WaPo: The 2016 megadonors

[portlander23]

The 2016 megadonors

Independent groups fueled by unlimited donations are driving the action in the 2016 presidential race. Super PACs and other groups allied with specific candidates raised nearly $290 million through June 30 -- more than two times the $131 million donated directly to the campaigns of the Republican and Democratic candidates. A large share of the outside money was given by megadonors who contributed six- and seven-figure sums.

You have to follow the link and see the charts to truly do this justice.

The big takeaways:

1. Jeb Bush is sitting on Scrooge McDuck amounts of dark money.

$108.5m raised by 2 aligned organizations
Right to Rise ($103.2m)
Right to Rise PAC ($5.4m)

2. Of the top five people in the list, the first four are Republicans, one is a Democrat

Jeb Bush $108.5m raised by 2 aligned organizations
Ted Cruz $37.8m raised by 4 aligned organizations
Scott Walker $26.2m raised by 2 aligned organizations
Marco Rubio $17.3m raised by 2 aligned organizations
Hillary Clinton $17.1m raised by 2 aligned organizations

3. Holy shit no seriously look at Jeb's pile of cash compared to everyone else.



Walker, Rubio, and Clinton are in the same ballpark. Cruz is definitely ahead. Bush has more than the next four combined.

4. Bernie Sanders is not on the list. At all. No dark money. In spite of this, he's managed to become the front-runner in the early states. That's not to say that he definitely can go all the way against war chests like these, but you have to admit it's pretty impressive. He's said that he's not sure himself if it's possible to win an election without this kind of money, but bless him for trying. I hope he can do it.

5. Trump is also not on the list, but it's face it. He's his own Super PAC as he's so fond of pointing out.

6. Ben Carson is last on the list

$100k raised by 1 aligned organization

He's also surging in the polls. This leads credence to the Bernie view of the world that maybe you don't need all the dark money. We'll have to wait and see how that plays out.

5. Right now there's about $17.4m total for Democratic candidates. There's about $266.2m for Republicans. You have to wonder what happens with dark money on the GOP side after someone is nominated. Will it flock to one candidate or disperse?

6. There's almost $300m of dark money corrupting the campaign on both sides. People don't spend that kind of money unless they expect to get something in return.

That's got to be an awfully big something.

[davidpdx]

1. Yep, there is something seriously wrong

We have 21 candidates left running for president and almost all of them are accepting dark money. I believe only 1 of them is serious about changing that, the other 20 may pay it lip service but they are so deep into the wallets of the 1% they'll never get out.

[YabaDabaNoDinoNo]

2. Super PAC's follow the money and clearly see who is for sale and who can be BOUGHT OFF

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. At least we get to see who is buying the election

Jeb: the Fernadez family (MBF Healthcare partners): $3.1m
Ray and Nancy Hunt (Hunt Consolidated) $2m
Rooney Holdings: $2m https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rooney
Trevor Rees-Jones $2m Chief Oil & Gas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_Rees-Jones
etc.