“The lights are going out across the Republican Party tonight… It’s like Trump has built a lab to blow a general election, even against Hillary Clinton.”
— GOP strategist Mike Murphy, quoted by Politico.
“The lights are going out across the Republican Party tonight… It’s like Trump has built a lab to blow a general election, even against Hillary Clinton.”
— GOP strategist Mike Murphy, quoted by Politico.
“The truth is I don’t care. There’s nothing lower in my book than second-guessing. There are a lot of people in the cheap seats with a lot of opinions. What have they done?”
— GOP strategist Mike Murphy, quoted by the Los Angeles Times, remaining unapologetic after spending more than $100 million on Jeb Bush’s candidacy.

A former bundler for Jeb Bush tells CNN that GOP strategist Mike Murphy “made minimum of $14 million” running the Bush super PAC Right to Rise.
Murphy responded to the figure by calling it, “Absolute bullshit. That mystery donor should have the guts to call me and get straightened out.”
Bloomberg: “All the major candidates in the 2016 race will have super PACs working on their behalf, but Bush and Murphy are trying something unprecedented in U.S. presidential elections: building a separate, and better-funded, organization that will in some ways eclipse the official campaign as a vehicle for promoting the candidate. Murphy’s Los Angeles-based team will produce digital marketing, television ads, and opposition research on behalf of Bush, whose campaign headquarters are across the country in Miami.”
Said Bush: “He’s a good friend, and I’m going to miss him. I hope to see him on election night and give him an embrace. But from here on out, I won’t be talking to him.”
“The super PAC supporting Jeb Bush, now walled off from the candidate because of campaign finance rules, hopes to ‘weaponize‘ its fund-raising total for the first six months of the year,” the New York Times reports.
“The comment from Mike Murphy, a veteran adviser to Mr. Bush who is now running the political action committee that will back the campaign, came as the group is focused on raising as much money as possible in the final days of its first fund-raising period, contributing to what is expected to be a significant financial edge over the rest of the Republican field.”
“Mike Murphy, the Republican strategist who has played a critical role in getting out Jeb Bush‘s message and rolling out of the former Florida governor’s all-but-certain presidential run, may not end up with a job on the campaign itself,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Murphy has had discussions about joining Mr. Bush’s “super PAC,” a high-dollar outfit that will work independently of the official campaign to promote his candidacy.”

Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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