Romney’s Rainmakers Dump Millions Into His Super-PAC

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/newshour/6804705570/sizes/m/in/photostream/">Newshour</a>/Flickr

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June was the best month ever for super-PACs since their creation in 2010. In all, super-PACs large and small reeled in $55 million last month, according to the Sunlight Foundation. That brings their overall haul for the 2012 election cycle to $313 million.

Leading the charge in the outside money wars was Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney super-PAC run by dark-money guru Carl Forti. Restore Our Future raised $21 million in June. Seven families ponied up $15 million of that haul: casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam; Boston financier John Childs; Dallas investor Harlan Crow; the company owned by Bill Koch, brother of the billionaires Charles and David Koch; Houston homebuilder Bob Perry; former Rick Santorum bankroller Foster Friess; and TD Ameritade executive Joe Ricketts.

And in an even more encouraging sign for the Romney super-PAC, USA Today points out that one in 10 donors to Mitt Romney’s campaign have also given to Restore Our Future. Fundraisers says that kind of donor crossover is key to a presidential super-PAC’s success—and that crossover has so far eluded the super-PAC supporting President Obama.

Restore Our Future wasn’t the only GOP super-PAC to notch a record month. American Crossroads, the super-PAC cofounded by Karl Rove, raised $5.7 million in June, including $2 million from Texan Bob Perry. John Childs also chipped in $500,000 to Crossroads last month in addition to the million each he gave to Restore Our Future and the Club for Growth.

Priorities USA Action, the pro-Obama super-PAC, also beat its monthly fundraising record, pulling in $6.2 million. Donors included Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs ($2 million), actor Morgan Freeman ($1 million), and Chicago media executive Fred Eychaner ($1 million).

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It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

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