Bush super-PAC spends over $1 million in 48 hours

Right to Rise, the super-PAC supporting Jeb Bush’s presidential bid, dumped nearly $1.1 million into South Carolina over the last 48 hours, according to new election reports.

The super-PAC has spent more than $5 million the Palmetto State over the past week and has even started spending a small amount in Nevada, the next state in line to vote, records show.

{mosads}This year alone, Right to Rise has spent more than $39 million supporting Bush.

The Bush machine appears to be ramping up its efforts ahead of Saturday’s GOP primary in South Carolina, where the candidate is currently in danger of finishing fourth, according to the latest polls.

The majority of the new spending in South Carolina, listed in forms filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), was spent on “media production” and placement.

In addition to supporting Bush, some of the ads attack his Republican opponents Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich. One expenditure was for an ad opposing Donald Trump, which records say will air on national networks Fox News and MSNBC. 

During Feb. 16 and 17, Right to Rise also paid a firm for “message phone calls” and put more than $129,000 into direct mail sent to South Carolina voters.

The super-PAC, which is run by strategist Mike Murphy, drew criticism for its spending in Iowa and New Hampshire, including for sending out iPad-like devices to voters that had been pre-loaded with a pro-Bush documentary.

Right to Rise started the years with deep coffers, having raising $103 million in the first six months of 2015. But in the last half of the year, as Bush began to fizzle out in the polls, the super-PAC only brought in an additional $15 million. 

The super-PAC has spent more than $86 million since last year on ads and voter outreach nationwide. At the beginning of 2016, it still had $58.6 million in the bank.

While campaigns can only bring in a maximum of $5,400 per person during each election cycle — a total of the $2,700 limit for both the primary and the general election — donors are free to give unlimited amounts to super-PACs.

The Bush campaign, which is not legally permitted to coordinate with Right to Rise, has deployed former President George W. Bush — Jeb’s brother — on the trail in South Carolina this week, hoping to give the candidate a boost ahead of the primary. 

“There seems to be a lot of name calling going on, but I want to remind you what our good dad told me one time: ‘Labels are for soup cans,’ ” George W. Bush said during a rally in North Charleston, S.C.

“Jeb will listen to the voices of the disenfranchised. He will rise above the petty name-calling. Once elected, he won’t need a poll or focus group to tell him what to do,” he added.