This story was originally published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
It will take hundreds of millions of dollars to win the White House in 2016, and by that measure, Republican Mitt Romney is off to a rough start.
The 2012 Republican nominee is struggling to secure the financial backing even of the people who were his staunchest supporters.
The Center for Public Integrity in recent days attempted to contact roughly 90 top Romney fundraisers from his most recent presidential run, including every federal lobbyist who helped him raise $30,000 or more.
The vast majority willing to speak on the record say they haven’t decided whom to support in 2016. Almost all of these fundraisers said they’re wrestling with conflicting loyalties to Romney, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and other potential Republican hopefuls such as Sens. Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham and Govs. Mike Pence, Scott Walker and Chris Christie.
If Romney hopes to win the nomination, he’ll have to work overtime to reconstitute the fundraising network that fueled his most recent White House bid and beat back potential competitors. Bush, in particular, is already trying to poach key Romney supporters who have the potential to raise, or “bundle,” millions of dollars for the candidate they ultimately decide to support.
To wit: Bush spent Tuesday afternoon courting some of Washington’s most powerful lobbyist-donors — including many top Romney 2012 fundraisers — around a dark-wood oval table in the bare-walled conference room at the offices of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors.
No food was served, but the presidency was on the table.
Politics investigations in your inbox: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity’s Watchdog email.
More stories in the Consider the Source investigation from the Center for Public Integrity
Bush provided fundraising-related material to those who wanted it. The material included fundraising tiers for his two recently formed political vehicles — a leadership political action committee and a super PAC. A person who was at the event said the top tier reached $500,000.
–
“Those are two very fine public officials that we think have great executive skills and great potential to be great leaders of our country,” Graves said, adding that both would likely draw some support from the trucking industry.
He added that he doubts he’ll be wooed by candidates other than Romney or Bush, given his long relationships with both of them.
Along with Graves, other lobbyists who met with Bush on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., include:
Politics investigations in your inbox: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity’s Watchdog email.
Most did not return calls for comment, although multiple attendees confirmed their attendance. Weber, a co-chair of Romney’s 2012 campaign, recently told Bloomberg Politics he was “not happy” with Romney’s re-emergence as a potential 2016 candidate, but added that he’s still uncommitted.
Several people contacted said they weren’t yet prepared to discuss whether they had committed to a candidate. Some suggested they didn’t want to hurt potential candidates’ feelings. Others had no comment at all.
Austin Barbour, a prominent political operative in Mississippi and nephew of prominent lobbyist and former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, was a member of Romney’s 2012 strategy and national finance teams. He also bundled more than $210,000 for Romney.
Barbour declined to comment when contacted last week about who he’s supporting in 2016.
But when told his official firm biography referred to his status with Romney’s campaign in the present tense, he immediately said the biography needed to be updated.
Copyright 2015 The Center for Public Integrity
