LAS VEGAS — Scott Walker and Jeb Bush appear to be the favorites of the most influential Republican Jewish donors, according to former George W. Bush administration spokesman Ari Fleischer.
Fleischer spoke with The Daily Caller at the margins of the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Spring Meeting Saturday, where 2016 presidential contender Ted Cruz and prospective contender Rick Perry addressed pro-Israel voters at the Venetian Hotel.
“There are two candidates who have so far seemed to be on the top tier: Jeb Bush and Scott Walker,” Fleischer, who is a board member of the RJC, said.
The RJC’s board of directors is comprised of some of the Republican Party’s most influential donors, including casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who was the top individual donor of the 2012 presidential election.
Though Fleischer says he believes “Bush and Walker have the most support at the highest levels of the RJC,” among the grassroots of the organization, he says “people are shopping around.”
“Lots of people are undecided,” he said. “They want to take measure of these guys. And it’s a wide open race.”
Since entering the presidential race earlier this month, Marco Rubio has shot up to the top of the polls. Fleischer said he would place the Florida senator “at the top of the second tier” among RJC donors.
“I think he’s impressed a lot of people,” Fleischer said. “His knowledge of foreign policy is deep and for this audience it’s especially powerful.”
But Fleischer emphasized the 2016 GOP primary race itself remains “wild and wide open.”
“For the first time in my life, there is zero frontrunner — none,” he said. “There may be a top tier, but the only thing that separates the top tier from the second tier is a couple percentage points.”
Speaking of the Democratic primary contest, Fleischer argued that frontrunner Hillary Clinton is not as inevitable to win the nomination as some believe her to be.
“I will say this ‘til I’m blue in the face: The alternative to the Hillary vote will coalesce,” he said. “She is by no means a lock in win.”
“There will be a movement, an alternative to Hillary movement, especially if there is only one candidate against her,” he continued. “That’s her worst nightmare. She needs 2-3 candidates to divide the anti-Hillary vote.”
Fleischer says he thinks former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley may be the guy who can bring Hillary down.
“I think you got to keep your eye on O’Malley,” he said. “And what it will be is not yet a pro-O’Malley vote; it will be a anti-Hillary coalescence.”
The first step for O’Malley, Fleischer says, is to defeat Hillary in Iowa, where he believes the former secretary of state and first lady is most vulnerable.
“She came in third last time and when you lose to John Edwards once, you’re not as good as you think you are,” Fleischer said.”Hillary is in first because she’s in first. She’s inevitable because she’s inevitable. If she loses the Iowa caucus, serious questions come up about her inevitability.”