Not only can’t money buy you love, it can’t even buy you the Republican presidential nomination:
In the last weeks of his flagging presidential bid, former Florida governor Jeb Bush loaned or gave his campaign nearly $407,000 as it struggled to pay its bills.
New Federal Election Commission filings show that Bush’s campaign spent $3.6 million last month before he dropped out Feb. 20 — raising just $1.18 million in the same period. A large share of the money came from the candidate himself, who gave his campaign $56,983.50 on Feb. 1. The next day, he loaned the campaign $250,000. And on Feb. 16, four days before the South Carolina primary, he gave an additional $100,000.
While Bush’s campaign was running out of cash, his allied super PAC still had ample resources. Right to Rise USA raised just under $179,000 in February but still ended the month with $16 million left of its $119 million haul, according to the group’s latest FEC report. Bush and his advisers had initially believed that having a well-stocked super PAC would be one of his greatest assets. He spent the first half of last year raising large sums for Right to Rise, all while maintaining that he had not yet decided whether to jump in the race. But the super PAC’s wealth could not overcome the lack of enthusiasm in the GOP base for the former governor.
In all, since beginning his run last year, the former governor put nearly $800,000 of his personal funds into his White House bid, raising $35 million in total. He ended February with $465,000 in the bank but $452,000 in debt. Among those still owed money was U.S. Safety & Security ($56,021), ATX Air Services ($23,821) and IT consultant Yuma Services ($13,341).
It’s great to be rich, the son and brother of former presidents and to the manor born, but everybody except the fools who poured money into the Jeb! campaign knew that the diffident, rusty, “low-energy” guy on the podium was never going anywhere except home.
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