Posted on 11/02/2006 5:12:47 PM PST by calcowgirl
SACRAMENTO - Despite big leads in the polls and campaign donations, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger scheduled fundraising events Thursday and Friday with another high-profile Republican.
He had a fundraising luncheon Thursday in San Francisco with U.S. Sen. John McCain and a fundraising reception planned for Friday night in Palm Desert, also with McCain.
Craig Goldman, a McCain spokesman, said the Arizona senator "was asked to attend these events, and he was honored to come help where he could. It's one of the many stops he's making this last week (before the election) all over the nation."
The Arizona senator, who is considering a presidential run in 2008, also was the star attraction at a fundraising dinner in Beverly Hills in March. That event generated an estimated $2.5 million for the governor and the California Republican Party.
Schwarzenegger has raised more than $40 million this year for his re-election drive, including $5.5 million that he contributed out of his own pocket.
He led his Democratic rival, state Treasurer Phil Angelides, by 16 points in a Field Poll released Wednesday.
Angelides has raised more than $19 million so far this year.
Both candidates had spent about the same amount through Oct. 21, $39.9 million for Schwarzenegger and $35.9 million for Angelides, including money raised in previous years.
But most of Angelides' money, $28 million, was spent during the Democratic primary campaign against state Controller Steve Westly.
Schwarzenegger aides said the governor needed to keep raising money to cover campaign expenses. His campaign had nearly $1.1 million on hand and $2 million in unpaid bills on Oct. 21.
McCain is well-known for his efforts to tighten federal campaign finance laws. He advised Schwarzenegger last year to seek campaign-finance reform in California.
The governor hasn't taken McCain's advice, but Goldman said that wouldn't prevent McCain from helping Schwarzenegger raise money.
"We'd rather that all state laws mirror the federal laws," he said. "But we're not going to not campaign for somebody because state laws exist as they are."
Federal candidates face much lower donation limits than California candidates do. They can take up to $2,000 per election from an individual contributor and up to $5,000 from a political action committee.
A candidate for governor of California can receive up to $22,300 per election from most donors.
Angelides criticized Schwarzenegger on Thursday for taking more than $113 million from donors since he launched his campaign for governor during the 2003 recall election. Most of that money has come from business interests, according to an Associated Press analysis of both candidates' fundraising history.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger said he wouldn't take any special-interest money. He's now raised over $100 million from the HMOs, the pharmaceutical companies, the drug companies, the oil companies, the tobacco companies. And they've gotten their money's worth," Angelides said during a campaign stop in Monterey Park.
Schwarzenegger has said numerous times that campaign donations do not influence his decisions.
http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=21220
Schwarzenegger on Track to Break Fundraising Records
Gov. Schwarzenegger rode into office waving a broom, promising to sweep the State Capitol clean of special interests. But three year later, Schwarzenegger is on track to break all previous fundraising records after accepting record amounts of special interest donations.
"It's a ton of cash," said Ned Wigglesworth, spokesman for California Common Cause, a government watchdog group. "Money has always been important in California politics, but under Gov. Schwarzenegger it's fair to say that it plays a more central role than it ever has."
Schwarzenegger has raised more than $113 million dollars since he launched his political career in 2003. That's almost as much as former Gov. Gray Davis, who set the previous record by collecting $120 million over seven years. Davis was heavily criticized for his prolific fundraising. Critics accused the former Democratic governor of trading official actions for campaign cash.
"Money in and favors out. That is what is wrong," Schwarzenegger said during a recent interview with News10. "And I see it sometimes, and you know it bothers me. This is why I want to reform the system and this is why we have to stay on it and keep working on it until we find a way of reforming it."
Far be it from McCain to risk ticking off his Democrat friends by working on a campaign of a Republican in a close race for a house seat!
I rather open a vein, than support McCain!!!
Should be able to turn a lot of her voters with a war chest of coke, crack and methamphetmines.
Even though Arnold is a RHINO he is light years ahead of Boxer. Hope its true.
I'd be overjoyed to see him take on Boxer in 2010 which coincidentally is his last year as governor.
Which leads to the obvious question:
If Republican candidates drift left over the center line, into the vacant niche created as Democrats move left of liberal, where will conservatives call home?
A contest between the Austrian and Boxer would present a similar dilemma to the present gubernatorial election except conservatives will have the Austrian's 2007-2009 track record to review. If that record presents a continued drift to the left where will conservatives go?
Under traditional schema, the CaGOP would defer to its substantial conservative plurality, but in the case of Schwarzenegger/Sundheim, conservatives are being ignored while being asked to remain loyal. Should conservative Republicans let the CaGOP continue to drift left or should they support only conservative Republican candidates? What happens if the CaGOP closes the next senatorial primary as they did with the last gubernatorial primary?
RHINO="Republicans Helping Immigrants Negate Opposition"?
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