Bush raises cash for GOP

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - President Bush thanked some of the Republican Party's biggest spenders Texas-style on Friday, honoring them with a barbecue supper at a ranch next to his.

Bush has headlined this event benefiting the national Republican Party each year at the Broken Spoke Ranch. The 478-acre spread next to Bush's own ranch in this tiny Central Texas town is owned by Stan and Kathy Hickey.

This year, it drew 500 of the GOP's biggest donors from across the country and was dumping $3.5 million into the Republican National Committee's coffers.

It also served as a special treat and a goodbye of sorts for Bush. Since it is his last year to host the fundraiser, his parents, former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, flew in for it. So did his brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and his wife, Columba. The fundraiser, usually a casual lunch, also was upgraded this year to an evening affair.

Bush spent nearly three hours on the sprawling property, an unusually long investment of time for him. For nearly all that period he posed for photos with guests, but he also made brief remarks and took questions from the group.

The event did not include the party's presumed presidential nominee, John McCain. The Arizona senator was in Texas on Friday — albeit 350 miles to the west in Lubbock and scheduled to travel to his home state in the afternoon. Many of the guests at the Bush event had been at a McCain fundraiser Thursday night in Dallas.

Bush is spending four days at his ranch, largely because of this event. But White House spokesman Scott Stanzel didn't deny that the president and his wife, Laura, could also be taking care of some wedding-related details while here. Their daughter, Jenna, is getting married at the ranch on May 10.

"I think any time that president and the first lady are here in Texas, that's certainly something that is on their mind," Stanzel said.

But he remained coy, as the White House has all along when it comes to wedding inquiries, about what that might entail.

"I know the president today was planning on clearing some brush and doing some things that he often does when he's here," Stanzel said with a smile. "And maybe the brush clearing has something to do with" the wedding.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080412/ap_on_el_pr/bush_gop_money [link]