Bush raises megabucks for the GOP

President Bush’s approval ratings may be down, but they haven’t affected his ability to raise money for Republicans.

Bush is on pace to raise significantly more money in 2008 for the Republican campaign committees than he did in 2007, according to Republican officials. Through the first four months of 2008, Bush has already raised more than half of what he took in last year for GOP candidates.

{mosads}Since 2007 was not an election year, it’s not surprising Bush would raise more money in a year in which Americans will pick his successor. Still, the early 2008 totals show Bush could be a fundraising force for the GOP this summer and fall, even if polls show a minority of Americans approve of his presidency.

In 2007, Bush raised a total of $66.6 million for the Republican National Committee (RNC), the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the National Republican Congresssional Committee (NRCC) and individual Republican candidates.

Through April of this year, Bush has already attended events that have brought in $36.6 million for those committees and unnamed candidates.

The fundraising has some negatives, as it fuels attacks by Democrats on GOP candidates. For example, Democrats and liberal tax-exempt 527 organizations targeted Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) with ads last month after Bush attended a fundraiser for Connecticut Republicans.

Bush acknowledged the potential pitfall in a March press conference with presumptive Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). At the time, he said that there are parts of the country where his approval ratings and his presence might hurt a Republican candidate.

Still, the Democratic attacks haven’t kept Bush from being very much in demand.

“Between the candidates, RNC, Victory programs and state parties, there are more requests for the president to appear at campaign events than we can honor,” said Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman.

Bush has raised the money in a year in which some GOP House candidates have struggled with funds. GOP presidential candidates have also trailed their Democratic rivals in fundraising throughout the campaign.

Stanzel said President Bush will “be out on the trail quite a bit for our party and our candidates.”

The NRSC noted that this year’s presidential dinner is expected to raise $12 million, far more than the $7.5 million taken in by last year’s dinner. Similarly, a private reception the NRSC held with the president is projected to earn $2 million this year compared to $1.5 million from the 2007 event.

The NRCC said that the president has brought in more than $9 million this year compared to a total of $14.4 million last year.

Bush appears to be close to on pace for what he raised in 2006. According to the RNC, Bush raised a total of $131.6 million in 2006 compared to $62.4 million in 2005.

Despite his prolific fundraising that year, however, Republicans suffered heavy congressional midterm losses.
In an e-mail, Stanzel predicted this year will be different. “President Bush believes Republicans will win because on the big issues facing this country — protecting Americans by aggressively confronting terror and strengthening the economy through low taxes and wise stewardship of the people’s money — we have an approach more voters will support,” Stanzel said.

The RNC has crowed this year that it has far outpaced its Democratic counterpart in fundraising. At the end of March, the RNC had $31.1 million in cash on hand to the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) $5.3 million in cash.

Democrats have said that the RNC numbers are actually lagging from where they were at this point last year, and they point to the two Democratic presidential candidates who have been shattering fundraising records.

“Between record campaign fundraising by both of our candidates, record turnout in state after state, tremendous enthusiasm across the country and our unprecedented early investments in building the strongest infrastructure in our party’s history, we are confident we will have everything we need to beat John McCain to prevent him from giving us a third Bush term,” Damien LaVera, a DNC spokesman, said in a statement.