By 2004, President Bush's re-election campaign had assembled 66 elite fund-raisers in Texas and 55 in Florida. Some of the supporters, known as Pioneers and Rangers for raising at least $100,000 or $200,000, respectively, say they collected contributions for Mr. Bush because he was a trusted friend with common political ideas.
Some, though, acknowledge that being a prolific fund-raiser translates into access for those who want to influence government decisions.
"If you support someone, it's going to give you a leg up on getting an audience. There's nothing wrong with that," said Pioneer Charles Beggs Moncrief of Moncrief Oil in Fort Worth.
Since Mr. Bush took office in 2001, the federal government has awarded more than $3 billion in contracts to the President's elite 2004 Texas fund-raisers, their businesses, and lobbying clients, a Blade investigation shows. In Florida, massive sugar companies and development firms led by Bush Pioneers and Rangers have reaped millions of dollars from government policies, which environmentalists say have sided with sprawl and development over the restoration of the Everglades.
The Bush strongholds of Texas and Florida became the roots of a fund-raising tree that by 2004 had enlisted 548 Pioneers and Rangers nationwide - including 30 in Ohio.
A Blade report in October showed that Mr. Bush's top Ohio fund-raisers collected more than $1.2 billion in taxpayers' dollars for their companies and lobbying clients.
One Ohio "Pioneer," former Toledo-area rare-coin dealer Tom Noe, was indicted in October on three felony charges that he illegally laundered money into the Bush re-election campaign. The Blade first reported on April 3 that the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation gave Mr. Noe $50 million to invest in his rare-coin funds. State officials accuse him of stealing millions of dollars from the funds.
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As Texas's governor during the 1990s, Mr. Bush established a loyal following that included deep-pocketed political financiers by selling them on his straight-forward style of leadership and looking out for their interests in the statehouse, said Tom Smith of the Texas chapter of Public Citizen, a nonprofit public interest organization.
"The Texas Pioneers and Rangers learned through the Bush gubernatorial era that their investments would pay off, so they were more than willing to be leaders when Bush began to run for president," Mr. Smith said.
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Since President Bush took office in 2001, Mr. Pilgrim's business collected nearly $60 million from the federal government for selling poultry to the Agricultural Marketing Service, a government agency that assists farmers and provides food for the poor.
Mr. Pilgrim said he didn't know that his company had received federal money, but he characterized the federal payments as a "small number," considering his business does "$20 million a day."
He said he's only asked President Bush once for a favor - that he speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin about stopping Russia's ban on the import of U.S. chickens. In May, 2002, President Bush spoke with Mr. Putin about the so-called "chicken war" - and the Russians eventually allowed the import of the U.S. products.
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Of the more than $3 billion in federal contracts awarded to President Bush's key Texas fund-raisers and their lobbying clients, more than $1.7 billion went to the customers of Tom Loeffler, a lobbyist, former Texas congressman, and Bush Ranger.
Two of Mr. Loeffler's clients, American Management Systems and Motorola, collected the majority of the federal contract money. Motorola supplied security and communications products to the Department of Defense and other agencies, while American Management provided computer services to a number of agencies including the Coast Guard and Defense Department.
Mr. Loeffler's clients, in total, collected more than $960 million in Department of Defense contracts since Mr. Bush took office.
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It is the kingdom of the sugar giants.
Two of President Bush's top Florida fund-raisers in 2004 were Jose "Pepe" Fanjul, president of Florida Crystals Corp., and Robert Edward Coker, senior vice president of U.S. Sugar.
The sugar industry and developers have profited under President Bush and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, in part by gutting the purpose of the federal Everglades Restoration Act, said Jonathan Ullman, Everglades field representative for the Sierra Club.
The law was signed in 2000 by President Bill Clinton.
Under the Bush Administration:
# The Army Corps of Engineers has weakened the rules governing the proposed restoration of the Everglades, in part by restricting the Department of Interior's oversight power.
# In 2002, the federal government gave the green light to rock-mining companies that want to destroy about 20,000 acres of wetlands. Environmental groups, saying the mining would contaminate groundwater, have sued.
# Two years ago, at the request of Florida sugar companies and several lobbyists they hired, Governor Bush signed a bill into law to amend the state's Everglades Forever Act, which has set a 2006 deadline for the cleanup of phosphorus. Governor Bush signed legislation that delayed the planned cleanup of phosphorous pollution from the sugar industry by another 10 years.
# The administrations of both President Bush and Governor Bush have allowed residential development on land environmentalists say is needed to restore the Everglades. Critics also say the administrations have not provided enough money for a proposal to replace a roadway in Miami-Dade County with an 11-mile elevated skyway that would allow for natural flow of water into Everglades National Park.
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Tom Smith of the Texas chapter of Public Citizen said recently that Mr. Bush had a record in Texas of deregulating utilities and allowing polluters to police themselves - policies which would foreshadow the actions he would take in the White House.
"His attempts to forgive utilities on every turn can only be figured out in the context of its payback for their help in his election," Mr. Smith said.
After his election in 2000, President Bush assembled an energy transition team that included a number of Bush fund-raisers, such as former Enron executive Ken Lay, a 2000 Pioneer, and Erle Nye, a 2004 Pioneer and the former chairman of TXU, a large Texas energy company.
Since Mr. Bush took office in 2001, TXU has collected more than $147 million in federal contracts for supplying gas and electric services to several agencies, including the Department of Defense. On Dec. 5, 2001, the Defense Logistics Agency authorized a $71 million contract to TXU for fuel oils. TXU also received a $600 million tax refund in 2003, according to the company's official filings.
During President Clinton's eight years in office, TXU received $69 million in federal contracts.
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Charles Beggs Moncrief of Moncrief Oil in Fort Worth, another Bush Pioneer, said he's never asked for any favors from the Bush Administration.
Mr. Moncrief said being a Bush fund-raiser "obviously" could help someone gain access.
"That works whether you are a Republican or a Democrat," he said.
Mr. Moncrief's father, W.A. "Tex" Moncrief, the longtime owner of Moncrief Oil and a major Republican contributor, said he believes one of the "big reasons" Mr. Bush decided to invade Iraq was oil. And the decision, he said, will pay dividends for the U.S. oil market.