Hedge Fund Billionaire Paul Singer Urges GOP Donor Class
to Back Marco Rubio
by Breitbart News 30 Oct 2015
CHICAGO (AP) — Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) 79%’s
“lean” presidential campaign is putting on weight.
By every measure, the Florida senator’s bid for the Republican
nomination has grown more robust in October, boosted again by a strong showing
in Wednesday night’s debate. In preference polls and money flowing in, he’s
ticking upward.
The campaign’s fundraising, which lagged that of several
competitors over the summer and early fall, just finished its best month yet.
In the hours around the debate Rubio raised $750,000 online – more than on any
previous occasion.
The next day, Rubio was cheered at two fundraisers in
Chicago, each of which had more attendees than organizers had planned. At a
“young professionals” happy hour at a downtown sports bar, the 44-year-old
Rubio told a rowdy group that he woke up that morning “still kind of wired”
from the debate.
“It’s becoming easier to get people to say yes,” said Chris
Grozev, who said he sold a couple hundred $100 tickets to the happy hour.
Phil Rosen, a New York real estate lawyer who hosted one of
the most lucrative fundraisers for the campaign a few weeks ago, said he’s
since had “people come out of the woodwork and call me directly, asking for
another event so that they can meet him.”
And billionaire investor Paul Singer on Friday announced his support for Rubio in a
letter to his extensive network of Republican fundraisers, encouraging them to
follow his lead.
Donor enthusiasm has given campaign leaders who have prided
themselves on a slim and sleek operation – partly out of necessity because of
low cash flow – the confidence to increase hiring.
Rubio’s staff grew by about one-third in October, making for
crowded conditions in the Washington row house that serves as headquarters.
Rubio is steadily adding resources in each of the first four voting states, and
the campaign just signed an office lease in South Carolina, the third state
voting in the primaries early next year. Volunteers there had been working out
of a garage.
“We’re definitely building,” said Terry Sullivan, Rubio’s
campaign manager. “But we’re scaling at the right time.”
With growth comes the potential for growing pains.
Rubio’s competitors are sharpening their criticism of the
freshman senator.
In Wednesday’s debate, mentor-turned-rival Jeb Bush went
after him for missing Senate votes while he campaigned for president.
The former Florida governor came to the debate after
briefing his top fundraisers on a strategy that hinges on overpowering Rubio,
whom his campaign sees as his most dangerous competitor for the voters and
donors who want to see a traditional nominee.
Bush’s attack backfired during the debate. But other
contenders – from Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton’s allies to
Florida newspapers – have seized on that line of attack, and it is likely to
persist.
Donald Trump, the celebrity real estate mogul who continues
to lead in national GOP polls, also is increasingly scornful of Rubio. In an
interview with Breitbart News published this week, Trump called Rubio
“incapable of telling the truth.”
However, Rubio-rippers have their work cut out for them: He
was one of the best-liked candidates in an Associated Press-Gfk poll conducted
this month, with registered Republicans viewing him more favorably than
unfavorably by a 31 point margin, second only to retired neurosurgeon Ben
Carson.
And Rubio has said he’s not going to make his nomination
fight personal. He said Thursday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that he has
“admiration” for Bush and wants only to underscore policy differences between
the two.
Rubio has sketched out the basics of proposals on China,
education and taxes, among other issues; Saturday is the last day of his “31
Days of Policy.” But he’ll have to go deeper into detail as the race
intensifies.
Singer praised Rubio’s grasp of the issues and his status as
“one of the best communicators the modern Republican Party has seen,” in a
letter distributed Friday to his donor network, first reported by The New York
Times.
“Marco Rubio can appeal to both the head and the heart. He
can lead our nation by inspiring it,” wrote Singer, who is among the most
influential donors in Republican politics.
Rubio said Friday during a campaign appearance in Iowa he
was grateful for the billionaire’s backing. “It’ll help us with resources,” he
said. “Resources alone are not enough. You have to have the right ideas and the
right principles.”
Rubio has been slow to outline a path to his party’s
nomination.
