They sneak him in, they take no pictures with him and yet he has brought more money in for Republican National Committee than has been raised by the entire Democratic National Committee.
The numbers for this year alone:
He has already clocked 31 political events this year, raising nearly $70 million for GOP candidates and the national and state parties, according to the Republican National Committee. The tally puts the president on track to meet or exceed the amount he raised before the midterm elections in 2006, according to GOP officials.
A man who was a senior adviser to Gore, Michael Feldman, shows what a fine line Bush has to walk with his popularity rating being so low when he says, "His strongest contribution will be going to high-dollar fundraisers and raising as much money for the campaign and the RNC as he can, and staying as far removed as possible from the McCain campaign in the process."
Recently the news came out that the Republican National Committee has 13 times the amount of money in the bank as the Democratic National Committee does and has has outraised the DNC by 5 times in the same timeframe.
Based on the numbers so far, the Republican Party appears poised to act as the financial equalizer in the fall campaign. The RNC disclosed that it ended May with $53.5 million in the bank, compared to $3.9 million for the Democratic National Committee, which is headed by Howard Dean.
Thanks to the continuing GOP popularity and fundraising attraction of President Bush, the RNC continued to vastly out-raise the Democratic Party, amassing $24.4 million just in May.
Other recent reports have shown that John McCain's fundraising has been on the rise making May his highest contribution month to date with $21.5 million while Barack Obama saw his lowest fundraising month in May bringing in $22 million.
Despite Barack Obama's phenomenal grassroots personal fundraising ability, the DNC has not come close to matching that type of enthusiasm, and the RNC, with considerable help from President George Bush, has managed to level the monetary playing field between Obama and McCain.
The fact Bush's fund raising capabilities, while being limited because of his overall popularity being at the lowest point, has still brought in more monies than the entire Democratic National Committee, just goes to show that despite his problems, his overall fundraising capabilities are a force to be reckoned with still.
The president is not done yet either, as his chief political adviser, Barry Jackson, makes clear when he states that Bush spent the better part of last year laying the groundwork to help whoever the candidate for the GOP would end up being, and Jackson says that Bush will continue to do so for the"candidates from the top of the ticket on down."
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