WASHINGTON (AP) – Marco Rubio’s strong third-place finish in Iowa is sounding like a starting gun to the Republican Party’s top donors.
Many have been sitting on the sidelines or spreading their money around to multiple presidential candidates. They have been waiting to see whether one of four experienced politicians can take on political newcomer Donald Trump and conservative insurgent Ted Cruz.
Rubio is showing signs of picking up fundraising steam, particularly in big-donor areas like New York and Washington. In the meantime, donors are saying it looks unlikely that Jeb Bush can win the nomination.
Rubio’s campaign reported that registered lobbyists raised more than $1 million in the last six months of last year. That’s more than double what the group raised for Bush in the same time period.