''It's important to have enough fuel to make sure the grass roots are activated as we come down the stretch next fall," Bush told the cheering audience.
The gala total tops the roughly $30 million Bush helped raise at a Republican congressional dinner and the RNC gala in 2002, the last year national party committees could collect ''soft money" -- business, union and unlimited donations.
Now the national parties can raise only limited contributions from individuals and political action committees, which are funded by people. They can accept as much as $25,000 per year from those donors. Last year, the RNC raised about $15 million at the gala.
About 1,500 people attended the RNC's event at the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, which like the 2003 gala called for business attire rather than the tuxedos and gowns expected in previous years. Several GOP governors, senators and House members attended, as did Cabinet secretaries Gale Norton, Ann Veneman, Spencer Abraham, and Tommy Thompson.
Several of the Bush campaign's fund-raising volunteers also helped raise money for the RNC event, including San Diego Chargers owner Sam Fox and Washington lobbyists Tom Loeffler and David Girard-diCarlo, who each raised at least $200,000 for Bush's reelection effort.
The record-setting night comes as Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Laura Bush, and others travel the country raising money for the RNC and other Republican causes.
The three have helped the RNC raise about $17 million at ''Victory" events around the nation since February, in addition to the millions from the gala.
The GOP has long enjoyed a multimillion-dollar advantage over the Democratic Party. But Democrats, too, have seen their finances pick up this year, even as the parties adjust to the soft money ban that took effect after the November 2002 elections.
John F. Kerry, his party's presumptive presidential nominee, has been helping the Democratic National Committee raise millions of dollars at party fund-raisers he has headlined in conjunction with his own money events.
Kerry and former presidents Clinton and Carter helped the DNC take in about $11 million at its Washington gala in March, a Democratic Party record. The DNC had about $40 million in the bank as of yesterday. The RNC had $53.9 million on hand as of March 31, the most recent figure available.
