Once again, Florida comes through for George W. Bush
So while Democrats battle each other over their dueling duo of nominees and over the still "disenfranchised'' voters of their party in Florida and Michigan, President Bush swooped into the Sunshine State today and swept up nearly $1.5 million for the Republican Party that's already settled on its presidential nominee.
The president picked up $685,500 for the Republican National Committee at a fundraising luncheon in Jacksonville at the home of John Rood, former ambassador to the Bahamas, according to a party official. And he raked in another $762,000 at an early evening fundraiser in Palm Beach. About 50 people attended each closed-door event.
Jeb Bush, the president's younger brother and former governor of Florida, and George P. Bush, the ex-governor's son, were on hand to greet the president for a ride to the Palm Beach home of Dwight C. and Martha Schar. He is chairman of NVR Inc. The youngest Bush -- "P," as he's known around the family (for Prescott) -- campaigned for the president and is viewed by many as perhaps next in the line of four political generations of the Bush family.
That's $1,447,500 in Florida in one day's work -- a significant contribution toward the president's stated goal of $28 million in fundraising for the party in the first few months of 2008 -- a goal he spelled out in a personalized e-mail to supporters earlier this month.
-- Mark Silva
Mark Silva writes for the Swamp of the Chicago Tribune's Washington Bureau.
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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This column is about 100 multi-millionaires, each with several multi-million dollar residences around the country if not the world, giving $15,000 each to a multi-millionaire president. You present this as evidence of Florida supporting Bush?
Posted by: ChoKum | March 19, 2008 at 07:26 AM