Jeb Bush super PAC considering staff for early voting states
The outside political group supporting Jeb Bush‘s bid for president with tens of millions of dollars in television advertising is considering placing organizing staff in Iowa and New Hampshire, a move that would follow the decision of his formal campaign to refocus its efforts on the two early-voting states. Senior advisers to the group tried to paint an upbeat picture of Bush’s White House prospects at the outset of two days of concurrent meetings held for major donors to Bush’s campaign and the group, a super PAC known as Right to Rise USA. Scheduled months ago as a reward for top money-raisers for the candidate once viewed as having the clearest shot at the GOP nomination, the retreat ending Monday comes just days after Bush’s formal campaign cut employee salaries by 40 percent and said it would move jobs from its Miami headquarters to the leadoff-voting states. A faithful core of roughly 175 Bush supporters made the trip to Houston for the meetings, fewer than expected due in part to the rains that pounded south Texas in the wake of Hurricane Patricia. Among the invited were people who had raised at least $50,000 for the campaign, and major super PAC donors also had access to some events. Among them was a session with Mike Murphy, a longtime Bush aide who is leading Right to Rise. He played five ads for the donors as they fired off questions about when the super PAC, which is not subject to the contribution limits placed on campaigns and pulled in a record haul of $103 million in the first six months of the year, would start spending big. Already, Right to Rise has spent $14.7 million on ads through the end of this week, mainly in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, the first three states on the 2016 nominating calendar. The group has reserved another $30 million in advertising through the week of Feb. 18. But Right to Rise officials said options for what else the cash-rich super PAC can do are top of mind among some donors, including whether the group should hire staff to marshal a get-out-the-vote effort on Bush’s behalf in Iowa and New Hampshire. “We’re looking at some of that. The campaign is front and center on that. But there are a lot of supporters around the country who might want to be organized to do some stuff like that,” said a senior Right to Rise official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the plans are still being developed. “There are limits to what a super PAC can do there,” the official added. “But there’s some energy we might channel.” Bush’s super PAC has from its outset been primed to do more than just run television advertising, the activity of choice for super PACs in the 2012 presidential campaign. While federal law does not allow formal campaigns and super PACs to coordinate their activities, Bush has long planned for Right to Rise to perform some functions of a traditional campaign. “Our primary mission is to tell Jeb’s story through paid advertising, but we’re always exploring other ways we can help amplify his positive message,” said Right to Rise spokesman Paul Lindsey. Bush and Right to Rise are not alone in taking this approach. The outside group backing former technology executive Carly Fiorina handles the vast majority of communications with supporters. This past weekend, a super PAC supporting Ohio Gov. John Kasich marshalled 40 volunteers to go door-to-door in New Hampshire to promote his White House bid. Bush was loudly cheered as he took the stage before a group of Right to Rise donors Sunday afternoon at a downtown hotel ballroom. Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush, and mother, Barbara, had arrived at the hotel for events scheduled to include a Sunday dinner with the candidate, and with their eldest son, former President George W. Bush. Jay Zeidman, a Houston fundraiser for Bush who attended the Right to Rise briefing on Sunday, said he felt “reassured” after listening to the super PAC leadership, which underlined in its presentation to several dozen attendees that in past election cycles the front-runner had yet to emerge by mid-October. “They’re going to be the asset that we thought all along,” he said of Right to Rise, which sketched out a massive advertising plan. He said the “capital” and “leadership” that Right to Rise has makes it — and therefore Bush — a formidable competitor in the primary. Although neither Bush nor his campaign can direct the super PAC’s spending, the close relationship between the two entities was on display Sunday, as donors hopscotched between Right to Rise and official campaign events. Many attendees sported lanyards bearing logos of both the campaign and the super PAC. In a light moment aimed at underscoring their concern for following the law, Bush stepped off a hotel elevator and spotted Murphy, his longtime political confidant. The two men hugged, before parting in silence. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
New Right to Rise ad focuses on Jeb Bush vow to “disrupt the beast”