His campaign argues he could do well in any of the first
four states, a quartet that also includes his childhood home of Nevada.
Accordingly, he has divided his time roughly equally among them and has six or
so employees in each. Bush’s campaign, in its presentation last week to donors
at a Houston gathering, noted 12 staffers in New Hampshire and another 25
spread among the other three early states.
Rubio’s equal-attention approach to the early states also
shows up in the television advertising plan.
Campaign ads are to begin the week after Thanksgiving, with
plans to spend about $17 million through the early primary contests, according
to information provided by Kantar Media’s CMAG advertising tracker. About the
same amount of money is scheduled for Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
A super PAC filled with Rubio allies follows a similar
advertising strategy, CMAG shows, with about $2 million to $3 million in ad
time reserved in each of the first three states.
The campaign and super PAC are stepping up after a summer of
silence.
To date, the only Rubio-boosting commercials on television
have come from a nonprofit group that keeps its donors secret. Conservative
Solutions Project had spent $7.3 million through the end of this week.
No other presidential candidate has benefited from so much
advertising by a secret-money nonprofit, a potential liability with voters who
have said in polls that they are tired of big donors and secret money flowing
into elections.
Paul Singer
Paul
E. Singer supported same-sex marriage in New York, and supported Christopher
J. Christie’s 2012 presidential bid.
Note: Daniel S. Loeb
supported same-sex marriage in New
York, and supported Christopher J.
Christie’s 2012 presidential bid.
Clifford S.
Asness supported same-sex marriage in New York, was a leadership council member for the Robin Hood Foundation, and is a
director at the International Rescue
Committee.
Michael R.
Bloomberg was a donor for the Robin
Hood Foundation, the New York (NY)
mayor, a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, and is Emma
Bloomberg’s father.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Robin Hood Foundation, the Harlem
Children's Zone, and the International
Rescue Committee.
George
Soros was the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society, and a benefactor for the Harlem Children's Zone.
Emma
Bloomberg was the chief of staff for the Robin Hood Foundation, and is Michael
R. Bloomberg’s daughter.
Robin Hood
Foundation raised money for the Hurricane
Sandy relief.
Hurricane
Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund is a relief organization for Hurricane Sandy.
Cam
Henderson is an executive director for the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund, the finance director for
the 2016 Chris Christie presidential
campaign, and was Mary Pat Christie’s
chief of staff.
Mary Pat
Christie’s chief of staff was Cam
Henderson, is the chair for the Hurricane
Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund, married to Christopher J. Christie, and the president of the Drumthwacket Foundation.
Christopher
J. Christie is the candidate for the 2016
Chris Christie presidential campaign, married to Mary Pat Christie, an honorary chairman for the Drumthwacket Foundation, and the presidential
candidate for the 2016 presidential
election, and Paul E. Singer
supported his for 2012 presidential bid.
Drumthwacket
Foundation maintains the governor's mansion for the New Jersey state government.
Donald
Trump was a donor for the Drumthwacket
Foundation, is the candidate for the 2016
Donald Trump presidential campaign, the presidential candidate for the 2016 presidential election, and a
director at the Police Athletic League
of New York City.
Maurice R.
Greenberg is a director at the Police
Athletic League of New York City, an overseer at the International Rescue Committee, and was a benefactor for the Harlem Children's Zone.
Clifford S.
Asness is a director at the International
Rescue Committee, a leadership council member for the Robin Hood Foundation, and supported
same-sex marriage in New York.
Daniel
S. Loeb supported same-sex marriage in New York, and supported Christopher
J. Christie’s 2012 presidential bid.
Paul
E. Singer supported same-sex marriage in New York, and supported Christopher
J. Christie’s 2012 presidential bid.
Jeff
Zucker is a director at the Robin
Hood Foundation, and was the president & CEO for NBCUniversal.
CNBC
is an NBCUniversal network.
John
Harwood is a correspondent for CNBC,
and was an NBC Debate Moderator.
NBC Debate Moderator John
Harwood Enters Dan Rather-Phase of Denial (PAST RESEARCH ON JOHN HARWOOD)
Friday, October 30,
2015
