No Break For Bush Fund-Raising Tour

For the vacationing President Bush, there is no break in a record-breaking fund-raising tour that has raked in nearly $105 million for Republican candidates this year.

Mr. Bush is crisscrossing the country in search of campaign cash this month, using his Texas ranch as his base. From Aug. 6 when he left Washington until his return on Sept. 1, he will speak at 11 GOP money events. His travel takes him to several states that will be critical to his own re-election.

Friday brought an elite club of donors to him. Mr. Bush summoned dozens of the top contributors known as "pioneers," those who rounded up $100,000 or more for his presidential campaign two years ago.

In the event at the Broken Spoke Ranch just down the road from his own home, Mr. Bush urged them to step up their contributions to GOP candidates this year, White House and Republican officials said. The event was closed to the news media.

A campaign-finance watchdog group said Mr. Bush's willingness to raise money during a working vacation invited comparison to former President Clinton, who was said to enjoy hitting the trail for cash.

"You can see how high the priority on fund raising is in the fact that he's doing it on his vaction," said Larry Noble, the executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics. "He may not even consider it work."

In 42 fund-raising appearances around the country this year, Mr. Bush has raised at least $104.8 million, far outpacing Mr. Clinton during the same period in his presidency.

As the home stretch of this year's election nears, Mr. Bush is ramping up his fund-raising pace. Next week will see a flurry of five events in three states.

Late next week, he raises money in Oregon for Sen. Gordon Smith, headlines three fund-raisers for California gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon and swings through New Mexico for congressional candidate Steve Pearce and possibly gubernatorial nominee John Sanchez. The week after, he's off to Oklahoma for gubernatorial candidate Steve Largent and the same day jets to Arkansas for Sen. Tim Hutchinson.

En route to his ranch Aug. 6, he stopped in Mississippi to collect $1 million for Rep. Chip Pickering and the state GOP.

On Aug. 14, he swung through Wisconsin on behalf of Gov. Scott McCallum, netting $600,000, and Iowa for gubernatorial candidate Doug Gross, who took away $1.3 million. That same day, first lady Laura Bush headlined her second fund-raiser of the year, bringing in $150,000 for Texas Senate candidate John Cornyn.

The White House calls Mr. Bush's monthlong stay here a working vacation, and whenever he goes in search of campaign cash, he always discusses public policy. That allows the administration to split the cost between taxpayers and the GOP.

Back in Washington, Mr. Bush will be the marquee speaker at a Sept. 25 dinner for Senate Republicans, an event that could be the GOP's last big push for large corporate contributions before a ban on them takes effect after the election.

Mr. Bush's fund-raising itinerary looks like a road map for his own re-election campaign. Four states he visits this month — New Mexico, Oregon, Iowa and Wisconsin — went for Al Gore by slim margins of hundreds or thousands of votes in 2000.