President Obama raises more money from Wall Street than 2012 Republican presidential candidates

Washington Post

Despite frosty relations with the titans of Wall Street, President Obama has still managed to raise far more money this year from the financial and banking sector than Mitt Romney or any other Republican presidential candidate, according to new fundraising data.

Obama’s key advantage is his ability to collect bigger checks from fewer donors, because he raises money for both his own campaign committee and for the Democratic National Committee, which will aid in his reelection effort. As a result, Obama has brought in more money from employees of banks, hedge funds and other financial service companies than all the other GOP candidates combined, according to a Washington Post analysis of contribution data.

Consider the case of Bain Capital, the Boston-based private equity firm that was co-founded by Romney and where he made his fortune. Not surprisingly, Romney has strong support at the firm, raking in $34,000 from 18 Bain employees, according to the analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

But Obama has outdone Romney on his own turf, collecting $76,600 from Bain Capital employees through September — and he only needed three donors to do it.

This fundraising edge might seem counterintuitive in light of Obama’s thorny relations with business groups and Wall Street executives, who strongly opposed his financial reform law and have bristled at proposals to close corporate tax loopholes and raise income taxes on millionaires. In fact, he has raised just $3.9 million from the finance sector for his campaign committee itself, aside from the DNC, compared with Romney’s $7.5 million.

Still, Obama retains a persistent reservoir of support among a number of Democratic financiers who have backed him since he was an underdog presidential candidate. He also can draw upon the unique abilities of an incumbent president to raise money from avid supporters.

Obama’s ties to Wall Street donors could complicate Democratic plans to paint Republicans as puppets of the financial industry, particularly in light of the left-leaning “Occupy Wall Street” protests that have gone global over the past week. In response to the protests, the Obama campaign and other Democrats have stepped up their attacks on Romney and other Republicans for their opposition to Wall Street regulations.

One top banking executive who raises money for Obama, who requested anonymity to discuss fundraising efforts, said reports of disaffection with the president “are exaggerated and overblown.” He said a strong contingent of financiers in New York, Chicago and California remain supportive of Obama and his economic policies, even as some have turned on him.

But, this donor also acknowledged, “it probably helps from a political perspective if he’s not seen as a Wall Street guy.”

None of this means that Obama doesn’t face troubles with Wall Street donors, who have emerged in recent years as among the most important sources of campaign cash for major national politicians.

Obama’s campaign committee, without the DNC, has raised notably less money from major banking firms such as Goldman Sachs, whose employees gave him more than $1 million in the 2008 cycle. So far this year, about two dozen Goldman employees together have given Obama’s committee about $45,000, one-sixth of the amount Romney’s campaign has taken in.

But six Goldman employees also gave a total of $92,000 to the DNC side of Obama’s fundraising effort.

Unlike the Republican candidates, Obama can raise money for both his own campaign account, which can take donations up to $5,000 for the 2012 cycle, and for the DNC, which can accept $30,800 per individual each calendar year. The same donors will be able to give another $30,800 to the DNC next year as well.

The end result is more money from fewer donors: Obama has raised a total of $15.6 million from employees in the finance sector, according to the Post analysis. Nearly $12 million of that went to the DNC, the analysis shows.

Romney has raised less than half that much, or about $7.5 million, from the industry, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry brought in close to $2 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. No other Republican candidate has raised more than $400,000 from the finance sector, which also includes insurance and real-estate interests.

Romney is particularly reliant on money from the finance sector, which accounts for about a quarter of his total contributions, the data shows. By contrast, about 5 percent of the $90 million raised by Obama’s campaign committee this year came from the finance sector.

Obama retains a core group of supporters on Wall Street who are central to his fundraising efforts. About a third of Obama’s top 40 fundraisers, who have helped bundle together $500,000 or more in contributions, hail from the finance sector, including big names such as former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine of MF Global, hedge fund manager Orin Kramer and UBS chairman Robert Wolf.

Obama’s chief of staff, William M. Daley, was also vice chairman at J.P. Morgan Chase before coming to the White House this year.

Democrats have ratcheted up their attacks on Republicans for ties to Wall Street in recent weeks as Obama embarked on a nationwide push for his jobs bill, which includes a proposed tax hike for income above $1 million. In one memo on Tuesday, for example, DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse said Romney’s campaign “seems quite proud of the fact that they are leading the money race for campaign cash from Wall Street” and said Romney “will allow them to write their own rules again.”

Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said in a statement that the contributions from financial sector show that many corporate leaders agree with Obama on the need for “an economy that’s built to last, not on loopholes and outsourcing.”

“There are business leaders across industries who agree with the president that steps needed to be taken to ensure that the American people are never again held hostage by risky Wall Street deals that threaten our entire economy,” LaBolt said. “Mitt Romney and all the Republican candidates believe the opposite.”

The DNC and Romney campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.