Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has quietly recruited a high-powered team of Bay State boosters, including former Gov. William F. Weld, who hosted a private fundraiser this month, the Herald has learned. Weld, a sometimes controversial figure in the GOP who played a leading role for Gov. Charlie Baker’s 2014 campaign, introduced Bush at a Sept. 9 fundraiser at the Lenox Hotel and donated $2,000 to Bush’s Right to Rise super PAC back in April. The Bush campaign did not publicize the Boston fundraiser or Weld’s support, but the former governor is expected to formally endorse Bush in the coming days, sources told the Herald. The invitation to the fundraiser also lists former Ambassador Chris Egan, businessman and philanthropist Joe O’Donnell, Putnam Investments CEO Bob Reynolds and the Parthenon Group’s William Achtmeyer as members of Bush’s Massachusetts finance committee. Weld, a partner at the high-powered Mintz Levin law firm, is not a close friend of the Bush family and his outspoken support of abortion rights and socially moderate views have often put him at odds with conservative Republicans. Sources said Weld is backing Bush in the crowded GOP race because he agrees with most of his views and apparently doesn’t think much of the rest of the field. When he introduced Bush at the Boston fundraiser this month, he called him an “eagle among chickens,” according to one of the attendees. Weld did play a major role in former Gov. Mitt Romney’s presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012, but he angered GOP leaders by endorsing Democrat Barack Obama over Republican nominee John McCain just before the 2008 election. The former Florida governor has struggled in New Hampshire and is now down to single digits in national polls, but his campaign is hoping to score a chunk of Massachusetts’ 39 delegates in the state’s March 1 presidential primary. The Bay State has drawn almost no attention so far, but its early position in the GOP primary schedule could give Bush a chance for a much-needed win in the March 1 Super Tuesday contests. While Weld’s endorsement will help Bush with moderate Massachusetts Republicans, it’s not likely to sway the most influential GOP figure in the state, Baker. The governor has made it clear he won’t endorse anyone in the Republican presidential primaries. Weld has stayed active in national politics and even dabbled with a White House run himself, but his political career came to an end after a failed U.S. Senate bid in 1996 and a short-lived 2006 campaign for New York governor.
How fitting. The low-energy former governor of Massachusetts is "quietly" working behind the scenes at "private" fundraisers in a "low profile" effort to boost the Jebby Bush campaign from 6 per cent to perhaps 7 or 8 per cent in the national polling. RINOs like Bill Weld put the lower case "e" in GOPe.
e=low energy
The former governor, apparently does not think much of the rest of the GOP field. He calls the "joyful tortoise" an "eagle among chickens", with Trump, Cruz and the rest being the chickens.
The Wikipedia article on RINO needs a photo. I'm thinking a photo of Bill Weld and or Jebby Bush needs to be added to this article.
