Bush and Rubio campaigns jab at each other over fundraising
Jeb Bush's campaign is pushing back hard against the campaign of fellow Floridian Marco Rubio over its assertion that Rubio has "more money in the bank" than Bush.
Rubio's communications director, Alex Conant, tweeted:
Worried about Rubio's rise in the polls, Bush's campaign countered that he actually has more cash on hand for the Republican primary race. Bush's communications director, Tim Miller, tweeted:
Five minutes after the Bush campaign provided its topline fundraising number to journalists Thursday afternoon (Bush raised $13.4 million in the third quarter and had $10.3 million cash on hand), the Rubio campaign quickly followed with a press release bragging that Rubio had "more money in the bank than Jeb Bush for President and most other campaigns" with $11 million cash on hand.
Rubio's campaign emphasized money saved, rather than money raised - which, at $5.7 million, was less than half of Bush's total.
Drawing an implicit contrast with the larger Bush organization, Rubio's campaign statement also played up its thriftiness citing use of "over 300 UberX rides," their purchase of office furniture off Craigslist, and travel on budget airlines.
In the Twitter war over this, Bush may have the last word. As it turns out, the more comprehensive FEC filings for both campaigns released late Thursday night showed that Bush has more money than Rubio to spend in the primary period of the campaign, with $10 million as cash on hand, compared to Rubio's $9.7 million.
The Bush campaign reported $405,000 worth of debt while Rubio's campaign reported a smaller number: $76,000.
Of the $5.7 million Rubio raised for the third quarter, over half a million was given specifically for use in the general election. What this means is that Rubio had donors who gave the maximum amount allowed under election law for the primary period, so they also gave him money to be spent, should he win the nomination.
The spokesman for Right to Rise, Bush's super PAC, tweeted:
A look into Bush's third quarter spending report shows that like Rubio, his campaign was also thrifty: they took 325 Uber rides, bought $1,295 worth of office furniture on Craigslist, and also traveled on budget airlines.
The former Florida governor is reportedly cut back on the use of more extravagant private planes in favor of commercial flights to travel to fundraisers and campaign events after fundraising slowed down this quarter.