coalition of business interests. And their support provides a significant financial advantage for pro-legalization campaigns. “It’s mainly a social-justice movement. But undoubtedly there are business interests at work, which is new in this movement,” said Kayvan Khalatbari, a one-time pot-shop owner and now head of a Denver marijuana consulting firm. The donors offer a wider foundation of support for the marijuana-related measures on the ballot next month in nine states. The campaigns are still largely funded by national advocacy organizations such as the Drug Policy Alliance, the Marijuana Policy Project and the New Approach PAC. But those groups are less reliant on billionaire activists. On the other side, legalization opponents are attracting new support from businesses as diverse as trucking, pharmaceuticals and even gambling. In 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first states to pass ballot initiatives legalizing recreational marijuana for adults. Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C., followed in 2014. The result is a bigger pool of existing businesses that see expansion potential in more states authorizing use of the drug. Take Darren Roberts of Boca Raton, Florida, co-founder of High There!, a social network for fans of pot. He donated $500 this year to a campaign to legalize marijuana for medical purposes in Florida. Roberts is also encouraging his customers to donate to legalization campaigns in their own states. “I would say it’s a combination of both the philanthropic social interest and the potential financial interest,” Roberts said. All five states considering recreational marijuana — Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada — have seen more money flowing to groups that favor legalization than to those fighting it. The same is true in the four states considering starting or reinstating medical marijuana — Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota. The donors who contribute to anti-legalization efforts have changed, too. Some deep-pocket donors who drove opposition campaigns in years past are opening their pocketbooks again. Casino owner Sheldon Adelson of Nevada, for example, gave some $5 million in 2014 to oppose a medical-pot measure in Florida. This year, as his home state considers recreational pot and Florida takes a second look at medical marijuana, Adelson has spent $2 million on opposition in Nevada and $1 million to oppose legalization in Massachusetts. Other casinos are donating to Nevada opposition efforts, too, including MGM Resorts International and Atlantis Casino & Resort. Nevada gambling regulators have warned that marijuana violates federal law. Some new opponents have also emerged, moving beyond the typical anti-pot base that includes law enforcement groups, alcohol companies and drug-treatment interests. A pharmaceutical company that is working on a synthetic version of marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient, Insys Therapeutics Inc., has given at least $500,000 to oppose full marijuana legalization in its home state of Arizona. The company did not return a message for comment on the donation. Company officials said in a statement last month that Insys opposes the Arizona ballot measure because marijuana’s safety has not been demonstrated through the federal regulatory process. Other new names popping up in opposition disclosures include U-Haul, which gave $25,000 to oppose legalization in Arizona, and Julie Schauer, a Pennsylvania retiree who gave more than $1 million to a group opposing legalization. Neither returned messages seeking comment on their donations. Smaller donors to opposition campaigns say they are hopelessly outgunned by the young pot industry, but are giving out of a sense of duty. “Everyone’s talking about it like it’s a done deal, but I can’t sit by when I’ve seen firsthand the destruction that marijuana does to people,” said Howard Samuels, a drug-treatment therapist in Los Angeles who donated some $20,000 to oppose recreational legalization in California. Samuels and other marijuana opponents insist that the pot industry cynically hopes to get more people addicted to the drug to line its own pockets, comparing pot providers to tobacco companies. But marijuana-industry donors insist that they are simply carrying on a tradition started by the tie-dye wearing drug activists who pushed legalization long before there was any business model attached to it. They insist they would contribute financially even without any money-making potential. “When a movement becomes an industry, of course the advocacy picture gets shuffled,” said Bob Hoban, a Denver attorney specializing in marijuana law and a $1,000 donor to the Marijuana Policy Project. “It shifts away from activists to more traditional business interests, because the skill sets don’t exactly transfer.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Joe Henderson: No surprise Ted Cruz chose not to play it safe
