Bush’s Rangers Prefer McCain; A Few Switch Sides for Clinton, Biden, Dodd

ABC News’ Marcus Baram Reports: John McCain may be losing the money race and slipping in the polls. But he’s still the most popular candidate among at least one group of heavy-duty fundraisers: the Bush Rangers, that select cadre who each raised at least $200,000 to put President Bush back in the White House in 2004.

According to an analysis of the latest fundraising numbers by ABCNEWS.com, 121 of the 221 Rangers have given money to at least one candidate in the current presidential race.

Forty-five of them gave a total of $235,800 to McCain, 43 gave a total of $168,050 to Mitt Romney, and 40 gave a total of $166,800 to Rudy Giuliani. (Dollar amounts include contributions from Rangers and their spouses.) Among the other Republican candidates, Duncan Hunter received contributions from 3 Rangers and Sam Brownback and Jim Gilmore each received contributions from two Rangers.

Surprisingly, seven Rangers contributed to Democrats, including two for Hillary Clinton, two for Joe Biden, two to Chris Dodd and one to Barack Obama.

In a sign of how one candidate has yet to pull to the front of the pack, 21 of the Rangers gave money to multiple candidates.

Despite his recent setbacks — with only $3 million cash on hand, McCain lags far behind Romney and Giuliani – those Rangers who’ve contributed the most to his campaign are sticking by their man.

"All of us are a little disappointed but John McCain’s a great man and I’m continuing to support him at this point," says Fred Zeidman, the director of governmental affairs at Greenberg Traurig law firm, who along with his wife gave $9,200 to McCain and $2,100 to Giuliani. "It’s tough to see the wheels come off the campaign but that doesn’t mean they can’t be put back on."

"These things have their peaks and valleys," says Sig Rogich, a public relations consultant who along with his wife contributed $9,200 to McCain and $2,300 to Brownback, pointing out that Ronald Reagan and John Kerry had some early missteps in their campaigns.

"His spirit hasn’t dimmed a bit. I talked to him just a few days ago. He’s anxious to get this behind him and move on to the next phase."

One of the reasons that McCain was so popular with Rangers is because he was the perceived frontrunner just six months ago.

Political analyst Larry Sabato also attributes the support to McCain’s hiring of former Rep. Tom Loeffler (R-Texas), who was Bush’s national finance co-chairman in the 2000 race and raised more than $500,000 for the president’s re-election in 2004.

"They made a bad bet," says Sabato. "That’s literally what happened. He had one good season in this campaign — that was about 18 months ago when they got out front on the Bush Pioneers and Rangers."

Sabato believes that the Rangers are just looking for a winner and explains some support for Democratic candidates like Dodd as an attempt to buy some influence. "These are wealthy people, they may have legislative interests," he explains. "[Dodd] may have received some support from people who want to influence his committee actions. None of them think he’s going to be president."

Some of the Rangers have become so disenchanted with Bush that they’ve switched their allegiances to Democratic candidates. In addition to Morgan Stanley chair John Mack, another fundraiser who’s supporting Clinton is Robert J. Congel, a shopping mall magnate who contributed $4,600 to her campaign. He recently hosted a fundraiser for her and is planning another one in August in his hometown of Syracuse, New York.

"He’s a longtime Republican but as he’ll say, he’s an American first and he supports those who do the best job for the country even if they happen to be in the wrong party," says Rich Pietrafesa, who acts as Congel’s political liaison. "Of all the candidates, she’s proven that she’s accessible and cares and makes a difference."

Although Congel and his wife contributed $4,200 to Romney, Pietrafesa says that contribution was due to the fact that Congel’s son is on a committee for the Republican candidate. "If he had to choose between Hillary and Romney, he’d choose Hillary."

Pietrafesa is disillusioned with Bush and he believes that the President’s failings have hurt Republican chances of keeping the White House. "From my perspective, he’s pretty much abandoned the party," he says. "These guys are going to get slaughtered. He’s not helping them at all because he’s not articulating what we’re doing."