US 2012: All the President's Money Men

Election 2012: All the President's Money Men

The largest political action committees, dubbed Super Pacs, will have a huge influence on this year's general election in November. They are already influencing the Republican primary race by bombarding the public with seemingly endless rounds of attack ads, much to Newt Gingrich's displeasure.

International Business Times UK takes a look at the largest donors behind each super Pac and how much each group has in its war chest.

Photo:Reuters John Paulson, the American hedge fund manager, is the chief contributor to the Super Pac Restore Our Future. The Romney support group is the largest Pac and has raised over $30m (£19m). Most of the money has been used to pepper local TV stations with attack ads, which, by and large, have been very effective.

Restore Our Future (Supports Romney) - $30,179,653

John Paulson, the American hedge fund manager, is the leading sole contributor of the Super PAC Restore Our Future. The Romney support group is the largest PAC and has raised over $30m. Most of the money has been used to pepper local TV stations with attack ads and in large have been very effective.

Photo:Reuters B Wayne Hughes, the founder of Public Storage, donated $2.3m (£1.45m) to American Crossroads – a Super Pac that opposes Barack Obama. It is the second largest political action committee in the United States and is worth $18.4m. In addition to being involved in the race for the White House, the 79-year-old Hughes is keen on racehorses.

American Crossroads (Opposes Obama) - $18,368,102

B. Wayne Hughes, the founder of Public Storage, donated $2.3m to American Crossroads – a super PAC that opposes Barack Obama. It is the second largest political action committee in the USA worth $18.4m. The 79-year old is also very keen on racehorses having been involved with the sport over the last 40 years.

Photo:Reuters Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg's partner in DreamWorks, last year donated $2m (£1.25m) to Priorities USA Action, making him the group's single largest supporter. Spielberg and Katzenberg are stalwarts of the Democrat Party.

Priorities USA Action (Obama Support) - $4,400,616

Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg's partner in Dreamworks, last year donated $2 million to Priorities USA Action, making him the group's single largest donor. Spielberg and Katzenberg are longtime supporters of Democratic causes.

Photo:Reuters Another anti-Obama Super Pac is funded by private individual donations from Tea Party activists focusing on the budget and spending as their core issues. The tobacco giant Philip Morris is said to have made considerable donations to the group, with chairman and CEO Geoffrey Bible running the show.

FreedomWorks for America (Oppose Obama) - $2,697,973

Another anti-Obama super PAC is funded by private individual donation from Tea Party activists focusing on budget and spending as their core issue.
The tobacco giant, Philip Morris, is said to have made considerable donations to the group with Chairman and CEO Geoffrey Bible (pictured) running the show.

Photo:Reuters Much has been made of Newt Gingrich’s efforts to raise finance to counter-attack Mitt Romney during the primaries. Largely thanks to the help of billionaire casino executive Sheldon Adelson, the CEO of the Las Vegas Sands, the former speaker has been able to propel himself to a position in which he is within a shout of winning the Republican nomination. Adelson, 78, has donated $10m (£6m) of his personal wealth into the Super Pac Winning Our Future. (Donations have not appeared on the latest filing because the reporting period covered just 2011.). As Gingrich’s campaign account is now hovering around $1m, he faces possible elimination from the race after Super Tuesday on 6 March.

Winning our Future (Support Gingrich) - $2,087,171

Much has been made of Newt Gingrich’s efforts to raise finance to counter attack Mitt Romney during the primaries. Largely thanks to the help of billionaire Sheldon Adelson, the CEO of Las Vegas Sands, the former speaker has been able to propel himself to be in a shout of winning the nomination. The 78 year old donated $10m of his personal wealth into the super Pac Winning our Future (Donations have not appeared on the latest filing because the reporting period covered just 2011). But as Gingrich’s bank account hovers around $1m now, he faces elimination from the race after Super Tuesday on 6 March.