DISAPPOINTING FUNDRAISER?
The San Francisco Chronicle suggests that the turnout at Bush's Silicon Valley fundraiser was less than impressive. No Arnold, no star power.
President Bush gathered Republicans together north and south this week, picking up cash and praising Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the political star who he said has shown "no party can take California for granted."
Problem: The star was noticeably absent.
Schwarzenegger did not appear at public events for Bush on Wednesday in Los Angeles or Thursday in Bakersfield and Santa Clara.
And it showed.
The cavernous Santa Clara Convention Center was only half full at Bush's fund-raiser in Silicon Valley, normally a piggybank for political campaigns. Curtains masked vacant areas, but the sense of excitement was harder to cover.
Bush's solo act took in just $700,000, the smallest take of any of his eight California fund-raisers since last June, when Bush-Cheney '04 began to rake in the dough for the coming campaign.
Compare that with the night before. At an exclusive Republican National Committee fund-raiser in Los Angeles--the only one of three Bush fund-raisers the governor attended--the take was a juicy $3.5 million.
Why the small turnout for the president, whose office usually rates top billing? Several possibilities come to mind. His Silicon Valley support may simply be weak. High-tech types can't stand aggressive social conservatism, and that goes double when it comes to attacks on science. It's also possible that Bush's fundraising success has been so well publicized that "swing funders," as opposed to hard-core supporters, figure he just doesn't need the money and spend their political dollars elsewhere. State politics is hot right now.