July 23, 2012

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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WE'LL BE BLUNT

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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