Everyday the news media gives us another story about one of our Republican candidates and the amount of support they have from people who supported President Bush in 2000 and 2004. First it was John McCain making up with donors who supported the President, then it was Rudy Giuliani and the big money Bush supporters, then Mitt Romney got in on the action, now there are supposedly plenty of non-committed Bush donors left to support Fred Thompson. Heck, there have even been stories about how former Bush donors are now supporting Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Is this news? No, this is lazy journalism at its finest!

President Bush set fundraising records in 2000 with his system of Pioneers. He built upon groundwork that had been laid by his father, President George H.W. Bush and even by President Reagan. Despite the fact that some people gave to other candidates in the primaries that year, practically every Republican donor gave to G.W. Bush in the general.

In 2004, as the incumbent, President Bush again raised record amounts of money from Pioneers, Rangers and small donors as well. I know, I helped to run the small donor telephone prospecting campaigns.

Taking the current group of candidates and pointing out that they have support from people who previously supported President Bush is an incredibly lazy way to measure the success of their campaigns. Practically every Republican and every conservative in the country has supported President Bush at some point in the past 8-years.

What would be interesting is to find out which of the Republican candidates are not being supported by the big money Bush donors, because that would tell us that they are not viable candidates and could help to winnow the field to a manageable number.