FL GOP money going slow to McCain

John McCain should be sitting pretty — catching his breath, building his campaign organization and filling up his campaign account — while Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton rip each other to shreds.Except that in the must-win state of Florida, many of the top Republican money-raisers have yet to step up for their presidential nominee.

Consider that of Florida's 66 so-called Pioneers or Rangers who raised at least $100,000 for Bush-Cheney in 2000 or 2004, only nine have contributed to McCain, a St. Petersburg Times analysis finds. While losing election after election throughout February, Clinton raised more than twice as much money from Florida — $1.25-million — as McCain, who drew $489,000. So did Obama, taking in more than $1-million from Florida.

The Times analysis is based on the latest campaign finance reports, which don't include March fundraisers where McCain allies say he raised about $2-million in Naples and southeast Florida. Several top GOP check-raisers in Florida said they have donated to McCain since that February reporting period ended.

In fact, McCain is scheduled to raise money in Jacksonville on Thursday at a luncheon hosted by, among others, insurance executive Tom Petway and developer John Rood, both Rangers who raised at least $200,000 for Bush-Cheney in 2004. Petway had been uncommitted in the presidential primary, while Rood backed Mitt Romney.

Still, even as top money-raisers for Gov. Charlie Crist have started helping McCain, such as St. Petersburg developer Brent Sembler and Palm Beach County businessman Harry Sargeant, the latest campaign finance reports show there was no rush to unite behind the GOP nominee.

Of 60 Floridians identified by the Romney campaign or in news accounts as key fundraisers for the former presidential candidate, only two gave to McCain the month after he won Florida's crucial Jan. 29 primary, according to the Times analysis. Likewise, among 27 Republican Florida fundraisers helping former candidate Rudy Giuliani, only two had given to McCain by the end of February.

Comments

Not to worry!! We have plenty of money waiting for our candidate John McCain! Let the D's spend all their money on the primary and then we will come out with both guns loaded-------

Time's analysis? You mean the spin paper for the Democrat Party?

[Zhombre]

John McCain wanted to get money out of politics, and that is why he sponsored McCain-Feingold, and he seems to have succeeded in getting money out of his campaign.

Laughing at you Republicans if you think that anything matters more to Dems than getting you traitors out of office. $pin away.

No mystery here, these donors know what most know, the next president will be a Democrat, so why waste money on a Republican.

Money may be better spent donating to the 527's that will be swiftboating Obama on the Wright issue.

McCain has said he wants to run a straight talk campaign.

That may be best way to spend campaign dollars.

It is the D's to loose and that is exactly what they are doing. So funny to watch! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA. Oh are they going to be angry come November and they realize how bad they screwed up!!!!!!!! HAAAAAAAAA!!

McBush!!

McBush!!

not a drunk...only partially senile!!

McBushMcBushMcBushMcBush!

vote for Johnnie McAinus!!

not a drunk...only partially senile!!

didnt that work for ronnie ray-gun too?

what about McAinus' "mixed-race-illegimate-daughter" folks??

o, thats right, that was a karli rove/georgethedrunk gimmick of 2000, wasnt it?

golly, its so fun fooling the stupidest of the stupid!!

You all sure do FEAR McCain!!!

7:31
Speaking of stupid, the correct term is most stupid, and the definition is---well, just look at your post

Republicans in Florida don't know what to think...

The RPOF raised $15 million, and more importantly SPENT it all...

Talk about fiscal conservatism... way to stockpile the money for the election year.

The RPOF needed to raise all that money so that could keep Greer in his private plane, keep him in his two bedroom suites at meetings, travel everywhere with 4 - 5 staff and take all his RPOF staff boys to the best steak houses money can buy. I wonder if the average person donating their $25.00 to the Republican Party expects them to spend their money on living the high life instead of getting Republicans elected.

Some reporter ought to look into what Greer pays those people over there as well. There is a difference between market value and getting rich off losing.

5:37 If McCain can't reign in the swiftboaters, how's that going to look for him? You one-trick scumbags will be playing right into Obama's hands.

Problem Solved!

