Washington – A deep-pocketed casino mogul is pouring a $10 million infusion of cash into a group backing Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s cause just as the Romney campaign makes its largest ad buy since becoming the all-but-certain GOP challenger to President Barack Obama.
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Billionaire Sheldon Adelson made the $10 million contribution to Restore Our Future, an independent group running ads that support Romney’s campaign, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. They spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday because they were not authorized to discuss Adelson’s plans publicly
At the same time, Romney’s campaign is spending $3.3 million to run television ads this week in seven general election battleground states. The ads began running Wednesday and will continue through the week in Colorado, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia, according to officials who track ad purchases. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the Romney campaign has not announced the advertising plan.
While Romney’s team has run ads outlining what a Romney administration would do in its first days in office, his campaign largely left televised attacks to Restore Our Future and to Crossroads GPS, a conservative-leaning group tied to former President George W. Bush’s longtime political director Karl Rove. Both groups have been running negative ads against Obama in battleground states for several weeks.
Restore Our Future is staffed by former Romney advisers. The group has spent at least $46 million on ads backing the former Massachusetts governor during the Republican primary and since he emerged as Obama’s presumptive challenger.
A pair of 2010 court rulings significantly eased campaign spending rules, allowing corporations and wealthy individuals to contribute heavily to super PACs and other independent groups. Such groups raise and spend money freely on advertising but are legally prohibited from coordinating with the campaigns they support.
So far, the vast majority of independent groups have supported Republican candidates. Priorities USA Action, formed by former Obama White House staffers to promote Obama’s re-election effort, has struggled to raise money and keep pace with its GOP-leaning counterparts.
Adelson and his family contributed $21 million to a super PAC promoting Newt Gingrich during the Republican nominating contest. Gingrich suspended his campaign last month and endorsed Romney.
Since then, Adelson has told associates he would continue contributing to Republican causes but would consider giving only to groups with nonprofit arms that are not required to disclose their donors. Restore Our Future runs such a nonprofit in addition to a super PAC that is required to disclose its donors. It was not immediately clear whether Adelson’s contribution went to the super PAC or the nonprofit.
Adelson and his wife, Miriam, are among the most generous super PAC donors this election cycle, the first in which billionaires have a green light to give unlimited sums of cash to groups that support their favored candidates. They’re among a handful of wealthy Republican donors, including Texans Harold Simmons and Bob Perry.
The Romney campaign ad buy was first reported by CNN. The Adelson contribution to Restore Our Future was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Thank you, sir. But you’re an idiot. While anyone with half-a-brain wants to see Obama defeated, your name associated with anything only adds unwanted stink to it. You’re a clown who got rich hosting pornography conventions. Your name has corruption and pay-for-influence all over it. Everyone in the country knows how you buy influence in Washington.
The last thing Romney needs is to get your stink on him. STAY AWAY!
The epitomy of sleaze and stupidity
I wonder. if I decide to run for prez, would he give me 10 million as well???
Did Newt give him a refund? Seriously, his money would be better spent at his casinos…
Thank you so much!
Help defeat Obama.
I agree with #6 … why is everyone so quick to criticize?
This is a Jewish man so maybe we should act a little more respectably , no?
He has given $25 million to Yad Vashem, $100 million to Birthright, $7.5 million to neurological research, amongst other things.
My goodness. Let’s be a little kinder maybe….
Something about Sheldon Adelson really gets my yiddishkeit in high gear. After all, he is a really rich jewish guy and he even has a newspaper in Israel. But unfortunately, I have seen first hand the heresy and damage of this gambling thing and I just can not amass enough of a fortune to keep guys like Sheldon in business. So if you ask me, I think I’ll keep my vote on the democrat side as the ideals and worth of a casino mogul leading the way just do not stimulate my own soul to the extent that I think that republicans are our future at this time. Sorry Sheldon. Go gamble somewhere else.
A few weeks ago I strongly resented sheldon Adelson for building a luxury resort in China. But now, since he is funding Romney big time to defeat the KIng of Sheba (or more accurately of sh___
), I say let the Chinese fund the Romney campaign and after he gets into office let him wreak economic destruction on the Chinese. What do I have against a few billion chinese? Nothing. Its just that their government likes to execute innocent people. If a Government is evil, the people must rise up or fall with it.