Though administration officials declined to discuss their negotiating position, they said Mr. Bush has focused for months on improving, rather than increasing, foreign aid.
Mr. Ney announced he would withdraw from the race a week ago, citing the strain of an intensifying corruption investigation that has focused for months on his dealings with lobbyists.
The group has been focused for months on persuading lawmakers that, unlike big banks, hedge funds do not pose a systemic risk to the economy.
The F.B.I.'s investigation focused for months on another former Fort Detrick scientist, Steven J. Hatfill, who later sued the Justice Department and the F.B.I. for leaking confidential information about him and received a settlement worth $4.6 million in June 2008.
Mr. Johnson said the Cruz campaign had begun on a shoestring budget and focused for months on building relationships among a far-flung network of Tea Party activists who now make up the campaign's most fervent supporters.
But the Democratic party has been focused for months on Mr. Romney, in part because of the Republican's own strategy to ignore his rivals and aim his criticisms mostly at President Obama.
Investigators have focused for months on gifts that the Tomassos provided to the governor, including gutters and drains for his Litchfield cottage in the months before the Ohio trip, and a heavily discounted vacation while they were vying for the job.
The Justice Department's inspector general has been focused for months on why Andrew McCabe, as the No. 2 official at the FBI, appeared not to act for about three weeks on a request to examine a batch of Hillary Clinton-remails emails found in the latter stages of the 2016 election campaign, according to people familiar with the matter.
-- DOJ's inspector general has been focused for "months" on deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe's role in the final stretch of the 2016 election, and why he appeared not to act for several weeks on a request to examine a batch of Clinton-related emails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop.