Barack Obama hates white people

Why should anyone care how little money McCain has raised. He could spend more money than the other two combined yet still not inspire conservatives like me to vote for his liberal agenda that will leave this nation with unsecure borders, amnesty for millions of illegal aliens, a continued march toward a North American Union, 4 more years of Bush tax policy to benefit the wealthy and Haliburton along with 4 out of 100 more years in Iraq.

We need a 3rd party independent candidate. The two major parties have gone over the edge with these candidates.

$15 million spent and how many republicans elected?

The Bush's would rather see a democrat in the White House than McCain.

McBush!!McBush!!!!McBush!!!!

vote for johnnie mcainus!!

not a drunk...only partially senile!!

How about the Contracts that Greer gave George Lemeiux and Arlene and other buddies of the Governor.

How much did Greer's plane cost and how much has been spent on airfare for use on that plane?

[REC State committee member]

Greer bashers , Let's look at the facts since Greer took office .
1- Developed much better Relationships with the RECs.
2- Made the communication Dept much more relevant and sought after for comments.
3- Traveled the State meeting with Party Leaders and promoting our Governor and Party more then in the past.
4- First time Party has really reached out to Blacks and Hispanics to make GOP a more inclusive Party.
5- Held for first time a State wide Black Conference last year.
6- Held 4 National Presidential Debates which he Negotiated personally .
7- Developed a regular Communications program with Donors.
8- Brought all Republican clubs together(which I was at) to focus on Winning the White house and motivated us with a great speech
9- Won 8 out of ten Special Elections this last year .
10- Created first time position at RPOF for Winning Congressional Races.
11- Is Loyal to the Governor
12- Is good to his staff and works with them to get things done ,
13- Understands that the Grass roots people are important.
14- Has raised more Money for the Party then I can recall any Chairman doing.

There's a lot more Good that Greer has done as Chairman in this past year, Buts that enough for Now ,

So when you attack Greer or Crist don't let the Facts get in the way, it might just show you don't have a clue about what your talking about,

When Greer Runs for Chairman again he will win in a Landslide, Because even people who did not vote for him are saying he done very well and they will vote for him next year and to be honest I was one who did not vote for him in 07 , but will next year , he's just what our Party needed at this time .

And one reason the GOP will win in Florida this Nov will be because James Greer is our Chairman !

12:15 How about Nader? Let's put an end to conservatives and their corporate welfare!

1:23 - you did you good deed talking up Greer - don't have to worry that he will remove you now.

[The Beltway Boys]

10:40pm,

You don't get it, do you? The 527 swiftboaters will not have anything to do with McCain. It is out of his hands.

These group will have names like: FAMILIES THAT LOVE AMERICA, UNITED AMERICAN AGAINST THE UNPATRIOTIC, AMERICAN FOR TRUTH

They are going to kill Obama on the Wright issue. It would not surprise me if they already have video of Obama in Wright's church.
You heard it here first.

Jim, Can we see the itemized American Express bills that were paid by the RPOF?

If you think McAmnesty's money is slow now just wait until all the party elites have tapped out for the cycle. Then it is going to go from slow to none.

I can't afford to donate to McAmnesty because I am saving up to pay his carbon tax and for all the additional welfare and social services that his beloved mexican people will need when they gain amnesty.

It is amazing that people are complaining about property taxes and cannot square the circle with how much illegal aliens are costing them. The State could cut out a huge amount of the required local effort tax if they just got rid of the illegal alien children in public schools. No, won't happen because Crist, Greer and all the other Republican power base are serving their masters with cheap labor subsidized by the average folks.

McAmnesty could hold a penny a pound rally and raise some pesos that way!

McCain's going to win Florida easily, so who cares?

McBush!!McBush!!McBush!!

vote johnnie mcainus!!

NOT a drunk...only slightly SENILE!!

kinda like ronnie ray-gun, part deux!!

McBush!!McBush!!McBush!!

hey, beltway...guess u missed the post-wright polls on obama....didnt make a dent!!

besides, i think most intelligent people are fed up with the rovian-style lies!!

McBush!!McBush!!McBush!!

NOT a drunk...only slightly SENILE!!

how many time you think the foto of johnnie mcainus smothering the lyingdrunk with manlove will run this cycle?

Obama's polling is tanking in MI OH FL PA.

Lose 3 out of 4 in those states and kiss any chance of the White House goodbye.

