February 21, 2007
McCain's Wall Street On The Slopes (Murdoch!, Moonves! Karmazin!)
An insurgent candidate when he last ran for president, John McCain is hoping to win over the establishment crowd from Wall Street and big media at a three-day conference in Deer Valley, Utah, next week. Among the 165 chief executives expected to attend -- “the chiefs, not their deputies,” says one insider -- are media mogul Rupert Murdoch, ad firm chief Ann Fudge of Young & Rubicam, CBS executive Les Moonves and Sirius radio CEO Mel Karmazin.
The Arizona Senator had some of these big establishment names in his corner in 2000, when he challenged President George W. Bush for the Republican nomination. Viacom and Goldman Sachs employees gave the Senator $96,000 seven years ago, for example, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. But they gave even more generously to Democratic nominee Al Gore: $166,000. Fully one-third of McCain’s fund-raising in 2000 came in the form of small donations under $200.
The Senator’s entrée to next week’s high-level networking event is James B. “Jimmy” Lee Jr., vice chairman of JP Morgan Chase, which sponsors the annual conference in Utah mountain country. Lee is also co-chairing McCain’s presidential exploratory committee, and he has arranged time in the schedule for important people to get to know the Senator. An overnight stay, a keynote address by McCain and a fireside chat with PBS interviewer Charlie Rose are on the itinerary.
With so many New Yorkers attending the conference, which begins Feb. 28, it’s significant that one will be absent: former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. McCain supporters are consciously trying to make inroads into Giuliani’s presumed fund-raising base. McCain will follow up with a fund-raiser in Phoenix on the evening of March 2, and then jet into New York for a March 8 gala. [ANNE MICHAUD]
Anne Michaud is the editor of the Crain’s Insider political newsletter based in New York City.
Posted at 12:54 PM
Comments
Go on, McCain. Keep on wrapping your arms around all the Republican constituencies you earned props for rebelling against eight years ago. Keep alienating independents and Democrats who would have considered voting for you back then...it'll make you a lot easier to beat next November!
Purple State Pundit | 02.21.07 03:37 PM
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Ann Fudge doesn't work at Y&R anymore..she quit last year!
Phillip | 02.22.07 01:10 PM
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