Bill Lambrecht's story in the Post-Dispatch today has a nice breakdown of Roy Blunt's financial support from corporate donors and lobbyists who have donated very large sums to his leadership PAC called the Rely on Your Beliefs (ROYB) Fund.
As Lambrecht explains, PACs like the ROYB Fund "hold appeal because of their looser rules and the minimal attention they receive," and have allowed Blunt to "curry favor" inside the Beltway. In addition, the extensive corporate and lobbyist donor network has enabled Blunt to stay in touch with the regular people:
Blunt proved skilled at utilizing his Rely on Your Beliefs PAC as a GOP leader in the House, a position he held until this year. Since 2005, it took in nearly $4 million, according to campaign disclosure reports.
Those reports list expenses at elegant venues such as the Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina, the Raspberry Falls Golf & Hunt Club in Virginia and Sea Island Company on St. Simon's Island, Ga. A Blunt associate noted that PAC-funders paid their own way to the tony destinations, where they were treated to receptions and dinners.
To be fair, it's not just Blunt's leadership PAC that's used for such trips -- he's also used his normal campaign account to pay for oceanfront retreats, to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars.
It will probably take of lot more than tweets about blue jeans to convince Missourians that the folks here are his top priority.
