Chris Christie Pulling In Money From Top Democratic Donors
Chris Christie is getting donations from some unlikely places:
Gov. Chris Christie is cashing in donations from top Democratic fundraisers and other traditionally liberal donors across the country, even nabbing the support of a handful of rainmakers aligned with President Obama and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Star-Ledger review of state and federal records shows.
The checks are flying into the Republican governor’s war chest from all sorts of unlikely places — the hedge fund run by liberal billionaire George Soros, for example, and the politically progressive halls of the University of California, Berkeley.
The nascent support from Democratic donors is an early sign of Christie’s fundraising prowess in a potential run for the White House in 2016, experts and Democratic donors said, and dovetails with recent polls showing him gaining popularity nationally among Democrats and independents.
Christie’s partnership with New Jersey Democratic leaders and his warm relationship with Obama after Hurricane Sandy could be enticing donors who don’t often give to GOP candidates, even if they are closer ideologically to Democrat Barbara Buono, Christie’s lesser-known challenger, political scientists and Democratic fundraisers say.
Here’s just a sample of what Christie is pulling in:
• Five executives at Soros Fund Management have chipped in a combined $19,000 to the governor’s re-election campaign, state records show. The donor roll includes Soros’ protégé and chief investment officer, Scott Bessent, who tends to fund liberal Democrats, and Sender Cohen, a partner at the hedge fund who more often favors Republicans.
•John Doerr, a top Democratic fundraiser and venture capitalist in California, sent Christie the maximum $3,800 donation for the Republican primary this year. So did his wife. Federal records show the couple has given more than $1.2 million to national Democrats since 1997.
•Tim Mullen, a Chicago investor who gave more than $100,000 to Emanuel’s campaign for mayor in 2011 and bundled from $200,000 to $500,000 for Obama in 2008, has also sent Christie a maximum donation, as has his wife Alice. Mullen was already a Christie donor in 2009, state records show.
This is all no doubt very frustrating to Barbara Buono, the quickly fading Democratic candidate against Christie in November’s election. Whatever money she does raise is going to be absolutely swamped by Christie’s numbers, and that’s going to be thanks in no small part to her fellow Democrats.
Whatever money she does raise is going to be absolutely swamped by Christie’s numbers, and that’s going to be thanks in no small part to her fellow
Democratsidiots.FTFY.
Christie is a lot of things, but one thing he is not is a friend to the working man/woman. These people giving him money? They are merely buying access. That is all they really care about.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yes, and as we all know, hedge fund managers are usually sooooo concerned about the working class. LOL
All that Democratic money will be great for Christie in the 2016 GOP primaries….
I can’t wait for the “Funded by Soros” attack ads.
Who cares? No one can seriously think that Christie will be the Republican nominee in 2016. After he finishes fourth or fifth in Iowa, no one will take Christie seriously. He is a creation of the NYC dominated media and will be destroyed by the same group.
@superdestroyer:
Christie as a viable national nominee? Totally agree there’s no chance of that — but that has nothing to do with the NYC media. However, I think he has a pretty good shot at national chairperson — if he wanted the gig. And he’d probably be a good choice — if the party is looking to reboot itself.
Democrats aren’t stupid. Of course they’re giving him money. They prefer he stay as governor, they don’t see him as a threat in 2016. He won’t even make it past the primaries anyway. He doesn’t talk crazy enough for him to advance any further than that. Ted Cruz is the golden boy for 2016 as far as the tea party are concerned, he talks their language. Chris Christie, well, he’s just a good old boy who got a little bit too cozy with President Obama. They can’t have the likes of Christie being their leader. He might have learnt a thing or two from the President about working with people and doing the right thing. They like crazy, and crazy is what they will be looking for in 2016.
@Matt Bernius:
He’d be a great national chairperson, but he has absolutely no chance of getting it in today’s GOP.
@Stormy Dragon:
Actually, I think he has a great chance of getting it. Remember that the GOP party leadership is fundamentally different than rank and file. Everything that makes it likely that he would get the position (in particular the ability to fund raise and motivate) are all “inside baseball” skills.
Most — if not all of these — would work against him as a general election candidate. And I don’t see how the republican don’t nominate a southerner (or perceived southerner) in 2016.
Count me as somebody who doesn’t think he has a chance. Huntsman was “unqualified” because of a relationship with Obama, even though he was serving his country. Christie is “unqualified” because of a relationship with Obama, even though he was serving his constituency. The big tent of the GOP doesn’t have room for RIWOs (Reasonably Interacts With Obama).
Looks like the “funded by Soros” message won’t wait until 2016. It’s already flying around conservative blogs, with the typical response being something along the lines “of course Soros is going to fund another liberal…”
@Matt Bernius: ” I don’t see how the republican don’t nominate a southerner (or perceived southerner) in 2016.”
Who is really an undercover canuck. Birth-certificate denied.
This is why you can’t have nice things.