Now, at the onset of the 2016 campaign, Bush and Rove find themselves on another collision course.
Part of the struggle is playing out on phone calls and private meetings, as both compete for the nation’s most sought-after Republican donors. As Bush intensifies fundraising for his Right to Rise super PAC, expected to reach $100 million by the end of this month, he finds himself approaching many of the same contributors as Rove, whose American Crossroads super PAC is also financially dependent on many of the givers who have long supported the political causes and campaigns of the extended Bush family network.
But with Bush gobbling up record amounts of cash, there is an increasing sense that the two groups are destined to clash — and that Rove’s American Crossroads, which spent $325 million on a disappointing 2012 presidential election, will ultimately be the odd man out…
[O]ther Bush family stalwarts, such as former Secretaries of State James Baker and Condoleezza Rice and former Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, have fallen in line with the former governor’s candidacy — making it all the more striking that Rove, who owes his prominence to the Bush clan, is withholding his public support.
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