"The B in Bush stands for big bucks"

Despite an approval rating that hovers around 30%, President Bush has spoken at 11 Republican fundraising events in the last 11 weeks, bringing in over $27 million... that's a pace of $346,000 per day according to the Los Angeles Times.

On Tuesday, President Bush was in Jacksonville, where he talked about free trade with dockworkers. That was the official reason for the day trip.

But the event was sandwiched between two unofficial reasons: a luncheon in Jacksonville, where 51 people contributed $685,500 to the Republican National Committee, and a reception in Palm Beach, where 49 guests were expected to donate $762,000 to the party's main bank account.

Despite media reports that John McCain trails in fundraising, the RNC and DNC are important campaign tools because there are no limits on contributions to the party itself. Many people might be surprised to read that the parties are in much different shape:

At the end of February, the party had $21.7 million in cash on hand, compared with the Democratic National Committee's balance of $3 million, said Alex Conant, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

No wonder the DNC doesn't want to pay for Florida to hold another primary!