Bush is fundraiser in chief

On Tuesday, President Bush was in Jacksonville, where he talked about free trade with dockworkers. That was the official reason for the day trip.

But the event was sandwiched between two unofficial reasons: a luncheon in Jacksonville, where 51 people contributed $685,500 to the Republican National Committee, and a reception in Palm Beach, where 49 guests were expected to donate $762,000 to the party’s main bank account.

For a president whose approval rating hovers around 30% and shows no sign of budging, traversing the country with his hand out may be the biggest contribution he can make to his party and its candidates. And so far this election year, the president has demonstrated his value with a concerted, nearly weekly collection drive, bringing in a half million dollars here, a million dollars there from party stalwarts.

In 11 weeks, Bush has spoken at 11 Republican fundraising events, which have brought in at least $27 million -- a pace of $346,000 per day including Tuesday’s two events.

At the end of February, the party had $21.7 million in cash on hand, compared with the Democratic National Committee’s balance of $3 million, said Alex Conant, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

In 2007, Bush raised $66.6 million for Republicans, Conant said. The size of the party’s bank account will be an important factor in Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign. Unlike the restrictions on how much presidential candidates can raise, there are no limits on contributions to the party itself.

And Bush can still bring in the money.

“The B in Bush stands for big bucks,” said Kenneth M. Duberstein, who was Ronald Reagan’s final White House chief of staff. “He has a proven track record at being able to turn out the party faithful to open their wallets and pocketbooks.”

In recent months, the president has spoken at parties for individual candidates, for state Republican organizations, for the party’s congressional campaign committee, for the Republican Governors Assn. and several times for the national party.

Bush spoke at two fundraising parties for the reelection campaign of Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in November that brought in about $1.5 million.

“There’s nobody else that could do anything close to that,” said David Beckwith, Cornyn’s state director.

That day, as he did on Tuesday, Bush also conducted an official event -- he toured and spoke briefly at a rehabilitation center treating troops seriously wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

By dividing the president’s time between political and official events, White House schedulers maximize the benefit to the party’s accounts, because taxpayers pick up part of the expensive cost of his travel -- much of which would be paid by the beneficiaries of the fundraising event if the trip were entirely political. Bush also regularly speaks at fundraising galas in Washington. A year ago, he helped the Republican Governors Assn. pick up $10.4 million in one night; three weeks ago, the annual gala brought in $10.6 million.

His success as a fundraiser appears unaffected by whether he is generally popular or not.

In his first two years in office, when his popularity soared in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, he raised $192 million for Republican candidates, according to the Republican National Committee. In the same time period four years later, when his job approval rating was below 40%, the party reported that he brought in $194 million.

“He would be a real asset almost nowhere,” said one senior aide in a state campaign who spoke on the condition of anonymity to deliver a frank assessment of the political value Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney bring to campaigns. But, he added, “he and Cheney are very potent among the party faithful.”

For Bush, contributors open their checkbooks as they do for no others.

“I don’t know anybody else on the Republican side -- not even McCain -- who would help you raise” the sort of money that Bush brings in, the party aide said.

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james.gerstenzang@latimes.com