The safe play for Ted Cruz would have been to simply give Donald Trump a less-than-tepid endorsement as the Republican standard bearer for president. Party bosses and worker bees alike would have praised him for uniting Republicans in their holy war against Hillary Clinton. Even more, Cruz would have been ideally positioned to be the GOP’s choice in 2020 if, as looks more likely every day after this chaotic Republican convention, Trump gets thumped in November. But Cruz wouldn’t do it. He wouldn’t say it. Are you surprised? I’m not. If we know anything about the U.S. Senator from Texas, it’s that he doesn’t care if you don’t like him. He uses your loathing as reinforcement that you are part of the problem and must be fixed. His unwillingness to work with even his own party has made him a pariah to many. Former House Speaker John Boehner called him “Lucifer in the flesh.” He has made a career out of grandstand plays and attacking members fellow Republicans (I use that term loosely) for not being ideologically pure. You think he cares? I think he loves annoying the crap out of people. And you could just see his diabolical mind working when, for reasons passing understanding, GOP bosses gave Cruz prime-time real estate to speak his mind Wednesday night. He was warmly welcomed at first – the last holdout coming into the fold and all that — and returned that love by giving a tremendous speech. He laid out his conservative chops so decisively that about halfway through I almost expected those in the arena to demand a recount so they could pick him instead of Trump. It built to a crescendo as he told everyone watching not to stay at home in November. Yeah. Here it comes. The moment we’ve all been waiting for. “Vote for ….” Yes? Your conscience! Wow! He got booed out of the arena. Afterward, billionaire Sheldon Adelson wouldn’t let Cruz into the GOP donor suite. Security had to escort Cruz’s wife, Heidi, out of sight, lest she become a target for baffled and agitated delegates. Well, let us not forget that along with being devious and devilish, Cruz is vengeful. Trump tried to smear Heidi Cruz on her appearance during the campaign. He even suggested Cruz’s father might have had a clandestine role in John Kennedy’s assassination. So, you betcha! There was some prime-time payback due and Cruz delivered a sucker punch that only added to the image of a convention that has not just gone off the rails, but is now careening down the canyon toward the rocks below. Cruz is telegraphing to the deep conservative base, which he owns but Trump needs, that even four years of Hillary is worth it if it means he can rescue them in 2020. And just to add one more euphemistically upraised middle finger to the party, Cruz’s speech far overshadowed the coming out party of vice presidential nominee … oh, what’s his name? Well, Cruz has done it now. The implosion of the Republican Party as we know it is nearing completion. Going forward, if the GOP excommunicates him, it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if Cruz didn’t try to shepherd his ultra conservatives into a third party of constitutional purists. The man loves chaos. It’s all because he couldn’t, wouldn’t, and convinced himself he shouldn’t say three words: “Vote for Trump.” The words Cruz wouldn’t say spoke loudest of all. ___ Joe Henderson has had a 45-year career in newspapers, including the last nearly 42 years at The Tampa Tribune. He has covered a large variety of things, primarily in sports but also hard news. The two intertwined in the decade-long search to bring Major League Baseball to the area. Henderson was also City Hall reporter for two years and covered all sides of the sales tax issue that ultimately led to the construction of Raymond James Stadium. He served as a full-time sports columnist for about 10 years before moving to the metro news columnist for the last 4 ½ years. Henderson has numerous local, state and national writing awards. He has been married to his wife, Elaine, for nearly 35 years and has two grown sons — Ben and Patrick.
