Marco Rubio battles Jeb Bush in quest for money

POLITICO

Marco Rubio was counting on Florida to be the cash cow for his 2016 presidential run.

Enter Jeb Bush. The former Florida governor and fundraising powerhouse has the state’s fundraising apparatus practically on lockdown with top Sunshine State donors signing on in droves to funnel big money to his campaign coffers.

Despite the stratospheric projections of Bush’s money machine — more than $100 million in the first quarter — Rubio’s operation believes the Florida senator will still be able to raise the necessary cash from his home state and around the country to mount a credible bid.

In part, senior advisors say it’s important to understand that Rubio’s fundraising goals aren’t even comparable to Bush’s budget. While few are willing to talk details, sources close to his finance team say that if Rubio can raise $50 million by the beginning of 2016, he can be competitive in the first four primaries.

“I don’t think he’s frozen out of Florida,” said Brian Ballard, a Tallahassee lobbyist and Bush fundraiser. “He certainly isn’t in as commanding of a position as Jeb is, but he’s got a cadre of supporters. He’s got a lot of folks in Miami who are for him and he has pockets around the state of folks who helped him run for Senate, or have been involved when he ran the Florida House.”

He’s got an aggressive schedule out of the box with money events later this week in New York and Boston followed up by fundraisers next week in Houston, Dallas, South Carolina and Palm Beach, Florida, according to a source close to his finance operation. Rubio will also make the fundraising rounds in California later this month.

Supporters have also officially launched a super PAC, Conservative Solutions PAC, that has been in the works for more than a year. Donors like Miami billionaire Norman Braman have already signaled an openness to cut big checks for that effort.

Rubio backers also say the Florida Republican’s foreign policy experience is exciting donors focused on Israel, which could help him get big donors like casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and New York finance billionaire Paul Singer into his camp. Rubio, who is the first Cuban American Republican senator, is also expected to tap Cuban American donors, who haven’t played a big role in previous presidential elections. And while Bush has focused on getting cash in the door, Rubio has been doing a soft sell meeting with donors like the one in New York organized by Singer last month that they hope will pay dividends now that he is an official candidate.

Rubio didn’t waste any time trying to gin up his top donors and fundraisers. He met Monday morning with roughly 100 of his top donors and bundlers from Georgia, Washington, D.C., and Florida, among other states, for a finance meeting at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay.

Rubio talked about the need to raise money and said he was going to launch a “campaign of ideas” and draw a distinct difference to Hillary, said one attendee.

The Florida Republican followed that with a national donor call walking key supporters through his case to become president. Senior staff have a lunch followed by peer-to-peer calls Monday afternoon before heading to the Freedom Tower for the official announcement.

Following the announcement, Rubio is headed to Boston and New York for fundraisers later this week. He’ll also go to New Hampshire and Iowa in short order for campaign events. A Washington, D.C., fundraiser is also in the works for April 30 at the home of Lea and Wayne Berman.

So far, Rubio’s finance team has locked down between 30 and 40 bundlers, according to multiple sources. High-profile finance backers like developer Bob Pence of Virginia and George Seay of Texas, who raised money for then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry in 2012, have helped lend credibility to Rubio’s money operation. He’s also attracted some early attention from the Koch brothers’ conservative network, leading an informal straw poll taken earlier this year.

“I think we are slightly ahead of where we thought we would be in terms of recruiting people who have the capability to raise the money for the campaign,” said one veteran Republican fundraiser supporting Rubio. “You can’t measure Rubio’s progress and signing up fundraising types against Jeb because Jeb has extraordinary capability and is dominating the fundraising in every aspect — money raised, events, the number of bundlers that are signed up for Jeb.”

Anna Rogers, former finance director for American Crossroads, is serving as Rubio’s finance director. She is joined by Derinda Moss and Carmen Miller Spence. Rubio isn’t expected to name a finance chairman immediately, but sources close to the campaign said his finance operation will grow fairly rapidly in the coming weeks.

Veteran Florida Republican consultant Rick Wilson said he wouldn’t “write off his ability” to post big numbers out of Florida and beyond, noting that Rubio has already gone up against the entire Republican establishment in Florida in his first Senate bid and was able to find key donors who supported his campaign.

Since 2009, Rubio has raised roughly $36 million through his campaign committee and leadership PAC, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. Rubio’s first quarter 2015 haul is expected to be more than $1 million, according to sources familiar with his finance operation. While that is a drop in the bucket for what a presidential finance operation will need to raise, Rubio donors said his team was happy with his early performance and that it was a signal of what was to come. Rubio held a fundraiser in Tallahassee last week that Adelson attended, though Adelson operatives said it was not a sign that he is backing Rubio for president in 2016.

“There are a reasonable number of people who also have a relationship with Marco and are kind of waiting to see how this thing turns,” Wilson said. “There are enough folks keeping their powder dry and there are discussions still being had.”