After many 2012 Republicans candidates attempted to get Paul Singer on board with their respective campaigns, he’s signed on to be with Mitt Romney’s campaign.
Romney was hardly alone in wooing Singer — every serious presidential candidate had hoped for his support, and met with him in the hopes of getting it.
Rick Perry was among them — he sat down with Singer, along with cosmetics heir Ron Lauder and Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations head Malcolm Hoenlein in New York City last month, at a private meeting that focused largely on Israel, sources familiar with the discussion said.
Why is Paul Singer the Republican fundraiser everybody political candidate wants? He’s very good at getting other donors to open their checkbooks to a political campaign:
But Singer is among a relatively small number of bundlers who aggressively tap their lists for a candidate. He’s become known as a “fundraising terrorist” for his focus and arm-twisting. And he serves as something of a signal for other donors as to who they should support.
Originally, Paul Singer and other donors wanted Governor Chris Christie to run for President. However, Mitt Romney was persistent in attracting Mr. Singer to his campaign and it ultimately paid off:
Christie was still in his personal deliberations last Friday when Romney made a quiet trip back to New York, off the campaign trail. One of his meetings was with Singer. They spoke about a range of topics, including the European economy crumbling and the impact and the impact on U.S. economy, a source close to Romney who was familiar with the discussion said.
They spoke Tuesday, when Romney reached out to Singer shortly after Christie said at a televised press conference that he would skip the 2012 race.
They spoke again Wednesday morning, and the commitment was sealed.
Singer will now be moving to help Romney in three ways, a source close to Romney familiar with the plan said. He’ll play a leadership role in the campaign’s fundraising efforts, and will hold a large fundraiser for the campaign in the fourth quarter — a quick statement that will get people organized and will be aimed at getting people who’ve been holdouts hoping for a Christie run to open their checkbooks.
After that initial goal, he’ll work to get them to bundle for Romney. The goal will be to systematically recruit people still on the sidelines and bring them into the Romney fold.
And he’ll play an informal policy adviser role on economics, the source said.
Now that Paul Singer is getting behind Mitt, you’ll see Romney pick up steam and become an even more formidable challenger for the GOP nomination. But more importantly, if Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination, he’ll be the most formidable challenger to President Obama in terms of fundraising.
That is why its so important to get behind Mitt Romney RIGHT NOW because he’s the only candidate who has a long term plan to boot Obama out of the White House and also has the resources to do it.
Watch an endorsement Mitt just got from Hawaii below the fold. (more…)