Donald Trump irks Jewish donors with comments on Mideast peace
The Jewish donors gathered Thursday had two demands of the Republican presidential candidates who’d come to speak to them: unambiguous support for Israel and respect. Donald Trump seemed to fail at both. The party’s 2016 front-runner openly questioned Israel’s commitment to the Mideast peace process in his remarks to the Republican Jewish Coalition, echoing comments he made the night before in an interview with The Associated Press. He drew boos after refusing to endorse Jerusalem as the nation’s undivided capital. And he suggested to the influential group simply wanted to install a puppet in the White House. “You’re not going to support me even though you know I’m the best thing that could happen to Israel,” Trump said. “I know why you’re not going to support me — because I don’t want your money. You want to control your own politician.” It was an extraordinary speech to a group used to deferential treatment. And Trump’s comments on Israel — particularly the billionaire businessman’s repeated questioning of its commitment to making a peace deal with the Palestinians — sparked an aggressive backlash from his Republican rivals. “Some in our own party — in the news today — have actually questioned Israel’s commitment to peace,” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio told the crowd. “Some in our own party actually call for more sacrifice from the Israeli people. They are dead wrong, and they don’t understand the enduring bond between Israel and America.” The primary benefactor of the Republican Jewish Coalition is casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who spent more on the 2012 federal elections than any other donor. Adelson’s willingness to make a huge political investment helps explain why his signature group attracted all of the major GOP presidential candidates to its forum in Washington — even though the man himself wasn’t among the hundreds in attendance. On the eve of the event, Trump weighed in on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in an interview with The Associated Press. He questioned for the first time both sides’ commitment to peace, adding that he would know within six months of being elected president whether he could broker an elusive peace accord. He doubled down on those comments Thursday in an auditorium packed with Israel’s most loyal supporters. “I don’t know that Israel has the commitment to make it, and I don’t know the other side has the commitment to make it,” Trump said. The comment drew murmurs of disapproval. Later, a smattering of boos broke out after he refused to say whether Jerusalem should serve as the undivided capital of Israel, a priority for many in America’s pro-Israel lobby. Trump shrugged off the criticism. “Do me a favor, just relax,” he told one of the people booing. Perhaps more than any other candidate, he can afford to. The billionaire frequently calls himself a “self-funded” candidate. Compared to his rivals, he has raised — and spent — dramatically less, depending largely on free publicity to drive his campaign. He began his candidacy by loaning his campaign almost $2 million and has suggested a willingness to spend much more of his own money. Yet he hasn’t ignored donors altogether. Fundraising records show that supporters have handed over $4 million, enough to cover his presidential efforts in recent months. Regardless of his relationship with donors, Trump’s comments mark a sharp contrast from his Republican rivals who pledged unconditional allegiance to Israel. Several candidates blasted him from the stage. “This is not a real estate deal with two sides arguing over money” Rubio said. “It’s a struggle to safeguard the future of Israel.” Said Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, “We need a president who will stand unapologetically with the nation of Israel.” Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee seemed to target Trump when he mentioned that some in his party support the “head-scratching” proposal that Mideast peace is possible only if Israel and the Palestinians both come to the table. “I want to say where have you been for the last 70 years?” Huckabee charged. Trump’s comments also fell flat among many Thursday’s crowd. Michael Leventoff, a New York businessman and member of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said Trump questioning Israel’s commitment to the peace process is another example of him “just getting it wrong.” “There’s plenty of evidence of Israel’s repeated attempts at peace,” he said. “This is exactly why Trump is what I like to call a brilliant idiot. He should know better, and probably does.” Trump told RJC members that while he doesn’t want their money, he does want their support. He noted he has won several awards from Jewish groups and recently said he has “a very good relationship” with Adelson. The casino magnate has yet to make up his mind how who he’ll support in the GOP primary, said Adelson’s political adviser, Andy Abboud. Each of the candidates is strong on the issues that concern Adelson the most, chief among them protection of Israel, he said. “The Adelsons are generally pleased with all of the Republican candidates and feel that the primary process will work its way out.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
