Mitch Perry
Jeb Bush’s campaign announced on Thursday that the GOP candidate raised $13.4 million in the past three months. That’s more than double the $6 million that fellow South Florida presidential candidate Marco Rubio raised in the third-quarter.
However, the Rubio camp is touting the fact their man currently has $11 million cash-on-hand. Bush has $10.3 million.
Bush campaign manager Danny Diaz wrote in a memo (as reported by the Wall Street Journal), “We knew from the start this was going to be a hard fought and close race, but few could have anticipated just how volatile this field would be.”
The memo also referred to the prowess of Right to Rise, the Bush campaign’s main political action committee. Right to Rise has $33 million reserved for advertising in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. They are not allowed to coordinate with the Bush campaign.
Rubio’s fundraising numbers for the third-quarter were announced last week. The campaign reports that they have $10,975,988.78 cash-on-hand, thanks to nearly 110,000 donations. Since launching in April, Rubio for President has raised $18,546,408.
In an effort perhaps to impress donors on how frugal the campaign is, the press release boasts about how Rubio’s latest FEC report “details the lengths his campaign went to save money in the third quarter.” They cite buying office furniture from Craigslist, taking over 300 UberX rides, and traveled on budget airlines including Frontier, Southwest, Jet Blue and Spirit.
