Pro-Romney PAC raises more than pro-Obama group
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s supporters are accustomed to trouncing opponents in every race for campaign cash — until now.
Republican primary contender Mitt Romney’s supporters have donated more than twice as much money to an outside committee dedicated to boosting his campaign than Obama’s backers did for his outside groups.
According to financial disclosure reports, Restore Our Future, a pro-Romney committee, raised $12.3 million in the first half of the year, mostly through large donations of more than $10,000.
Priorities USA Action, an Obama-centric committee, took in $3.1 million, more than half from Jeffrey Katzenberg, chief executive officer of DreamWorks Animation, who helped found the group. When Priorities USA Action’s donations are added to its companion group, Priorities USA, which doesn’t disclose its donors, the combined total raised to support Obama’s re-election is about $5 million, according to a news release from the group.
Obama and Romney are the only presidential candidates whose supporters have created such entities to help their campaigns. Romney’s backers had a head start in the money race. They began collecting donations in January, while the pro-Obama groups didn’t open their doors until April.
Obama’s advocates are planning for a general election clash with Republican groups formed last year with the help of Karl Rove, the top political adviser to former President George W. Bush.
Restore Our Future can use its money to support Romney during the primary season, giving him an opportunity to preserve resources in his quest for the Republican nomination and in the general election, if he is the nominee.
The political action committees are independent groups that cannot legally coordinate with the candidates and campaign committees. Even so, both are comprised of former aides who are familiar with their former employers’ campaign themes and messages.
Restore Our Future’s treasurer is Charles R. Spies, who was Romney’s general counsel in the 2008 Republican primary. Its board of directors includes Carl Forti, who was political director for Romney’s primary campaign three years ago.
Priorities USA Action is a pro-Obama committee founded in April by Bill Burton, a former White House spokesman, and Sean Sweeney, a former senior White House adviser.
The pro-Romney PAC’s advantage over Obama’s supporters isn’t matched by the candidate.
The president’s campaign, Obama for America, said on July 13 it took in $47 million in the second quarter, mostly through donations of $250 or less. The Democratic National Committee raised more than $38 million.
Romney’s campaign raised $18.3 million in the same period and the Republican National Committee has raised $37 million this year. Much of Romney’s support came from the financial industry, which had been a cornerstone of Obama’s fundraising success during his 2008 presidential campaign. Wall Street investors also were big contributors to the pro-Romney independent group.
Hedge fund manager John Paulson, who made money during the financial crisis betting against subprime mortgages, was one of four $1 million donors to the Restore Our Future PAC. The other three are corporations: F8 and Eli Publishing, both listed at the same address in Provo, Utah; and W. Spann of New York.
Paul Edgerley, a managing director of Bain Capital, the company Romney founded, and his wife Sandra, each contributed $500,000 to the Restore Our Future PAC.
J.W. Marriott, chairman and CEO of Marriott International Inc.; his brother Richard Marriott, chairman of Host Hotels and Resorts; and Louis Moore Bacon, CEO of Moore Capital Management in New York, each wrote the pro-Romney group a $500,000 check.
The group’s total donations came from fewer than 100 donors, many of whom wrote checks for $100,000 or more. The smallest contribution was $3,500, more than the legal limit of $2,500 per election that an individual can donate to a candidate.
In the Democrats’ report, Katzenberg donated $2 million to Priorities USA Action. Media executive and philanthropist Fred Eychaner and the Service Employees International Union were the second-largest donors at $500,000.
Lobbyists are also among the organization’s donors. Steve Elmendorf, founder of Elmendorf Ryan and a former adviser to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 Democratic presidential primary campaign, and David Castagnetti, a partner at Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti Inc. and an adviser to the 2004 presidential campaign of Democrat John Kerry, each donated $5,000.