Fomer Vice President Dick Cheney will host a fundraiser for Mitt Romney at his Jackson Hole, Wyoming home, in an effort to win over Bush loyalists who have yet to open up their checkbooks for the Republican nominee.
According to The Wall Street Journal‘s Patrick O’Connor, the July 12 fundraiser “will be a tiered event, giving donors the chance to pay a little extra for the privilege of dining with Mr. Romney and the former vice president.” The fundraiser will be part of the Romney campaign’s “Victory Fund,” which hopes to raise over $75,000 from individual donors.
“Jackson Hole is a beautiful summer destination and this will be a memorable event,” a member of the Romney campaign wrote in an e-mail obtained by The Wall Street Journal. “We hope that you and your friends will be able to join us.”
Aside from raking in cash, the event will further strengthen the ties between Romney and veterans of the Bush Administration. Romney’s foreign policy team is stacked with former Bush advisers, and his economic plan is essentially Bush’s on steroids. Cheney has said that Romney would do “a whale of a job” in the White House, and the ex-president himself recently offered a tepid endorsement, declaring “I’m for Mitt Romney” as a pair of elevator doors closed on him.
While the fundraiser may excite Bush loyalists, it may hurt Romney among average voters; after all, when Cheney left office in 2009, his approval rating stood at an almost impossibly low 13 percent.
