Riddle me this one: How is it possible that the Republican's presumptive presidential nominee, a man who has represented Arizona in the Senate and the House for 25 years, needs George W. Bush to headline a fundraiser in Phoenix?
President George W. Bush will join John McCain for a fundraiser in the Arizona senator's hometown later this month, McCain's campaign confirms.The reception, to be held in Phoenix on May 27, will mark the first time the two have appeared together at a campaign event this year and the first time Bush has lent his fundraising skills to McCain.
It will be a two-tiered event with an early high-dollar reception followed by a general reception.
As with all McCain fundraisers now, the money will be split between funds set up by the campaign and RNC.
I could understand if George W. Bush were raising money for McCain in Texas or in a place like New York City, squeezing out money from donors to the Bush-Cheney campaigns in 2000 and 2004 who have yet to contribute to McCain's presidential efforts. I can even understand Bush's fundraiser for McCain and the RNC in Utah later this month (though the fact that McCain lost the state's primary by a 90 percent to 5 percent margin is kind of embarrassing in and of itself).
But McCain needing Bush to get money out of Arizona? That's something else entirely. When someone has served more than 20 years in statewide elective office, it's generally the case that they have a fairly decent donor list within their state, and thus do not need to damage themselves down the road by embracing someone with the highest disapproval rating in the history of polling to help with a home-state fundraiser. Yet apparently Arizona Republicans are so blase about McCain that they won't contribute to his campaign committee -- or even evidently to the RNC -- without George W. Bush himself being trotted out. It's tough to be a Republican...
Update [2008-5-20 1:31:42 by Jonathan Singer]: As RBH rightly notes in the comments, and I for some reason forgot, McCain couldn't even manage to get 50 percent in the Arizona primary this year, pulling in just 47 percent. He did win, yes, but that's about as underwhelming as things come in this business (for reference, Barack Obama won the Illinois primary with 65 percent of the vote, and Hillary Clinton won New York and Arkansas with 57 percent and 70 percent, respectively).
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