Ohio: Ground Zero For Bush Fundraising

On Thursday, March 4, President Bush's campaign begins advertising with a $4.5 million television buy on national cable networks. He has already raised $153 million toward what will likely be a quarter of a billion dollar campaign.

Bush, however, will be too busy to watch his new ads. He is scheduled to appear at six fundraisers over the course of this week alone.

But as the President attempts to persuade NASCAR dads that he feels their pain, we should be paying attention to what the President does for, not with, the money he raises from wealthy special interests.

Ironically, in about the same amount of time it takes a pit crew to change a tire, Bush can raise enough money at one of these fundraisers to put two NASCAR dads back to work. The double irony is that Bush is extremely vulnerable among these swing voters to charges that he is too close to big business.

Examples of special interests holding the Bush White House captive are everywhere -- Halliburton's no bid contract in Iraq, environmental policies that favor polluters, tax breaks for corporations that have moved overseas, etc. But some examples in the critical battleground state of Ohio may end up being the most consequential.

Ohio is one of the two or three most critical states in November's presidential election, and for good reason. In the last century, no Republican candidate has ever won the White House without winning Ohio. Only two Democrats -- John F. Kennedy and Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- won without the Buckeye state in their column. President Bush's campaign is keenly aware of history; he has visited the state 13 times since the 2000 election. Only Florida surpasses Ohio as a state that is critical from both a fundraising and electoral standpoint.

This year, Ohio has another distinction. The state has become one of the President's most trustworthy sources of campaign contributions. Bush-Cheney Inc. currently has 10 "Rangers" (those who raise $200,000) and 15 "Pioneers" (those who raise $100,000) from Ohio. Compare that to other comparable battleground states -- Michigan has just three Rangers and 13 Pioneers, and Pennsylvania has only five of each.

Bush's campaign has already held five major fundraisers in all of Ohio's major cities, raising approximately $5.25 million. Surprisingly, Cincinnati ZIP-code 45243 ranks second only to New York City's 10021 as the most lucrative fundraising neighborhood for Bush, surpassing wealthy communities in Houston, Dallas and even Beverly Hills. (For a full analysis of all $200 and up federal contributors by zip codes correlated with race and ethnicity, see Public Campaign's Color of Money report.

But when you look at three Ohio mega-fundraisers for Bush -- W.R. Timken, CEO of Timken Company; Anthony Alexander, president of FirstEnergy Corporation; and Walden O'Dell, CEO of Diebold Corporation -- a delicious microcosm emerges: In these three examples of special interest fundraising, we have three of the recurring themes of Bush's administration.

1) Tax cuts for the wealthy (Timken) that have produced job stagnation and cuts for the common folks; 2) Paybacks to corporate polluters (Alexander); and 3) Support from well-positioned, powerful players (O'Dell), which has created the appearance of rigging the game to aid his success.

Tax Breaks for the Wealthy, Layoffs for Workers

On April 24, 2003, President Bush traveled to Timken Company's Canton plant to promote his tax plan. In a speech to workers, he promised that the tax cut plan "means more money for investments, more money for growth and more money for jobs." Numerous studies have refuted that claim, showing that while the President's tax cuts rewarded wealthy Americans like Timken's CEO, W.R. "Tim" Timken with tens of thousands of dollars in tax windfalls, the rest of America actually received relatively little.