June 16, 2003, 10:42PM
Bush and his 'Rangers' begin cash roundup
Campaign goal tops $170 million as Democrats vie for nomination
By BENNETT ROTH
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- When President Bush steps into the Grand Ballroom of the Washington Hilton this evening, he will be embarking on a task he does so well: scooping up oodles of campaign cash.
Over the next few weeks the president will be on a whirlwind seven-city blitz intended to almost double his previous fund-raising record and overpower his potential Democratic opponents, who are struggling to finance their bids for the White House in 2004.
Bush campaign officials said they expect to raise between $150 million and $170 million by the end of the primary season next summer.
The organizers of tonight's event, expected to draw 1,100 people, are a who's who of Washington lobbyists, powerbrokers and influential Republicans, such as former prosecutor Kenneth Starr, who investigated President Clinton.
The 10 declared Democratic candidates combined raised less than $30 million in the first quarter of this year, the most recent reporting period. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., topped the list, taking in $7.4 million during that period.
"Chances are he (Bush) is going to blow everybody away," said Steve Weiss, a spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign giving.
Weiss said Bush has an advantage in that he can use his money to attack the Democrats now, since he is unlikely to have a primary opponent. The Democrats, meanwhile, will be spending the bulk of their contributions during the early primaries taking aim at each other, leaving the winner scrounging for resources to take on Bush before federal election funding kicks in after the parties' national conventions.
By the end of this month, Bush will have hit both coasts in search of campaign cash, including a June 23 event in New York, stops in San Francisco and Los Angeles on June 27 and trips to Miami and Tampa, Fla., on June 30.
While no Bush fund-raisers are planned immediately for Texas, a number of Houston Republicans said they recently received a fund-raising solicitation from Nancy Kinder, who is heading the Bush-Cheney effort for the Gulf Coast region.
Kinder, a former personal assistant to departed Enron chief Ken Lay, and her husband, Richard, an energy executive who also once worked for Enron, were top fund-raisers -- called Pioneers -- for Bush's first presidential campaign. They did not return a phone call.
Bush is expected once again to rely on a network of influential business people and politicians to raise a good chunk of the money. During the last campaign the Pioneers were those who raised $100,000 apiece, helping Bush shatter fund-raising records and making it possible for him to forgo federal matching funds and avoid mandated limits on spending during the primary season.
This election cycle, the campaign has added a new category for those who raise $200,000, calling them "The Rangers" -- a reference both to the famed police force of the Lone Star state and to the Texas baseball team of which Bush once was part owner.
The increased fund-raising is made possible in part by the changes in campaign finance laws, which doubled to $2,000 the amount individuals may give political campaigns.
The White House has not been shy about offering incentives. Last week, big fund-raisers in New York and Washington had lunch with Bush's top political strategist, Karl Rove.
Nicolle Devenish, a spokeswoman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, said that there was nothing wrong with giving top campaign donors access to key administration officials such as Rove.
"It is understandable that the president's team meets with our supporters," she said.
Debra Deshong, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, said that "clearly the president has all the trappings of the Oval Office, Air Force One and he will use that."
Nevertheless, she predicted the Democratic candidates will be competitive and noted the party has scheduled a sold-out fund-raiser for June 25, which is expected to raise $1.5 million.
While the economy has been soft, a number of Republicans in Texas said they didn't foresee problems in raising the extra cash.
"We think our man's doing just fine and when I go to people and say it's time to support our man I haven't found anybody turning me down," said Thomas Johnson, the executive director of the Associated General Contractors of Texas.
Johnsonnoted, however, that he has been making his pitch to highway builders who belong to his association and have done well recently, rather than to executives of Internet companies and other industries that have seen their fortunes tumble in recent years.
Sue Walden, a Houston-based fund-raiser, said it is unlikely that Lay, who was a Pioneer during Bush's first campaign, will be on the Rangers list this time.
"He has other issues to deal with," she said of the former head of the beleaguered energy company.
Despite the sour economy, Walden said she believes the Bush campaign can meet its goals.
"I think it will be a greater challenge to raise money but at the end of the day he will do it," she said.
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