A new TV spot from the super PAC supporting Jeb Bush hits the New Hampshire airwaves this week promoting the Republican presidential candidate’s history of disrupting politics as usual. First reported in CBS News, “Town Hall” is a 30-second spot produced by Right to Rise USA, which will start running in the first-in-the-nation primary state. The ad features a strong anti-establishment message. “We need to disrupt the old order in Washington, D.C.,” says Bush in the spot, over a photo of President Obama and Hillary Clinton. Next is a variety of clips showing Bush campaign events to spotlight the former governor’s conservative record along with reviews of his recently announced tax plan. “We can do a lot better by applying conservative principles,” Bush, says. “What we need is leadership to fix a few big things so that this country takes off and soars.” Bush, who struggles in recent polling against other GOP political outsiders — Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina – has been campaigning in Iowa this week, emphasizing his record as a “disrupter” to voters who seemingly favor rivals from outside the Washington beltway. “I’ve never lived in Washington, never been part of Washington,” he said at an Iowa event on Wednesday. “I just have the skill set to disrupt the beast.” Right to Rise bought airtime in New Hampshire, and another version of the ad will run in Iowa, campaign spokesperson Paul Lindsay told CBS News. The PAC’s media blitz includes $37 million spent on ads in early state races, scheduled to run through February. “Town Hall” is part of that new buy.
In Alabama, Donald Trump says he knows how Billy Graham felt
Republican front-runner Donald Trump on Friday joked, “Now I know how the great Billy Graham felt” as he addressed the largest crowd yet of his thriving presidential campaign. “I would like to have the election tomorrow,” Trump crowed. “I don’t want to wait.” Trump evoked Graham — the evangelist who packed stadiums around the world — as he brought his message to the Deep South. The 40,000-seat Ladd-Peebles Stadium was about half-full when he began his speech. Trump was welcomed by an array of Alabama politicians, including Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, who praised him for the attention he’s drawn to immigration issues. And Trump led off his speech with more criticism of immigrants living in the country illegally, drawing loud cheers when he repeated his promise to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. He reiterated his intention to end “birthright citizenship” for children of immigrants here illegally. Trump also attacked the Obama administration’s deal with Iran to restrict that country’s nuclear program, calling it “so sad.” And he again promised to “repeal and replace Obamacare” — the health care law that’s President Barack Obama‘s defining domestic achievement. The South will be strategically important because a group of states in the region, including Alabama, hold their primaries on March 1, 2016, right after the early voting states. Before Trump arrived, his fans — some carrying signs, others wearing T-shirts supporting the billionaire businessman — spoke of his outsider status in a crowded field dominated by former and current elected officials as the song “Sweet Home Alabama” blared from loudspeakers. “Donald Trump is telling the truth and people don’t always like that,” said Donald Kidd, a 73-year-old retired pipe welder from Mobile. “He is like George Wallace, he told the truth. It is the same thing.” Wallace, a fierce opponent of civil rights, served as governor of Alabama and sought the presidency multiple times. Kidd said Trump is a “breath of fresh air,” and praised him as a businessman with common sense. Savannah Zimmerman, a 27-year-old registered nurse from Mobile, agreed. “I think he appeals to us Southerners because he tells it like it is and he has strong opinions. That is the way we are here in the South,” she said. Mary Anne Bousenitz, 59, a retired psychiatrist from Tuscaloosa, said she isn’t offended by the insults Trump has directed at women, like “dog” and “bimbo.” “I’m not married to the man and it’s not like I’m going to have to sit across a turkey at the table with him,” she said. Interest in the candidate forced organizers to move a planned rally from the Mobile Civic Center, which holds about 2,000 people, to Ladd-Peebles Stadium, a 40,000-seat football stadium. Before the rally, Trump tweeted: “We are going to have a wild time in Alabama tonight! Finally, the silent majority is back!” During the height of the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon sought the backing of the “silent majority,” widely considered to be Americans who stood behind the Republican president and weren’t getting the attention that protesters attracted. Trump has derided elected officials and cast his candidacy as an outsider’s bid. Republican rival Jeb Bush‘s campaign e-mailed thousands of supporters in Alabama on Friday night, denouncing Trump as a Republican presidential candidate. The campaign statement said Trump favors partial-birth abortions, supports restrictions on gun rights and backs laws that infringe on states’ land rights. “Trump’s positions are deeply out of step with the Alabama way of life,” the campaign said in the email. “We know Alabama cherishes life, especially the life of the unborn.” Right to Rise USA, the super PAC supporting Bush, tweeted photos of a plane, with a banner ad bashing Trump and promoting Bush, flying over the stadium before Trump’s rally.
