Thursday, July 08, 1999
Bauer third in campaign cash race
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Lost in the news about the amazing war chest that Republican presidential hopeful George W. Bush has amassed — a record-setting $36.3 million in just four months — is how well Newport's own Gary Bauer has done raising campaign cash in his presidential bid.
Mr. Bauer's $3.4 million is not even in the same ballpark with the money raised by Mr. Bush through mid-June. But that figure places him tied for third among the 10 Republicans who are seeking the party's nomination.
Mr. Bauer is trailing Arizona Sen. John McCain, who is second to Mr. Bush with $4.3 million raised. But he tied Elizabeth Dole, a candidate who is far better-known than Mr. Bauer and who labors mightily at working a crowd with her strolling, microphone-in-hand Sally Jesse Raphael style of campaigning.
Though Mr. Bauer is still polling in the single digits, he beat the rest of the GOP field in raising money, a group that includes some well-known pols such as:
• Dan Quayle, $3.3 million. The former vice president also ran for the party's nomination in 1996.
• Steve Forbes, $2.7 million. This is a little misleading since multimillionaire Forbes could bankroll his own campaign, as he did in 1996. But he is seeking and accepting campaign contributions this time around, and it looks bad that a virtual unknown like Mr. Bauer is raising more money than somebody who has run a national primary campaign.
• Pat Buchanan, $2.5 million. The conservative commentator is on his third run for president and still gets out-raised by Mr. Bauer. Give it up.
• Lamar Alexander, $2 million. Again, another leftover from the 1996 GOP primary. Get out the red flannel shirt. This campaign needs a boost.
• John Kasich, $1.6 million. The Ohio congressman still lacks the maturity and name recognition and probably won't be in the race for long.
• Bob Smith, $1 million. Who? Oh, yeah, the New Hampshire senator. That should be, who cares? It will be interesting to see whether Mr. Bauer can sustain his success on the fund-raising trail. Much of his early money likely came from supporters of the Family Research Council, the powerful Washington-based group that promotes and lobbies for socially conservative causes. Mr. Bauer is on a leave of absence from the council while running for president.
He may have tapped out his money base in this first round of raising money.
But, at least one staunch conservative always seems to hang around the GOP field and make it through a few of the early primaries, like Pat Robertson in '88 and Mr. Buchanan in '96.
Mr. Bauer continues to hit the hustings hard, campaigning in Iowa, the traditional starting point for presidential campaigns. But he has also made trips to Alaska and Louisiana, two other states with early primaries.
The strategy with going so far north and south to states with little political clout on the national level is simple — try to make a splash in states some of the other campaigns may ignore.
That way a candidate can claim some campaign successes, knowing that while it may not mean much in the grand scheme of primary poli tics, it sounds good to contributors, supporters and reporters when a pol can actually point to a win or near-win in the early rounds.
Mr. Bauer has also kept up his appearances on national television news and political shows — he was on cable's Hardball Wednesday — and continues to tout two of his biggest issues, abortion and China.
Mr. Bauer has angered some other Republicans for hammering Mr. Bush over his stance on abortion. Mr. Bush has said he is against abortion, but Mr. Bauer and many other conservatives want a stronger statement from the GOP front-runner.
“(Mr. Bush) could begin to clear away some of this fog by answering a simple question,” Mr. Bauer says in one of his recent press statements.
“Does he believe that Roe vs. Wade should be overturned?” Mr. Bauer asked.
Mr. Bauer has also written all members of Congress, urging them to vote to suspend normal trading relations — also known as most favored nation status — with China.
“During the past year since China's (most favored nation) status was last renewed, we have witnessed substantial deterioration in each of the major areas of concern in our relations with Beijing,” Mr. Bauer wrote, “national security, human rights and trade.
“Clearly, the current policy is a failure.”
Mr. Bauer probably isn't going to win the nomination. That looks like it's going to the anointed one, Mr. Bush. But he'll be hanging around for awhile as long as the money continues to come in.
The thrilla' in the Villa. Kenton County cities have a penchant for infighting, scandal and nasty politics when it comes to local government.
Look for Villa Hills to be the next hot spot. Mayor Steve Clark and some members of council are butting heads, and it's starting to get mean. The accusations are flying. Records are being copied and reviewed. People have even been followed by their political enemies.
Stay tuned. Things are about to get loud in that quiet city.
Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for The Kentucky Enquirer. His column appears Thursdays and Sundays. He can be reached at 578-5581, or 502-875-7526 in Frankfort, or by e-mail at crowleys@cinci.infi.net
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