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YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Super PACs See Super Donations

    By Shawn Humphrey | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Sat, Feb 4, 2012
    This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.
    Do you have a story to tell? Become a Yahoo! contributor

    Presidential candidates are benefiting from huge donations through Super PACs, and Stephen Colbert called out the top 22 donors on his show the "Colbert Report" on Friday.

    Super PACs were recently required to disclose details about the money going into the political process, but in some cases the disclosures remained secretive, thanks to the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision.

    Here's some of the facts uncovered thanks to the recent deadline.

    * The New York Times notes President Barack Obama outraises all other candidates when it comes to money that is in campaign coffers. This doesn't account for the Super PAC money that is legally not allowed to directly coordinate directly with candidates. Despite that restriction, they are free to advertise for their candidates.

    * According to the Sunlight Foundation, two top donors were PayPal co-founders Peter Thiel and Luke Nosek. Thiel is among the top 22 donors, having given $900,000.

    * Outspending all other comers was Harold Simmons, who gave the Super PAC American Crossroads $5.5 million. His firm Contran Corp. is reported by the Colbert Report to have given $3 million.

    * Melaleuca, a cleaning products company, gave former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney $1 million.

    * Individuals associated with Bain Capital gave a total of $750,000 toward the Romney campaign.

    * Million-dollar donors, as recorded by the "Colbert Report" over the strains of Romney singing "America the Beautiful," were John Paulson, Edward Conrad, Julian Robertson, Paul Singer, and Robert Mercer. Former candidate Jon Huntsman's father gave $1,887,040 and donor Bob Perry gave $3.6 million.

    * Oxbow Carbon gave $750,000, and its creator Bob Koch gave $250,000 to Restore Our Future, a Romney supporter. Bob Koch is a brother of the Koch brothers of Koch Industries.

    * Colbert's Super PAC "Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow" has $1,023,121. Colbert's PAC was briefly in the hands of "The Daily Show"'s Jon Stewart while Colbert ran for self-proclaimed president of the "United States of South Carolina." He was ultimately unable to file in the state.

    Shawn Humphrey is a former contributor to The Flint Journal and lives near Washington in Gaithersburg, Md.

     

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