Jeb Bush super PAC sees fundraising drop

The super PAC supporting Jeb Bush's bid for the Republican presidential nomination raised $15.1 million during the last half of 2015, a sharp drop from the $103 million the group collected at the start of last year.

Right to Rise's largest donation — a whopping $10 million — came from C.V. Starr, a firm run by former AIG chief Maurice "Hank" Greenberg. Other large donors included:

• Oil barge executive Morton Bouchard III, who gave $1 million, raising his total contribution to $1.5 million.
• Charles Johnson, financier and part owner of MLB’s San Francisco Giants, who added $500,000 to the $1 million he’d previously given.
• Ray Hunt, a Dallas oil billionaire with close ties to the Bushes, who gave another $400,000 on top of $1 million he had donated earlier.
• Rooney Holdings, run by construction magnate Francis Rooney, who gave $300,000. The company had previously given $2 million. 

The super PAC has spent heavily to bolster Bush's struggling campaign, pumping more than $64 million into advertising and other voter outreach to boost the former Florida governor and slow the rise of rivals such as Bush's one-time protege, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

The spending has not made Bush the clear choice of voters. A RealClearPolitics average of recent polls shows him in fifth place in Iowa, ahead of Monday's caucuses and battling for third place in New Hampshire's Feb. 9 primary.

Right to Rise ended the year with $58.6 million in the bank.

A separate committee, Right to Rise leadership PAC, raised less than $50,000 in the second half of 2015, compared with nearly $5.4 million in the first half. The PAC had $325,485 in the bank at the end of the year. Leadership PAC face limits on the size and sources of their donations. Super PACs can raise unlimited sums from virtually any source.

Contributing: Christopher Schnaars