It appears to me that the Republicans’ government shutdown failed even in the rather modest goal of ramping up base enthusiasm. The fundraising boon did not materialize for them, but it did materialize for the Democrats.
“I know a lot of people in New York who are just not going to give again,” said Thomas Scully, who served in the George W. Bush administration and is now both a partner with the private equity firm of Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, and a senior counsel with Alston & Bird. Donors to the NRSC were particularly frustrated after 2012, Scully said, when Republicans failed to regain the Senate after conservatives who won primaries went on to lose the general election.
“It’s frustrating to give money to people when you know they’re not going to win,” Scully said. Business leaders fed up over the shutdown have pledged to become more active in primaries, with an eye to backing candidates more in tune with their philosophy of stability and good governance. Some Republicans fret that business donors will also defect to Democrats.
“We should be worried,” said John Feehery, a former GOP leadership aide and president of the lobbying and PR shop of QGA Public Affairs. “I think the biggest worry for Republicans is the fratricide. When it’s Republican-on-Republican violence, the business community will look at Democrats and say: ‘At least these guys are sane.’”
I never get tired of reading these kind of articles.
