When it comes to fundraising, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush has blown his GOP and Democratic competition out of the water. His campaign and its allied super political action committee announced on Thursday that they had, combined, brought in $114 million in the first half of the year.
Sure, the former Florida governor had a network of donors (via his brother and father, both former presidents) to tap into – and he essentially exploited a campaign finance loophole to raise such massive funds. Nonetheless, the haul is impressive.
To put into perspective just how big that sum is, let’s take a look at what else the man who wants to be America’s third President Bush could buy with that $114 million.
28.5: The approximate number of 30-second Super Bowl commercials Team Bush could buy with its $114 million haul.
207,273: The approximate number of round-trip plane tickets the Republican could buy from his home state of Florida to the early voting state of New Hampshire.
28.5 million: The number of deep-fried Twinkies Bush could buy at next month’s Iowa State Fair.
57: The number of months of television ads Bush could buy in the battleground state of Nevada.
9.5 million: The number of Jeb 2016 coffee mugs he could buy to hand out to his supporters
RELATED: The 2016 money race: What we know now and what to look out for
And more seriously, here is where Bush’s money comes from, and how it stacks up to the competition:
$103 million: The amount Right to Rise, the super political action committee backing Bush, said it raised in the first half of the year.
$11.4 million: The amount Bush’s campaign said it brought in between when Bush announced his White House bid on June 15 and the end of the second quarter on June 30.
$710,000: The amount Bush’s campaign raised on average per day since he announced his candidacy.
1:9: The ratio of campaign money Bush’s campaign brought in compared to his super PAC, which is supposed to be independent of any campaign but can accept unlimited funds in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision.
$98 million: The amount of cash Right to Rise now has on hand.
9,900: The approximate number of donors who contributed to the super PAC in the first half of the year.
9,400: The approximate number of donors who gave $25,000 or less to the super PAC.
$45 million: How much more cash Bush’s campaign and his allied super PAC raised in comparison to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the allied groups backing her.
$109.2 million: How much more cash Bush’s campaign and his allied super PAC raised in comparison to GOP competitor Carly Fiorina’s campaign and her super PAC. Fiorina has been struggling with fundraising.
$7 million: How much more Bush raised in the first half of this year than Mitt Romney managed in his total haul during his 2008 presidential primary effort.
$91 million—How much more Bush’s super PAC raised in the first half of this year compared to the amount the super PAC allied with Mitt Romney raised in the first half of 2011.
$23 million– How much more Bush’s super PAC raised in the first half of this year compared to the amount the super PAC supporting President Obama raked in during the entire election cycle four years ago.
