In interviews with more than two dozen top Republican donors and fund raisers, Michael Barbara and Nicholas Confessoremay, of The New York Times, discover an increasing number of Donors Weigh Jilting Christie for Jeb Bush. Donors who had planned to back Governor Christie in 2016 for the Republicans nomination for president are rethinking their allegiance and signaling that their first loyalty will be to Jeb Bush if he decides to run.
In private conversations that are now seeping into public view, some of them are signaling to Mr. Christie’s camp that, should Mr. Bush enter the race, their first loyalty would be to him, not to Mr. Christie, according to interviews with more than two dozen of them.
The authors provide quotes from several famous GOP fund-raisers about how awkward this choice would be.
Nowhere is the consternation greater than among the hundreds of top donors and so-called bundlers who cut their teeth on Bush family political campaigns. If Mr. Bush runs, they must choose between bucking their ties to the first family of Republican politics or turning their back on Mr. Christie, who does not take well to disloyalty.
Several donors note that the qualities that make Christie attractive to the Republican establishment are equally present in Bush - both thrived in "politically diverse swing states," ... and have "challenged Republican orthodoxy on immigration and education."
Left unsaid is that Jeb Bush seems to have fewer looming political legal troubles and "potential political scandals," than does Chris Christie, which this article barely mentions.
At risk for Mr. Christie is not just the electoral affections of Bush loyalists, but also the backing of a still-potent national network of wealthy Republican donors and bundlers who propelled three Bushes to high office and who provided Mitt Romney with an overwhelming fund-raising advantage in 2012. ...
...George W. Bush... in an interview with CNN on Thursday (said) “I hope Jeb runs,” he said, adding playfully, “Hey, Jeb, if you need some advice, give me a call.”
Surprisingly, very few of these donors and fund raisers mention Christie's mounting legal and political problems but rather concentrate on the theme of loyalty the Republican establishment has for the Bush family. Governor Christie has run into suspicion and allegations of improper use of political pressures on a New Jersey mayor by having Port Authority employees close access lanes from the George Washington Bridge to Fort Lee that some think may hamper his ambitions for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. Apparently, this is not the primary driving factor leading many top Republican fund raisers and donors to begin thinking seriously about a Jeb Bush candidacy and pledging their allegiance should Jeb decide to run.