Now that elections have turned into a battle of the billionaires (or maybe the ones with 100s of millions), Obama and Democrats have two major hopes. One is that small donations can add up, and they can, so we need to give where we can. The other is extremely wealthy people who contribute against their immediate class interst for reasons of ideals they hold.
TPM has a list of several ones who have given $1M or more to Democratic SuperPacs.
Here are a few:
Jeffrey Katzenberg
•Total Donations To Outside Spending Groups: $2,125,00
•Recipients: Priorities USA Action ($2,000,000), Majority PAC ($100,000), Committee Elect Effective Valley Congressman ($25,000)
•Total 2012 Spending: $2,190,300
snip
DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, known for his hand in box office hits like “Beauty and the Beast” and “Shrek,” makes no secret of his political leanings.
Amy Goldman
•Total Outside Group Spending: $2,000,000
•Recipients: Priorities USA Action ($1,000,000), Planned Parenthood Votes ($1,000,000)
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An heir to one of New York’s largest real estate fortunes, a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, a philanthropist, and a “well-known advocate for heirloom fruits and vegetables,” Amy Goldman is perhaps the biggest Democratic donor you’ve never heard of.
James H. Simons
•Total Outside Group Spending: $1,500,000
•Recipients: Majority PAC ($1,500,000)
snip
Number 30 on Forbes’ list of the richest people in America, James H. Simons, net worth of $10.7 billion, founded Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund “dedicated to producing superior returns for its clients and employees by adhering to mathematical and statistical methods.”
Known by some as the “quant king,” Simons holds a B.S. in mathematics from MIT and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley. Earlier in his career, he taught mathematics at MIT and Harvard, and worked as a cryptanalyst at the Institute of Defense Analyses in Princeton.
Fred Eychaner
•Total Outside Group Spending: $1,300,000
•Recipients: Priorities USA Action ($500,000), Majority PAC ($350,000), House Majority PAC ($250,000), America Votes Action Fund ($200,000
[described as a media mogul]
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Bill Maher
•Total Outside Group Spending: $1,000,000
•Recipients: Priorities USA Action ($1,000,000)
[You know who he is]
Kareem Ahmed
•Total Outside Group Spending: $1,000,000
•Recipients: Priorities USA Action ($1,000,000)
•Total 2012 Spending: $1,080,800
•Other Recipients: DNC Services Corp ($30,800), Democratic Party of Pennsylvania ($10,000), Bob Casey ($5,000), more.
Kareem Ahmed, CEO of Landmark Medical Management
We will need more. With Republican Super-Pac spending in the 100s of millions, we need idealistic wealthy people to step up and reject what Romney and his cohorts seek to turn this nation into.
It would be nice if working people could compete effectively in the post-Citizen Union landscape, but they don't have much money to spare. Small donations are very important, but when Alderson dumps 10M on Romney's Super-Pac, we need to find an additional way to compete. We can beat Rs so long as we're not outspent by more than 2 to 1 usually, but we need to compete in the air wars.
This is what Justice Kennedy created, overturning the democratic experiment in America by turning it into one dollar, one vote.
I thank Mr. Katzenberg, Ms. Goldman, Mr. Eychaner, Mr. Maher, Mr. Simon, and Mr. Ahmed.
We need George Soros, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and other moderate wealthy people to stand up against the Koch Brothers and Alderson's attempt to subvert democracy in a broad base coalition. That is real patriotism, real decency.