John Jordan, the multi-millionaire Jordan Winery owner and Republican donor, is formally backing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio with a new super PAC, named “Baby Got PAC,” he emailed Tuesday.
The group’s inaugural ad’s script seeks to mimic the dilemma facing many GOP voters, who are confounded by the massive field, tantalized by the outsiders’ appeal, but at the end of the day simply want to defeat Clinton next fall. The ad, airing initially on Fox Business Network before Tuesday’s debate, seeks to boost Rubio by declaring him the candidate most feared by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Jordan said the group will also promote the 60-second spot online.
Developed with GOP consultant Rick Wilson, the spot opens by highlighting voters’ frustration with Washington, followed by the narrator stating: “So when we started to make this ad, we had to decide which conservative candidate for president to support.”
Panning past outsider favorites Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, business mogul Donald Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the narrator continues: “So you know who we asked? Hillary Clinton and the Democrats.” Quoting media clips noting Clinton supporters’ concerns running against the dynamic younger Republican, the narrator says over a photo of Rubio, “When the media and the Democrats tell you who they’re afraid to run against—that tells us all we need to know.”
Jordan is unique among the GOP donor class, taking a hands-on role in selecting which candidates and issues he supports, as well as the scripting, filming, and distribution of his ads. “There are two kinds of donors generally, those looking for influence, like corporations, and Ideological donors who fall in love with the candidate,” he told TIME earlier this year. “I’m neither of those things.”
His goal, he says, is simply to increase the odds of a Republican winning the White House. “We can’t fix the policies unless we win,” he said in July. “Right now Republicans aren’t writing any laws. We need to win, that’s what I’m focused on.”
In 2014, a group Jordan founded, Americans for Shared Prosperity, released a controversial dating website-themed ad aimed at women that compared voting for President Barack Obama in 2008 to “falling in love.”
The new group, named in homage to the 1990s rap song by Sir Mix-a-Lot, was formed Nov. 3, according to Federal Election Commission and Internet registration records.
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