With millions on the table, “Sheldon Adelson primary” still up in the air
Republican presidential candidates are locked in battle for more than just votes, they are also running in what is known as the “Sheldon Adelson primary.” Adelson, the multibillionaire casino magnate, is one of the biggest prizes for GOP contenders, through his willingness to spend a lot of money to promote favored candidates. But in 2016, notes Michael Isikoff of Yahoo Politics, the Adelson primary has become a bit more complicated. After being courted by each of the top Republican candidates, Adelson is reportedly close to supporting freshman Senator Marco Rubio, and is expected to announce his selection soon after the next GOP debate Dec. 15. An event is scheduled for the Adelson-owned Venetian Las Vegas hotel. However, the anointment of Rubio as the winner may face one obstacle – Miriam Adelson, his outspoken and equally conservative Israeli-born wife. Isikoff reports that Miriam Adelson, a physician, has gravitated recently toward Ted Cruz, mostly because of the Texas senator’s hawkish national security stance and unwavering support for Israel. “He really likes Marco, but she really likes Cruz,” Isikoff quotes a source familiar with the Adelson family. “And it’s a standoff.” The impasse between husband and wife could go one of two ways – a split decision, or no decision at all. Both Adelsons have been publicly generous with their donations, with more than $98 million spent in the 2012 election cycle, but it has always been as a couple. Roughly half of the checks (about $47 million) were written by Miriam, and were often accompanied by a similar check signed by Sheldon. This standoff could result in the Adelsons’ sitting out the GOP primary season entirely, with the concern over financially supporting someone in the primaries, leading to the couple funding attack ads against another preferred candidate. But this situation comes at a pivotal moment in the race, as both Rubio and Cruz are jockeying for a position as the establishment candidate, a responsible choice compared to self-financed outsider Donald Trump, the current GOP front runner. The next phase in the Adelson primary comes this week during a presidential forum by the Republican Jewish Coalition, a group strongly supported by Adelson, held Thursday in Washington. Although Sheldon and Miriam will be out of town, all 14 current Republican candidates will be speaking – Rubio and Cruz included. As expected, national security will be the top issue. Coincidentally, several candidates will also hold high profile fundraisers during their time in DC, drawing wealthier members of the RJC, including one hosted by Jeb Bush’s Right to Rise PAC and a Rubio event co-chaired by national finance chair and RJC board member Wayne Berman. Bush’s role in the Adelson primary took a hit recently, after former Secretary of State James Baker, one of the former governor’s foreign policy advisers, spoke at an event held by an American Jewish group supporting the Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. Baker’s appearance prompted the billionaire to reportedly say Bush was “dead to him,” adding that it will lose his campaign “a lot of money.” According to Isikoff, Bush was compelled to contact Adelson and distance himself from Baker, saying that the former Secretary was only “on a list” and never was considered a top adviser. Rubio saw opportunity in Bush’s gaffe, and aggressively secured the support of the Adelsons, by providing regular updates and attending a private dinner meeting in Washington, with long conversations about family and private lives. This meeting led POLITICO to declare Rubio the “Adelson primary front runner.” Nevertheless, Isikoff says others close to the Adelson’s suggest the pair just might bide their time and see how the race progresses, avoiding the mistake made in 2012, when they sank $15 million in the Newt Gingrich-associated super PAC, only to have the former House Speaker drop out of the race.
Donald Trump calls Mideast peace ‘toughest deal’
Donald Trump says that if he’s elected president, he’ll know within six months whether he can achieve an elusive peace accord between Israelis and Palestinians, one of the world’s most vexing challenges. But the Republican presidential candidate says he has doubts about each side’s commitment to the peace process. “I have a real question as to whether or not both sides want to make it,” Trump said in an interview with The Associated Press. The Republican presidential front-runner said his concerns are greater regarding “one side in particular.” While Trump wouldn’t say whether he was referring to the Israelis or the Palestinians, he said the chances for a lasting peace rest with Israel. “A lot will have to do with Israel and whether or not Israel wants to make the deal — whether or not Israel’s willing to sacrifice certain things,” Trump said. “They may not be, and I