Jeb Bush plans to rewrite fundraising rulebook

Even before Jeb Bush enters the 2016 White House race, the Republican former governor of Florida is raising eyebrows about his fundraising prowess amid reports that he plans to structure his campaign team in a way that could fundamentally alter the way contenders run for the White House.

The Associated Press and National Journal have reported that Mr Bush was preparing to give "Right to Rise" - one of the so-called "super-PAC" groups that can raise unlimited money for a candidate as long as there is no co-ordination with the official campaign - a central role in his run for the White House.

Since the Supreme Court dramatically altered the US election landscape in 2010 by allowing super-PACS to raise unlimited amounts of money, candidates have increasingly benefited from their support, which can including anything from paying for positive television commercials to attack ads against political opponents.

But Mr Bush is reported to be moving one step further by handing the "Right to Rise" reins to Mike Murphy, a veteran political strategist who had been expected to run his campaign. While the group would be prohibited from co-ordinating strategy with the official team, Mr Murphy has intimate knowledge of the sort of campaign Mr Bush intends to run in his bid to become the third man in his family to become president.

"It is a pretty big deal," said David Keating, president of the Center for Competitive Politics. "Super-PACs are becoming pretty important for campaigns, [but] this is a new twist."

The emergence of the super-PACs is the main reason that many political experts believe that candidates for the 2016 presidential election will spend more than double the $2.6bn that was spent in the 2012 race. Ted Cruz, the Texas senator who is one of the three Republicans to declare so far, is backed by four affiliated super-PACs that have reportedly already raised at least $31m on his behalf. Hillary Clinton, currently the sole Democratic contender, is also expected to benefit substantially from super-PAC money.

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While Mr Cruz and two other Republican senators - Marco Rubio from Florida and Rand Paul from Kentucky - have launched their presidential campaigns, Mr Bush has yet to declare. Once Mr Bush unveils his campaign, he will be barred by law from raising money for the super-PAC, which many experts believe will have raised $100m by the time he formally enters the race for the White House.

Mr Bush's team played down suggestions that he had decided to allow "Right to Rise" to take on a central role after he has officially entered the 2016 race. Kristy Campbell, his spokeswoman, said that "any speculation on how a potential campaign would be structured, if he were to move forward, is premature at this time".

The three Republican senators who have already launched bids had less incentive to delay their formal launches as federal elected officials are not allowed to raise unlimited amounts for super-PACs.

One Republican operative said the Bush team move would change the rules of campaigning in the sense that it was akin to taking your star player off the main team. He said it suggested that Mr Bush believed he would have more success raising "soft money" from wealthy donors than the "hard money" that flows directly to campaigns and must adhere to strict caps set by the Federal Election Commission.

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