Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
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Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush(Photo: David Goldman, AP)
WASHINGTON —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>A super PAC backing Jeb Bush has spent more than $61 million, far outpacing rival groups as it burns through an enormous stockpile of cash to boost his struggling presidential campaign.
The Right to Right Rise USA<span style="color: Red;">*</span>super PAC has dropped more than $12 million in TV ads, direct mail and other outreach this month alone as it works to bolster the former Florida governor and tries to stop the ascent of three other candidates<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich — ahead of the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses and the first primary of the GOP nomination battle Feb. 9 in New Hampshire.
Rubio, Bush’s one-time protégé, is the biggest obstacle to Bush and the others, such as Kasich, who seek to become the GOP establishment’s alternative to billionaire Donald Trump and firebrand Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Trump and Cruz are battling for the No. 1 spot in Iowa polls with Rubio in third place, according to a RealClearPolitics average of recent polls.
Not surprisingly, Right to Rise has trained most of its recent firepower on Rubio, releasing a fresh round of television and digital ads this week that seek to paint the first-term senator as untrustworthy.
It’s not clear, however, whether Right to Rise’s early financial advantage —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and its last-minute spending spree —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>can power Bush past his rivals. Right to Rise’s investment amounts to more than five times what the super PAC supporting Christie has reported spending, according to the Sunlight Foundation’s tally of Federal Election Commission records. Even so, both men were jockeying for fifth position in New Hampshire, recent polls show.
“It’s basically a do-or-die situation” for Bush and his allies, said Christopher Galdieri, a political scientist at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. “The super PAC has to spend the money now. They can always get more money, but they are not likely to get more votes if they get blown away in New Hampshire.”
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Bush’s struggles have upended traditional notions about the value of money in the 2016 presidential campaign that has seen Trump endure atop national polls, despite spending little.
Right to Rise raised $103 million during the first half of 2015 and ended June with $97.7 million left over in its bank account. It’s not clear how much money the super PAC has collected in the months since —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>beyond a $10 million donation by former AIG chairman Maurice "Hank" Greenberg. But the group has spent more than half of its known contributions.
Right to Rise spokesman Paul Lindsay declined to discuss new donations Wednesday but said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the group is “prepared for the long haul.”<span style="color: Red;">*</span> Right to Rise and other super PACs must disclose what they raised during the last half of 2015 by Jan. 31, the day before the Iowa caucuses.
Is the spending working? “We measure ourselves by one metric —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that’s votes and delegates,” Lindsay said. “Neither of them have been cast yet.”
The new onslaught by the Bush super PAC comes as the ads in the GOP nomination battle take a sharply negative turn.
Fewer fuzzy biographical ads are hitting the airwaves. Instead, a Cruz-aligned super PAC recently cast Rubio as paying more attention to fantasy football than foreign policy. Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum’s first television ad, meanwhile, mocks Cruz’s reading of Green Eggs and Ham<span style="color: Red;">*</span>during a marathon 2013 speech on the Senate floor.
“Enough with nicey-nice,” said Elizabeth Wilner, who tracks political advertising at Kantar's Campaign Media Analysis Group.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“Time to start shooting at one another.”
The latest Right to Rise ad, airing in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina , takes direct aim at Rubio. Titled “Vane,” it shows Rubio as a weather vane atop a barn, swinging in the wind as it mocks him for changing his positions on immigration.
A digital ad, also released this week by Right to Rise, taunts Rubio further. The video, entitled “Boots,” plays on recent stories about Rubio’s stylish boots. Using Nancy Sinatra’s famed “These Boots Were Made for Walkin’” song, the ad changes the lyrics to ‘these boots were made for flipping.”
The video drew strong condemnation from Rubio aides<span style="color: Red;">*</span>this week, who said that Bush and his "establishment allies are trying to buy this election."<span style="color: Red;">*</span>A Rubio spokesman Joe Pounder took to Twitter to argue that Bush’s campaign “exists now for the sole purpose of tearing down conservatives.”
Bush is “losing primary & appears determined to help @HillaryClinton win general,” he added in another tweet.
Lindsay said the group isn’t backing away from its plan “to contrast Jeb’s record with other candidates in the race.”
“If Marco Rubio can’t defend his record in a Republican primary,” he added, “then how does he plan to defend it against Hillary Clinton and the Democratic machine?”
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