understand that, and I’m OK with that. But then you’re just not going to have a deal.” “If I win, I’ll let you know six months from the time I take office,” he added. Trump was short on specifics about how he would tackle trying to broker peace in the Middle East, or even whether he supports the longstanding U.S. government goal of a two-state solution — saying he didn’t want to show any bias in favor of one side or the other in case he does become president. “Look, we show our cards too much in negotiations,” Trump said. Still, the billionaire businessman who has made his skills as a dealmaker a key piece of his pitch to voters was visibly enthusiastic about the prospect of tackling the intractable foreign policy challenge. “I think if I get elected, that would be something I’d really like to do,” Trump said during the interview at his golf club in northern Virginia. “Because so much death, so much turmoil, so much hatred — that would be to me a great achievement. As a single achievement, that would be a really great achievement.” Trump said a key to peace negotiations would be meeting early in his presidency with top leaders in the region. He said he planned to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a trip to Israel “sometime after Christmas, probably.” “You know, I’m going to be probably going over there pretty soon and I want to see him, I want to see other people, I want to get some ideas on it,” he said. He added that the trip had been in the works long before rival Ben Carson’s recent trip to Jordan to visit Syrian refugees. Trump said he was a “big, big fan” of Israel. Yet his questioning of Israel’s commitment to a lasting peace with its Palestinian neighbors could still raise eyebrows in some Republican corners. Trump sat down and shared his views on Israel in an AP Conversation — a series of extended interviews with the 2016 candidates to become the nation’s 45th president. ___ During his unexpected five-month run atop the Republican field, Trump’s rivals for the GOP nomination have argued he lacks depth and fluency on foreign policy. At the heart of his campaign is Trump’s argument that his experience in business and real estate would prepare him for negotiations with world leaders. Trump took a similar approach in discussing Israeli-Palestinian peace, saying the only way to resolve the issue is “if you had a real dealmaker, somebody that knew what he or she is doing.” “I’ll be able to tell in one sit-down meeting with the real leaders,” he said. Trump evaded specific questions about whether Palestinian demands in peace negotiations are legitimate and whether Israel should be allowed to build settlements in the West Bank without restrictions, though he said the Israeli housing projects were a “huge sticking point” in talks. “I have my feelings on it, but I’m just not going to discuss it now, because if I end up in the midst of a negotiation, I don’t want people saying, ‘Well, you can’t do it, you’re not going to be good, you’re biased,’ ” Trump said. “I want to be very neutral and see if I can get both sides together.” When asked whether his goal in peace talks would be a two-state solution, he said, “Well, I’m not going to even say that.” The two-state solution envisions an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, with the boundaries negotiated in talks between the parties. The U.S. does not currently recognize the Palestinian territories as an independent state, though the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly voted in 2012 to recognize Palestine as a “non-member observer state.” The Obama administration has hinted that it would be willing to allow Palestinians to seek full statehood recognition at the U.N. if Israel appeared unwilling to seriously pursue peace talks. Several U.S. presidents in both parties have tried to broker a peace accord without success. The White House conceded this fall that an agreement won’t come together during President Barack Obama’s last year in office. Even as Trump avoided spelling out specific conditions for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, he said he understood the seriousness of the matter. “I’m leading in every single poll in every single state, in every single national poll,” he said. “I could be in a position where I want to negotiate that.” ___ For decades, a cornerstone of Republican foreign policy has been unyielding support for Israel. GOP presidential candidates and members of Congress have rallied around Netanyahu this year as he unsuccessfully fought the U.S.-led nuclear deal with Iran, a country viewed by Israel as an existential threat. On Thursday, Trump and 13 other GOP presidential candidates are speaking at a forum in Washington hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition, an influential group and aggressive supporter of Israel. The group and its biggest benefactor — casino magnate Sheldon Adelson — have little tolerance for anything that might be perceived as a criticism of the Jewish state. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was forced to
Can Marco Rubio’s lean campaign keep up with Jeb Bush’s behemoth?
