Romney fundraiser nets big bucks

Friday, August 24, 2007

By Ben Cannon

JACKSON HOLE, WYO -- Mitt Romney’s stop in Jackson Hole was because of this year’s early Wyoming Republican caucus, the presidential candidate told a group of about 40 people in a stuffy meeting room at the 49er Inn Wednesday.

“Wyoming matters because it’s early,” he said to audience members, many of whom wore blue Romney stickers and buttons.

That is in keeping with the former governor of Massachusetts’ push to gain early momentum, which he achieved in the Iowa Straw Poll win, and which he hopes to repeat in January’s early caucuses beginning in Iowa and, eight days and two caucuses later, in New Hampshire and Wyoming.

But Wyoming Republicans are eyeing pushing the caucus back to a later date, an idea they might vote on when the party’s central committee convenes in Cheyenne Saturday.  
The Jackson Hole stump speech was covered by Wyoming Public Radio and local and regional news reports, as well as the state’s major newspaper, the Casper Star Tribune.

After Romney’s public appearance, about 165 people attended a $1,000-a-head private event with Romney Wednesday evening, held at a ranch outside of Jackson.  An opportunity earlier in the evening allowed larger contributors to meet with the candidate in a more intimate setting.

“It was a very successful evening and it turned out to be a very significant amount” of money raised, said longtime Romney friend and Bain Capital co-founder Coleman Andrews, now a Jackson Hole resident.

A source who asked not to be identified said Romney officials at the fundraiser announced, to uproarious applause, a total for the dollars generated at the event: $247,000.

Anderson declined to comment on that number but said the campaign would disclose the figure at the close of the third quarter, if not before.

That Jackson Hole, widely recognized as Wyoming’s Democratic stronghold, could contribute so significantly to a major Republican candidate’s war chest should come as no surprise: the county that boasts only about 18,000 fulltime residents has been and is increasingly known as home (or subsequent home) to CEO’s, bankers and other captains of modern industry.

Andrews, who said he will make Romney’s presidential campaign “an avocation,” over the next year, was pleased at the buzz the candidate generated with some of Jackson Hole’s and the state’s major political donors, many of whom may not have had a definite position on candidate prior to the event.

“I was quite happy at the end of the evening,” he said.

Photo by Jonathan Adams.www.jonathandanieladams.com. Gov. Mitt Romney shakes hands with Jackson Hole locals who attended an informal Meet ’n Greet at the 49er Hotel on Wednesday.



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