Who’s Funding McCain?
More than one half of John McCain’s campaign warchest is coming from fundraisers who ‘bundle’ donations. $75.6 million was brought McCain’s campaign by about 500 people. Those figures are through June — July fundraising information has not been released yet.
Barack Obama, in contrast, relied on about 500 fundraisers to bundle donations, as well. But Obama’s bundlers brought in only a fifth of the donations that he has collected — a little more than $50 million.
If you look at the list of McCain’s top fundraisers, nearly a fifth of those 500 people are lobbyists (or work for lobbying firms). A lot of the names on the list have connections to to some interesting people, making you wonder just what they expect to get for their donations down the line.
Tom Loeffler, for instance, is listed among McCain’s top fundraisers. Loeffler is also known as the main lobbyist for the Loeffler Group, a lobbying firm. The Loeffler Group’s clients include Saudi Arabia.
