Bonita residents donate more than $100,000 to Bush ($3,700 Kerry)

Bonita Springs residents are furiously writing zero-heavy checks to re-elect President George W. Bush by donating nearly 30 times more in large contributions than the paltry local purse collected by presumed Democratic nominee John Kerry.

The $103,550 doled out to Bush rockets above the $3,700 Kerry received from residents in Bonita ZIP codes, according to an analysis by The Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan Washington research group.

"As a Republican woman, that warms my heart. I think that's wonderful," said Michelle Drake, president of the Southwest Florida Federated Republican Women. "I can't believe there's such a discrepancy."

The analysis is based on contributions of $200 or more reported to the Federal Election Commission for 2004 races through April 26.

Long considered a Republican-rich paradise, Democratic presidential candidates shrug off Southwest Florida as GOP terrain, experts say, while the Bush camp could qualify for frequent flyer miles to the area.

"There's an old saying in politics: 'You go where the money is.' Your area is one of the biggest targets for Republican fund raising. In contrast, the Broward-Palm Beach area are equivalent targets for Democrats. The ones with the money become well-known to those parties," said Susan MacNamus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

The Bush administration hit up Lee and Collier counties for campaign dollars three times in the past six months. Bush stumped through Naples in April and attended an invitation-only fund-raiser at the Fort Myers home of Al Hoffman, the CEO of WCI Communities and a lead fund-raiser for the Republican Party. On Oct. 31, Vice President Dick Cheney spoke at a fund-raiser with $400 photo opportunities at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort in Estero.

In Bonita, the Lee County Elections Office counts 10,650 registered Republican voters compared with the 5,153 registered Democrats in Bonita and 5,494 registered with other parties or none.

The canyon-sized campaign finance disparity in Bonita doesn't discourage Martha Simons, president of the Democratic Club of Bonita Springs and South Lee County, which counts 120 members. Bonita's Democrats may not be opening their wallets as wide but they are devoting manpower to get Kerry elected, said Simons, a Kerry delegate.

"The people who are very wealthy enjoy the Bush camaraderie. The people who are middle class, who are being squeezed by this economy, aren't capable of giving $2,000," she said. "Instead of always contributing money, they're contributing their time. It's much more effective to talk to people one on one."

More than two decades have passed since a big-name Democrat hit Southwest Florida, said Simons, remembering only Rosalynn Carter, President Jimmy Carter's wife, coming in 1976.

Will Prather's hopes to peg Kerry for a Southwest Florida fund-raiser didn't pan out. But the 35-year-old Fort Myers businessman is trying to organize a luncheon in mid-June with a Kerry stand-in, say John Edwards or Wesley Clark, two former Democratic presidential candidates.

"Historically, it's like why would we bother? This year is a different year. It would be the first major Democratic Party fund-raiser in our community in quite some time," he said. "It's pretty disheartening. This area's a little loosey-goosey per se" in organizing Democrats.

MacNamus said the deep-pocketed Republican proliferation in Southwest Florida can be traced back to which highways northerners rode to South Florida. She calls it "imported politics."

Republican retirees from Michigan, Indiana and Pennsylvania drove down Interstate 75 during the 1960s and 1970s to Florida's west coast while the Democratic-inclined escaping Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York took Interstate 95 to the east coast, she said. They packed their party affiliations with them.

David Dilley, president of the Republican Club of Bonita Springs and Estero, is tapping into the GOP-friendly support. His club is hatching plans to rent a storefront in a high-traffic spot in Bonita.

"I'm surprised it's not more," said Dilley, of the difference. "I'm surprised it isn't 100 times more because there's just a great nervousness with the terrorism in the world. It would be risky to changes horses in the midstream."

That's why Rhonda Prichard, a 54-year-old retired flight attendant, and her husband, Fred, who live in Bonita's 34134 ZIP code, were among the dozens of $2,000 contributors — the maximum allowed per individual — to Bush's war chest from residents of that mailing code.

Residents of 34134 have given $92,800 to Bush and $77,595 to the Republican National Committee, according to the center's analysis. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., is seeking his fifth term and raised $750 more than the $3,250 Kerry collected in 34134.

Overall, 34134 residents doled out $256,891 in 2004 campaign contributions, shadowing the $21,255 given in the average ZIP code, according to the analysis. Residents of Bonita's 34135 ZIP code gave more than the average ZIP code with $47,040 in large contributions. Bush gained $8,750 of that, data show.

"Terrific. I think this must be an unusual part of the country. I think it's very important that Bush be re-elected. I think it's best for the country," Prichard said.

Pat Hanson jokes that she takes her life in her hands when driving with her Kerry bumper sticker to her Bonita Bay home. Cars sometimes cut her off in traffic, she says. Hers is the only bumper sticker she's seen in town.

Hanson's $2,000 contribution to Kerry is the heftiest among the seven Bonita residents who contributed $200 or more to the Kerry campaign, per the analysis.

She gave partly because her husband Michael played ice hockey with Kerry at Yale University and partly because she disagrees with Bush's stance on female reproductive rights.

There are Democrats in Bonita; they're just in the closet, she says. "I think that there are Democrats. They just don't talk about it," Hanson commented.

Ted Brown, 75, a retired university professor from Illinois, is part of that closed-lipped crew.

"When you live here, politics isn't one of those things you want to get into a lot. We don't really talk politics much with our friends and neighbors," said Brown, who made a $200 Kerry contribution.

I'm so jealous I could scream.....

Enjoy your new life in FL - it's the best state in the US and I can't *wait* to get back! Best of luck!

Florida Freeper

I'm compiling a list of FReepers in Florida for use in the upcoming elections. If you want to be added, please FReepMail me.

These folks are my kind of people. Put your money where your mouth is, that's what I say! And... I have done it in support of GW Bush and will continue to support him with bucks. This election is one that decides whether we remain free or we go under the stewardship of the United Nations and Kofi Annan! If you don't get that drift, then you are in deep trouble! Just remember! Bucks is what gets the message out, since the MSM are all Bush and America haters. We should all reach down, even if it is just a dollar and get GW Bush the coin he needs. Two hundred million dollars is not enough. Would you put a price tag on your life? That, my friends is really what is at stake here!!! Get those bucks to GW Bush today. Let this victory truly be a victory funded by the people directly!

Keep me on, Joe.

Bonita Springs residents are furiously writing zero-heavy checks to re-elect President George W. Bush..

No 'fury' here. We're calmly and carefully - seriously - doing so in our household....little $$$, plenty of 'boots on the ground.'

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