Pro-Bush super PAC spending $10M-plus on first TV campaign
The heavily funded super PAC backing Republican Jeb Bush will spend at least $10 million on television time in the earliest voting presidential primary states, the first salvo in a massive TV ad campaign to support the former Florida governor’s bid for the Republican nomination. Officials with Right to Rise USA say they will buy time in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina TV markets and on cable television in the three states. Ads are scheduled to begin in Iowa and New Hampshire on Sept. 15, in South Carolina a week later and then run continuously through the end of the year. The plan, shared by the group with The Associated Press prior to Monday’s buy, is the first evidence of Right to Rise USA’s major strategic spending of the roughly $100 million it had on hand last month. It’s also the first major move by the group, which was developed by longtime Bush adviser and California ad maker Mike Murphy, to run alongside Bush’s own campaign organization, which is bound by federal fundraising limits. “We believe Jeb Bush has the strongest record of conservative accomplishments in the race, and we plan to tell that story,” Paul Lindsay, communication director for Right to Rise USA, told the AP. The first ads will be positive spots promoting Bush in a field that includes 16 other major GOP candidates. They will resemble videos on the group’s website, promoting Bush and his accomplishments as Florida governor from 1999 to 2007. One piece was taken from clips of Bush from the Aug. 6 Republican debate in Cleveland, Lindsay said. That does not mean the group’s ads won’t turn to criticizing Republican rivals once the first contests draw near. The group has already aired one online ad that points to Bush’s release of decades of tax returns and publication of thousands of emails sent during his time as governor, to draw comparisons with Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, who recently turned over her private email server to the FBI under pressure. To date, the group, based in southern California, has spent roughly $200,000 on online advertising. The new expenditure, which Lindsay described as an “eight-figure” buy, is significant because it’s the first big expense for the group that Bush helped raise more than $103 million to finance, and which is expected to perform other campaign functions in support of the former governor. Under Federal Election Commission rules, Bush, having declared his candidacy on June 15, is now forbidden as a candidate from directly soliciting money for the group or advising how to spend it. However, before declaring his candidacy, Bush was involved in fundraising for Right to Rise USA, while Murphy planned a long-term strategy where the super PAC would complement the campaign, which is bound by fundraising restrictions that don’t apply to super PACs. The idea of a parallel outside group that can raise unlimited sums from individuals, corporations and groups is not new. Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee, attempted it later in his campaign. And other GOP candidates for the 2016 GOP nomination have formed super PACs and have begun buying advertising time in early states. However, none has combined the planning strategy with the sums of money Bush’s super PAC has been able to raise, making it a pioneering effort in the super PAC era of presidential campaigning. In June, the group announced it had met its ambitious goal of raising more than $100 million, taking full advantage of the nation’s campaign finance laws to collect $103 million over the first six months of 2015. In June, the group had a balance of $98 million. No candidate for president has benefited from so much money so early in a campaign. Aides to the super PAC noted that similar groups supporting other candidates have purchased advertising time in early states. Some have also aired spots aimed at bumping up a candidate’s national poll numbers to help them gain entry into debates that require top-10 standing. Right to Rise USA aides said their strategy is long-term, aimed at building sustained name identification and support heading into the Iowa caucuses, which begin the 2016 voting on Feb. 1, followed by the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
