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Veteran Republican fundraisers and strategists hope that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) can revive their party’s apathetic base even as her 2008 presidential campaign has reached its final hours.
Republican insiders say that if presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) selects Clinton as his running mate, it would energize the Republican base and fundraising. They say presumptive GOP nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) would not have to work as hard to appease conservative voters if Clinton landed on the ticket.
“Fundraising from our Republican conservative base would skyrocket, in my opinion, because she’s such a divisive figure in conservative Republican circles,” said Cesar Conda, who raised over $100,000 for President Bush in 2004 and was a top fundraiser to Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) this cycle. “Putting her on the ticket would be the one thing to wake those donors up from their current doldrums.
“It would really be a godsend to McCain and the Republican National Committee [RNC],” said Conda, who will work to help McCain.
McCain has failed to spur enthusiasm among many conservative donors and activists, and Democrats have out-raised him dramatically.
Obama and Clinton together have raised nearly $600 million since January of 2007. McCain, by contrast, has raised only $100 million.
McCain has $22 million in his war chest, less than half of Obama’s savings, according to recent fundraising reports. (The RNC has helped close the gap; it has nearly $35 million more in the bank than its Democratic counterpart.)
McCain has also attracted a surprisingly low percentage of the vote in big primary states despite clinching the nomination in early March. He won just over 73 percent of the vote in Pennsylvania on April 22.
But Republican fundraisers predict that McCain would gain ground quickly if Clinton landed on the Democratic ticket.
“I think Hillary is great at helping us raise money — she took over from [Sen.] Ted Kennedy [D-Mass.],” said Michael Zarrelli, a top fundraiser for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign.
“I don’t think McCain would have to worry about our base anymore,” said Zarrelli, who does not expect Obama to tap Clinton. “They love to hate the Clintons, just as the Democratic base now seems to love to hate George Bush.”
A major McCain fundraiser agreed that Clinton would help McCain fill his coffers but requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak for the campaign.
Dan Morgan, a veteran GOP fundraiser who specializes in raising money through the mail, said Clinton makes life easy for Republican moneymen because many conservatives dislike her intensely.
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