This morning, Romney told CNN that “I’m not concerned about the very rich, they’re doing just fine“. He has reason to know:
Close to 60 corporations and wealthy individuals gave checks of $100,000 or more to a “super PAC” supporting Mitt Romney in the months leading up to the Iowa caucuses, according to documents released on Tuesday, underwriting a $17 million blitz of advertising that has swamped his Republican rivals in the early primary states…
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Millions of dollars came from financial industry executives, including Mr. Romney’s former colleagues at Bain Capital, who contributed a total of $750,000; senior executives at Goldman Sachs, who contributed $385,000; and some of the most prominent and politically active Republicans in the hedge fund world, three of whom gave $1 million each: Robert Mercer of Renaissance Technologies; Paul Singer of Elliott Management, and Julian Robertson of Tiger Management.
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Harlan Crow, the Texas construction magnate, gave $300,000 personally and through his company. William Koch, whose brothers Charles and David are among the country’s most prominent backers of conservative causes, gave $1 million personally or through Oxbow Carbon, the energy company he founded. Members of the Walton family, founders of the Walmart chain, gave over $200,000, while Bob Perry — a wealthy home builder who has long been the top patron of Mr. Romney’s erstwhile rival, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas — chipped in $500,000 in early December…
… The filings also revealed how recent court decisions have opened new avenues for corporate contributions into campaign politics, and how narrow the gap has become between the candidates and the theoretically independent super PACs that are backing them.
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Four contributions of $250,000 to Mr. Romney’s super PAC came from affiliates of Melaleuca, an Idaho-based company that manufactures skin and nutritional products. The company’s president and chief executive, Frank VanderSloot, is a national finance co-chairman of the Romney campaign and a fellow graduate of Brigham Young University.
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Some of the group’s other donors have co-hosted fund-raisers for Mr. Romney’s presidential campaign, including William Koch; Lewis M. Eisenberg, an executive at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts; and Stephen Ross, a wealthy New York real estate executive. One of the Goldman executives who donated to Restore Our Future, Jim Donovan, is the same person who handles the Romney family’s considerable investments with the firm, which total as much as $36.7 million…
Shorter Romney: My cherished vampire-squid demographic has captured every other American asset worth counting; shouldn’t we be entitled to the prized CEO position in the Oval Office, as well?