Marco Rubio's PAC threw out a sprat to catch a mackerel, and lo and behold, look what it reeled in.
The leadership PAC of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Reclaim America, reported it raised over $650,000 during the first three months of the year.
And how did it manage that feat? Largely on the strength of Rubio's water moment during February's Republican State of the Union response.The PAC's $47,484 spent on water bottles and $83,803 on Web development and online advertising
Kent Cooper, in Saturday's Roll Call, said the PAC took in $430,940 from the Rubio Victory Committee, a joint fundraising committee, and $78,750 from the PAC and other committees.
Most of the money came in in direct response to Rubio's water moment.
It could have been a career-ending moment. Given the task of delivering the official Republican response to Barack Obama's State of the Union speech, Rubio made a huge gaffe.
Sweating under the lights in a television studio, he suddenly bent down and reached over awkwardly to grab a bottle of water and take a desperate swig.
The moment instantly became fodder for amateur and professional comedians alike. Rubio's duck-and-dive spread on the Internet and social media had overshadowed what was meant to be the biggest single speech of the Florida politician's career. "It smudged out the actual meaning of everything he had said before and everything he would say after," snickered the New Yorker magazine. It looked as if one of the Republican Party's brightest future prospects had just imploded live on TV.
But, no.
After the speech was over he tweeted out a picture of the water bottle and then noted that he had attracted thousands of new followers. "I am going to start drinking water in the middle of all my speeches," he joked.
The PAC developed the water bottle promotion, included in its donation pitch the tag line Send the liberal detractors a message that not only does Marco Rubio inspire you he hydrates you, too -- and the rest is history.
Completing a look at Rubio's quarterly financials: Of the itemized donors, most came from Florida. Donors of interest included $20,000 from Nicole, Emila, Lourdes, and Jose Fanjul, executive, Florida Crystals; $10,000 from Martha and Dwight Schar, retired; Stephen Schwarzman, chairman and CEO, The Blackstone Group, $3,000; Richard Hohlt, president, Hohlt & Associates, $1,000; among others.
Wrote Cooper, "For more than half of the itemized individual donors there was no employer or occupation reported, just the phrase 'information requested.' The Federal Election Commission will probably send an inquiry to the PAC, and the PAC will probably respond that they are trying. Although a large amount of funds were raised, the level of disclosure of the identification of donors in the report was disappointing."
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