Hundreds of donors to Jeb Bush‘s presidential campaign will gather later this month in Houston. They’ll shake hands with a pair of former presidents, and high-profile lieutenants of the former Florida governor will push them to write generous checks. This weekend in Las Vegas, dozens of donors met up with Marco Rubio. They ate fast-food hamburgers, shook hands with a celebrity pawn-shop owner and played flag football with the Florida senator. “I’d say he threw five interceptions, maybe three or four touchdown passes,” Wayne Berman, Rubio’s national finance chairman, said playfully. “There were a lot of middle aged guys trying to show off.” There are more than a dozen major candidates in the Republican presidential primary, and while outsiders Donald Trump and Ben Carson top the current preference polls, it’s the two Floridians — Bush and Rubio — at the head of the second wave. They’re competing for same donors who traditionally support GOP White House candidates, and their October finance summits illustrate how each plans to pay for their presidential ambitions with the hand he was dealt. They are also evidence of how Bush, with four months to go before the lead-off Iowa caucuses, enters the fall with a distinct advantage over his one-time protege. The son and brother of presidents, Bush came to the race with a sprawling network of experienced fundraisers. He also spent months personally wooing wealthy donors for a super PAC designed to help him win. Rubio had none of those advantages. He’s the son of working-class immigrants, and as a sitting senator he is legally barred from raising money for a super PAC that backs him. As a result, his campaign and the super PAC collected less than a quarter of the $114 million the Bush team raised in the first six months of the year. “We have no margin for error in our fundraising,” Berman told The Associated Press as the weekend retreat for roughly 70 top donors was wrapping up inside a hotel on the Las Vegas strip. But, he added, “Our ability to raise money is dramatically improving.” It has to. In modern American politics, money is often the strongest predictor of success. Even though Rubio’s poll numbers are improving, his fundraising is badly lagging several Republican competitors. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz doubled Rubio’s take from donors over the last three months, while Carson, the retired neurosurgeon, tripled it. Money raised for a presidential campaign is usually consumed by one thing above others: television advertising. And in TV dollars Bush’s distinct financial advantage is already starting to play out in the campaign. Bush and his super PAC, Right to Rise, have begun a planned $50 million television advertising blitz. Pro-Bush commercials hit the air several weeks ago and are booked to run continuously in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina through February, according to information collected by Kantar Media’s CMAG advertising tracker. Meanwhile, Rubio and the super PAC helping him, Conservative Solutions, have reserved ad space worth about half that amount. They’re putting off expensive broadcast TV commercials until the week of Thanksgiving, according to tracking information updated through Friday. The campaigns and outside groups can purchase ad space at any time, meaning those plans could change. But the ads only become more expensive, particularly for the super PACs. Any investment now pays extra dividends. Rubio’s team currently cannot afford the TV space it has reserved, so it must raise more money to see them through. Bush’s team, particularly his allied super PAC, might not need to bring in another dollar to fund its TV strategy well into next year. Bush’s financial advantage loomed over Rubio’s donor retreat at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino this past week as senior aides shared political and fundraising strategy with top donors. While Bush’s retreat will feature former Presidents George H.W and George W. Bush, the best-known supporter at Rubio’s gathering was Rick Harrison, the Las Vegas pawn-shop owner and one of the “Pawn Stars” of the reality television show. Bush hasn’t yet said what he raised between July 1 and Sept. 30, but he’s thanked supporters in an email that said the campaign beat its fundraising goal. Rubio’s early numbers are in — and they aren’t good. His fundraising dropped to just $6 million over the summer, aides told donors this weekend. While the campaign began October with $11 million in available cash, the nearly $17 million worth of advertising reservations that begin in November show just how quickly that money can evaporate. Still, Rubio’s campaign has been thriftier than others. He was paying salaries for 18 people at the end of June compared to Bush’s more than 50. His campaign manager, Terry Sullivan, has bragged about pinching pennies, saying he must approve any expense over $500. He said Rubio almost always flies commercial. Rubio is also getting millions of dollars in advertising help from a nonprofit group that doesn’t make public its donors. Its pro-Rubio commercials are on the air at a time when the campaign and super PAC haven’t been. More help could be on the way. Rubio shared a private dinner Thursday night in Las Vegas with Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate who with his wife donated more than $90 million during last presidential contest. Rubio, like other Republicans, has aggressively sought Adelson’s endorsement. He’s yet to publicly pick a favorite. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
