Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Here's who is bankrolling the top presidential candidates

Bernie Sanders is far behind Hillary Clinton in the polls, but the liberal curmudgeon is tied with Clinton in one interesting contest: the number of Google (GOOGL) employees donating to the campaign. Each candidate has received money from 26 Googlers, according to the latest federal fundraising records.

The 2016 presidential election is still 16 months away, but the fundraising push is in high gear, given that the winner may need $1 billion or more to win the White House. Candidates and groups supporting them are likely to spend the most money ever in a presidential campaign, partly because the Faustian innovation known as super PACs allows rich donors to give unlimited amounts to groups affiliated with candidates they support.

Two super PACs supporting Jeb Bush, the presumed Republican front-runner, have raised a whopping $108 million so far, according to the Bush campaign. They could pull in several multiples of that by Election Day. Super PACs supporting Hillary Clinton, Bush’s Democratic counterpart, have raised just $24 million so far, though Clinton’s campaign proper has outraised Bush's by more than 4 to 1.

More

No comments: