How Jeb Bush Spent $130 Million Running for President With Nothing to Show for It

[brooklynite]

New York Times:

Positive Advertising: $84 Million
When Mr. Bush finally did get in the race, he needed to reintroduce himself to the Republican electorate. After all, it had been eight years since the end of his final term as Florida’s governor, and he had spent the intervening period as a philanthropist, consultant and investment banker. His campaign and a “super PAC” supporting him spent heavily on sunny advertising spots in the hopes of announcing Mr. Bush to the post-Tea Party Republican Party as a credentialed conservative.

Clubbing: $94,100
Instead of spending last winter on the hustings of Iowa and New Hampshire, Mr. Bush held off, using the first half of 2015 to raise money in places like New York, Chicago, Texas and Florida. His goal: Raise enough money for a super PAC to scare other candidates — especially those with a similar political profile — out of the race. Over the entire campaign, Mr. Bush’s team racked up tens of thousands of dollars in dinner and event tabs at the Yale Club, the Union League Club of Chicago, Nantucket’s Westmore Club, and more than two dozen other haunts of the well heeled and racquetball-inclined.

Valets: $15,800
Donors’ cars don’t park themselves. With an aggressive fund-raising schedule and several major donor gatherings, Mr. Bush and the super PAC, Right to Rise, incurred a proportional parking tab.

...snip...

Vegas, Baby: $48,544
Mr. Bush and his staff racked up sizable travel bills, including $3.3 million in airfare and hundreds of thousands of dollars at hotels, ranging from a Best Western in Phoenix to the Biltmore in Coral Gables, Fla. But what stands out is the Bush team’s taste for the Vegas Strip, where aides and allies patronized the Bellagio, the Wynn and the Venetian, owned by Sheldon Adelson, the Republican megadonor

[GOLGO 13]

1. Oh I love the Bellagio

The Venetian is quite nice though.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. 3.3 million in air fare??????????

How is that even possible???

[Retrograde]

3. From the consultant's view, it's not about getting a candidate elected

it's about lining their own pockets. For every billboard buy and ad placement, a little goes into the consulting companies' pockets. Likewise, fees for organizing those trips to Vegas and fundraiser dinners. And cars don't park themselves without a commission going to the people who hired the valet firm. Bush had the biggest donors, so he attracted the biggest vultures.