[John "Warm Monger" McCain]

McCain reminds me of Hoover--so watch out. Big government can solve everything---and don't even think about say anything negative because i will let the bureaucrats regulate political speech( in other words---you will lose your liberty to speak about issues that I have already solve in my aged addled brain.)

Return of the Warm-Monger
By Jay D. Homnick
Published 4/1/2008 12:07:37 AM
Global warming is heating right back up, with ex-Senator, ex-Vice President, ex-Presidential candidate, best-selling author, Oscar winner, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and all-around creep Al Gore Jr. announcing some new initiative that will cost a mere $300 million. Some kind of education thingie to increase awareness and sensitize the hitherto clueless to the profound challenge that faces our civilization in this darkest hour of crisis. Or something.

This sort of project has a new name, which I feel a profound obligation to promulgate in the culture. It is a "public advocacy campaign." No great skills of augury are required to offer the prediction that these will soon be "acronymized" as PAD. What a wonderful opportunity to PAD the numbers, PAD the facts, PAD the truth and, ultimately, PAD the pockets. When I consider that I have not put up a single one of those three hundred million simoleons (I hope), a shiver runs down my spine. Is it guilt? Nah. More like dread of the there-but-for-the-grace-of-common-sense-go-I variety.

It used to be that we could hide behind the Velvet Curtain, i.e. the religious-secular divide. We could say, with the late, G.K. Chesterton, that one of the redemptive features of faith in the Creator is that we are freed of the primal tug to believe all sorts of arrant nonsense. Those who do not believe in God, said Chesterton, do not believe in nothing, they believe in everything. The late Rabbi Jacob Kanievsky (1899-1985), one of the great Jewish scholars of the recent era, used to marvel at the fact that brilliant scientific thinkers who rejected religion always seemed to have a troll hanging for luck from their rearview mirrors.

So it was with global warming, until recently. The intellectual formula that gave us solace was simple. People who do not believe in a Creator are living in a world defined entirely by chance. As easily as it emerged in randomness, it could disintegrate into chaos. Their lives are fragile tendrils clinging for support to the slender reed of a world governed by habit rather than purpose. They are only too easily gulled by the soothsayers, the naysayers, the doomsayers. Although they scorn our mercy, they are more to be pitied than to be censured.

NOW, SADLY, THIS formula has broken down, as major religious figures have succumbed to the propaganda. From the Catholic Church to Pat Robertson, the clergy has taken of late to haranguing us for hastening the demise of the planet with our excess. As the drumbeat grows louder, it apparently becomes more difficult for good sense to prevail.

Let me offer here two brief arguments, one from faith, one from science. From faith I would maintain that man must be humble in stewarding individual offshoots of nature, the things provided for his comfort. In this spirit, Jews do not chop down fruit trees, they do not spay animals, and they frown upon hunting for sport; all restrictions that accept a higher moral commitment to the integrity and productivity of fellow creatures. Yet that same humility should translate itself into an awareness that nothing man can do will truly destroy the world. The scale of global reality dwarfs our minuscule effect.

It is a spiritually absurd idea to think that the world will end one minute before God is ready for it to be shut down. Or, conversely, that we could extend its lifespan an instant beyond that appointed time. As long as mankind is engaged in the enterprise of bringing the Divine vision for this planet into fruition, there will be no oops moment of auto-incineration.

The argument from science goes in another direction. All the disciplines of physical science are in agreement that in human terms, this planet is billions of years old. Even most religious people understand that although the history of mankind begins 5768 years ago with the advent of Adam, there is no reason to refute the notion that the cumulative processes leading up to that point could well pass through stages that would represent billions of years if codified mathematically. (Since God is above time, all of history is simultaneous to Him, so the actual numbers and the experience of waiting for things to develop is relevant only to humans.)

Bottom line, this planet has endured billions of years by mathematical and scientific measurement. In that amount of time, the degrees of permutation in temperature and infinite other chemical variables is some mind-bendingly huge number. If this planet has survived every possible heating, cooling, burning, icing, watering, steaming, gassing and drying that billions of years in this solar system have produced, the thought that a bunch of humans driving trucks for a hundred years could destroy the system is profoundly, you should forgive the expression, unscientific.

Jay D. Homnick