Jeb! Bush has raised more than twice as much
super PAC money ($109 million at the end of July) as his closest GOP rival for super PAC cash, Ted Cruz ($38 million). Now we know that likely has less to do with the inspirational nature of his campaign (go figure!) and far more to do with blind loyalty to the Bush family name,
reports Julie Bykowicz.
In Crowdpac's review of named contributors to three political committees helping Bush, $59.2 million came from first-time Bush donors, while $60.3 million came from returning donors to the earlier campaigns of President George W. Bush, President George H.W. Bush or both.
There are more than 1,800 men and women who have given to all three Bushes over the years, Crowdpac found. These loyalists are spread across the country, with a heavy concentration in Texas, where the two presidents began their political careers, and in Florida, where Jeb Bush served as governor. [...]
Bush invited donors who raised at least $27,000 in the first two weeks of his campaign to a retreat last month at his family's property in Kennebunkport, Maine. About 300 of those donors mingled with the candidate and his top strategists in what attendees said had the feel of a family reunion, complete with Jeb Bush's parents as special guests.
Nothing like reliving the good old days when W. led us into the never-ending quagmire of Iraq under false pretenses and then tanked the economy. Oh, the nostalgia of it all.