Top Bush Fund-Raisers During 2000 Election

July 3 -- — George W. Bush set the record in raw dollars for presidential fund-raising during the 2000 campaign, even if other past presidential hopefuls may have raised more after adjusting for inflation, analysts say.

Feeding to Bush's total were the efforts of an army of fund-raisers — hundreds of mostly wealthy or influential individuals who earned the title "Pioneer" by generating at least $100,000 in individual donations of up to $1,000 each.

With the individual donation limit now raised from $1,000 to $2,000, Bush might tap the same fund-raisers for even more cash. If they manage to arrange $200,000 in contributions, they will acquire the newly created title of "Ranger."

The president's re-election campaign already has used the network to help raise tens of millions of dollars for the 2004 election cycle.

"The success of the president's fund-raising so far is an indication of the breadth of the support that the president has from the American people," said Dan Ronayne, a Bush-Cheney 2004 spokesman.

Click here for more on campaign fund-raising for the 2004 election.

Top Fund-Raisers

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The following list, the best available, shows the Bush campaign's top 10 Pioneers in the last election by money raised. The data comes from disclosures by the Bush campaign, partly through discovery in a court case.

At the top of the list is Mercer Reynolds III, former co-owner with Bush of the Texas Rangers baseball team, former U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, and now national finance chairman for the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign.

Also listed are Ronald Weiser, later appointed ambassador to the Slovak Republic, and Howard H. Leach, later appointed ambassador to France.

Andrew Wheat, research director for the Austin-based watchdog group Texans for Public Justice, believes the list may not be complete, and the figures may not be final fund-raising totals.

"Campaign attorneys indicated that the data were compiled from multiple sources," Wheat said. "As such, it is unclear whether the amount of money raised for any given pioneer is current through the end of the campaign or some earlier date. In fact, the campaign provided fund-raising totals for less than half of the pioneers it was tracking."