TAMPA - President Bush's fundraising juggernaut roared through Tampa on Monday, pulling in a quick $1.2-million and reinforcing the enormous financial hurdles facing Democrats trying to unseat him.
Between an early evening reception at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay and a luncheon in Miami, the president reeled in $3-million.
That one-day Florida take is roughly what U.S. senator and presidential candidate Bob Graham of Florida is expected to report after three months of aggressive fundraising.
"We're laying the groundwork for a national campaign, a national campaign that I believe will result in a great victory in 2004," Bush told hundreds of business executives, lobbyists and state politicians.
The president's swing through America's biggest battleground state capped a two-week, cross-country fundraising tour that helped raise about $30-million toward his re-election campaign.
Based on early projections, that could well top the quarterly fundraising of all nine Democratic presidential candidates combined, through Monday. That was the deadline for filing new quarterly campaign reports, though totals have not been released.
Few of the president's Florida supporters expressed much doubt Monday about Bush's winning a second term. But that confidence didn't stop hundreds in Tampa and Miami from writing $2,000 checks to help the effort.
"You're giving the money to make sure, to erase any doubts you might have," said Tampa developer Charlie Brasington. "But the economy's got to turn around or he's going to have some issues."
Tarik Hasan of Tampa was among many doctors at the Tampa reception, where the president drew his biggest applause calling for restricting lawsuits against doctors and hospitals.
"No one has ever been healed by a frivolous lawsuit," he said to roars. "This nation needs medical liability reform now - and so does the state of Florida."
Hasan said he wants to help physicians play a stronger role in the political process and that his $2,000 check was part of a larger team effort.
"Out of sand pebbles you make a beach," said Hasan, who chuckled as he looked around the Hyatt lobby loaded with $2,000 check-writers. "He's got plenty of sand pebbles."
Graham downplayed the significance of Bush's fundraising prowess, characterizing it as payback.
"We've had a series of tax cuts that have gone primarily to the wealthiest Americans, including the wealthiest Floridians. They are being heavily courted now," Graham told reporters in a telephone interview last week.
Bush is not accepting public campaign matching money, which would limit what he could spend before the Republican nominating convention in September 2004. The campaign expects to raise at least $170-million, nearly twice what it raised in 2000.
With no serious primary challenger, he can spend the money going on the offensive, touting his record through TV and radio, organizing grass-roots voters and softening up Democratic challengers.
The Democrats, meanwhile, will spend much of the next nine months battling one another. When a nominee likely emerges come springtime, he could well be running on fumes against the vast resources of Bush.
Monday was Bush's 15th trip to Florida since the state put him in the White House. His brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, is putting his considerable network to work on behalf of the president.
"This is Bush country," Gov. Bush said in Tampa, hours after he joined the president in Miami. "You're going to get lots of financial support, but come November 2004, you're going to swamp 'em."
As usual in joint appearances by the Bush brothers in Florida, they employed a sure-fire crowd pleaser: the Barbara Bush reference.
"As you know, we've got a very close family, and any chance we have to get together to visit and compare notes about the latest thing Mother told us to do, it gives us a great opportunity," the president said during a visit to a senior center in the Little Havana section of Miami.
In both Tampa and Miami he drew laughs after calling Dick Cheney the greatest vice president ever - "Although Mother may have a different opinion," he added, in reference to his father, a former president and vice president.
Bush used his appearances to call on the U.S. House and Senate to work out their differences and pass a bill expanding prescription coverage to seniors under Medicare. A Republican-controlled Congress adding a prescription drug benefit could help dilute an issue that has traditionally helped Democrats.
"The sooner they finish the job, the sooner American seniors will get the health care they need," he said.
He offered broad overviews of his record, touting his tax cuts, efforts to increase school accountability and his fight against terrorism.
"Abroad, we seek to lift whole nations by spreading freedom. At home, we seek to lift up lives by spreading opportunity to every corner of America," Bush said.
Jamie Scarola, a Tampa land planner and engineer, was among many people at the Grand Hyatt who said he was eager to write a big check.
"I listened to what George Bush said he was going to do in 2000, and he's done it all," he said.
Nearby, Tampa financier, major GOP donor and ardent voucher advocate John Kirtley said he hopes nobody in Florida gets overconfident.
"I don't think anybody can take this election for granted, especially not in Florida," he said.
One of the surprise faces to show up in both Tampa and Miami was Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the diminutive sex therapist, who was visiting friends in Florida.
Westheimer, a Democrat, said she didn't write a check and wouldn't say whether she'll vote for Bush. But she touted his support for Israel and crowed about the president getting on his knees to pose for a photo with the 4-foot-7 personality.
- Adam C. Smith can be reached at 727893-8241 or adam@sptimes.com
