Posted on 11/16/2007 8:36:17 PM PST by Libloather
Surprise! Bush still popular on stump
By: Mike Allen
Nov 16, 2007 12:02 PM EST
Despite voter unhappiness about the Iraq war, President Bush remains popular enough with Republicans that he has raised more money for the party this year than he had at the same point in the last election cycle.
His party’s presidential candidates do little to embrace the president, although they generally support his policies and have proposed few reversals. And this year’s crop of GOP congressional candidates is unlikely to say much about him. Indeed, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee plans to make “Bush rubber stamp” one of its main attack lines in next year’s House races.
Nevertheless, Bush raised $63,552,155 for the Republican Party and candidates through Nov. 2, compared with $62,415,000 at the same point in 2005, the start of the last election cycle, according to figures the Republican National Committee provided to Politico.
It’s the big exception to the theory that Bush is unpopular and in the bunker: The party’s donors still flock to events he headlines.
And Republicans point out that Bush achieved that mark despite the record amounts being vacuumed up by GOP presidential campaigns.
Democrats dismissed Bush's money-raising efforts. Karen Finney, the Democratic National Committee's communications director, e-mailed when told the news: "Once again, that phony Republican math doesn't add up. The fact is that President Bush and his Republican Party are less popular with the majority of Americans of all political stripes."
But White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said officials continue to get more requests for Bush’s time than he can accommodate. “The president is very popular with Republicans,” Stanzel said.
Mark Knoller of CBS News, who keeps such meticulous records of the president’s activities that he is occasionally consulted by the White House, said Bush has spoken at 29 political fundraisers so far this year.
Most of this work is done out of public sight: Of those 29, 21 have been closed to press coverage. Ten of the 29 were in the Washington area and the rest were out of town, according to Knoller.
By contrast, according to Knoller, the president had done 15 fundraisers at this point in 2005, with only five of those closed to the press. Six of the events were in the Washington area, Knoller said.
Danny Diaz, the RNC’s communications director, said the figures reflect continuing demand and popularity for the president.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have the strong support of the president of the United States,” Diaz said. “His ability to raise resources for Republican candidates will ensure we can aggressively communicate our message and mobilize the vote next year.”
I'm pretty sure his approval rating would rise if he would only deploy troops with his pants bunched around his ankles...
President Bush may be popular on the stump, but the new Hillary postage stamp is a failure. People keep spitting on the wrong side.
.....Bob
How much has he donated to FRed Thompson?
Well in real dollar value (at least according to Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis) that's actually less than he raised in 2005. Course this only calculates up the Q3 of 2007 and heaven knows how well the dollar has rebounded in the past few weeks. Imagine, only two years and a 6% debasement of the dollar. That's some trick there...
Most of this work is done out of public sight: Of those 29, 21 have been closed to press coverage. Ten of the 29 were in the Washington area and the rest were out of town, according to Knoller. By contrast, according to Knoller, the president had done 15 fundraisers at this point in 2005, with only five of those closed to the press. Six of the events were in the Washington area, Knoller said.
So twice as many 'fundraisers' and still raised less in real dollars. Yeah, some success....
bush has ALWAYS been popular on the "stump". :)
How can this be? Surely the MSM would report this, if true!
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