Romney Super PAC's Ad War Cost $14 Million in January

Associated Press
Elspeth Reeve 515 Views Feb 20, 2012

The pro-Mitt Romney superPAC's ad war against his two main opponents cost it $14 million in January, The New York Times reports. The group, Restore Our Future raised $7 million, $5 million of it from just 25 people and corporations. Some of its biggest donations from Marriott and Walmart heirs, with smaller donations of $500,000-a-piece from "Joseph W. Craft, an Oklahoma mining executive; Bruce Kovner, a billionaire hedge fund founder from New York; and David Lisonbee, the founder of a Utah vitamin supplements company," according to The Times' Nicholas Confessore.

While that's a lot of money from very few people, Romney's competitors' super PACs are getting their money from even fewer sources. PayPal founder Peter Thiel donated 73 percent of the $2.3 million Ron Paul's super PAC raised. Sheldon Adelson, whose family has given $10 million to Newt Gingrich, recently promised to give $10 million more, if only to hurt Rick Santorum.

What did the Romney supporters buy with their donations? A whole bunch of negative ads. In Florida, for example, Romney and his allies ran a single positive ad, on a Spanish radio station.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at ereeve at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

Related Articles   More by Elspeth Reeve

GOP Debate: Perry Forgets Things

Republican Candidates Finish Flirting with Isolationism

GOP Debate: Finally Taking It to Romney

 

The IRS Scandal Was First Revealed by an IRS Official Asking to Be Asked About It

So Who Lied to ABC News About the Benghazi Emails?

Elsewhere on the Web

User Comments

Please type your comment and click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be prompted to log in or register

  • The Atlantic Wire on Twitter
  • The Atlantic Wire RSS Feed
  • The Atlantic Wire iPhone App