Leading GOP Donors Push to Catch Up to Liberal Groups

[Hissyspit]

Source: Washington Post

Leading GOP Donors Push to Catch Up to Liberal Groups

By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 21, 2008; Page A01

With Sen. John McCain facing the prospect of being dramatically outspent in the race for the White House, a collection of major Republican donors and party leaders that includes former Bush strategist Karl Rove is scrambling to catch up with the efforts of liberal groups aiming to influence the outcome in November.

"The folks on the right may have a rude awakening when they see how sophisticated the infrastructure is that's been built up on the left," said Clifford May, who heads the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which could figure into the Republican effort. May, who said he has discussed the imbalance with Rove, added: "We're the little leagues compared to them."

Outside advocacy groups, most notably the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which dogged Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), played a pivotal role in the 2004 presidential contest. While individuals face strict limits on how much they can give directly to candidates for federal office and party organizations, many of the outside groups can accept unlimited donations and face a much lower bar for the disclosure of their activities.

This year, allies of President Bush such as Rove, billionaire T. Boone Pickens, New York financier Paul Singer and Florida developer Mel Sembler, who helped harness and direct millions of dollars to the 2004 campaign, are working to rekindle those efforts. But they are finding the 2008 landscape to be more challenging, according to Republican sources familiar with the ongoing talks.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/20/AR2008042002387.html

[truthisfreedom]

1. 2008 rethuglican landscape=barren, unforgiving...

The rethugs look like that guy in "no country for old men" who says "agua?"

[annabanana]

2. There are a lot more people who can afford

$10 here and $30 there than there are of those megahogs who'll give thousands... To bad the Repugs don't represent hardly any of THEM..

[girl gone mad]

3. Good luck with that.

There's a limit to how much corporations are willing to give to losers and all the little "values voters" are plumb tapped out thanks to 8 years of Republican governance.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. K&R