Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida plunged into all-out battle this weekend for the billion-dollar donor network once harnessed by Mitt Romney.
In hundreds of phone calls that began even before Romney formally announced Friday that he was forgoing a third bid for the presidency, allies of Christie and Bush began pressure on Romney's supporters to pick a side. And now donors have nowhere to hide, since virtually every contender for the Republican nomination has established a leadership PAC or other fundraising vehicle in recent weeks, and the candidates are leaning on them to make a commitment.
The next 48 hours, several donors said, could not only answer the question of whether Bush will face a serious challenge from Christie for the Republican Party's establishment mantle, but it may also demonstrate whether there is room left for anyone else in the first tier of Republican candidates.
"I've already had three phone calls from various camps asking me to have them over to talk," said John Rakolta Jr., a Michigan construction executive and a leading Romney fundraiser. "I've told them I need a weekend to process this all."
In interviews, other top Republican donors said they believed a small group of other candidates besides Bush and Christie now had an opportunity to claim substantial establishment money. At the top of that list are Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. Walker's barn-burner speech at a conservative gathering in Iowa last weekend has assuaged some donors' concerns that he lacks the charisma to be an effective presidential contender, while Rubio earned high marks for his performance at an economic forum the same weekend hosted by Charles and David Koch.
"I do think this party is ready for an upset," said Anthony Scaramucci, a hedge fund manager who was on Romney's New York finance team and spoke to representatives of several candidates after Romney dropped out. "This is not anybody's coronation."
But Christie and Bush remain best positioned to capitalize on Romney's decision. Until Friday, the roughly 300 "bundlers" that matter most in Republican fundraising looked likely to be fragmented. That would have helped candidates relying on smaller networks of nonestablishment money, such as U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Both Christie and Bush's advisers are courting Spencer Zwick, who led Romney's finance team in 2012 and helped the former Massachusetts governor raise more money than any other Republican presidential candidate in history.
Some of the most intense competition is in New York, where Romney's last campaign attracted hundreds of new Wall Street donors and generated tens of millions of dollars in campaign and "super PAC" contributions. In recent trips there, Bush asked many top donors loyal to Romney to consider backing him should Romney decide against running. Walker will travel to the city in mid-February to meet potential donors, according to a person involved in the planning, and has already begun to attract interest from former Romney backers.
Christie is asking leading supporters to raise $100,000 each for his new political action committee, Leadership Matters for America, by the end of March. His backers estimate that Christie's New Jersey donor base could generate up to $4.5 million in contributions for the PAC and a similar amount for the governor's likely campaign.
While a number of prominent New York donors had already told Romney they were backing other candidates, some of the top bundlers for his 2012 campaign were waiting for Romney's decision. Two of the biggest remain uncommitted: Paul Singer, a billionaire investor whose opinion carries weight among other donors, and Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets.
But there also will be competition for some of the new donors Romney brought into high-level Republican fundraising circles, particularly wealthy Mormons. Just a few prominent Mormon families provided at least $8 million to a pro-Romney super PAC in 2012.
Christie, who started a leadership PAC last month, is preparing to hold fundraising events in about 10 states over the coming months; Bush's team has dozens of events scheduled for the winter and early spring. His team is also raising significant money from prominent lobbyists and other Republicans in Washington.
A Section on 02/01/2015