Donors from the finance, insurance and real estate (FIRE) industries have given former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney more than $7.5 million, making them his top campaign funding group, according to a new analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP).
The $7.5 million in FIRE money makes up 23.4 percent of Romney’s total donations of $32.2 million to date in his second quest for the White House.
The FIRE segment was also the largest sector for Rick Santorum, but, at $154,400, or 12 percent of his total, the former Pennsylvania senator trails Romney in fund raising by a large margin.
Another second-tier candidate, former Utah Gov. Jopn Huntsman, also drew his largest single chunk of donors from the FIRE sector, at $400,000, or just under nine percent of all of his contributions to date.
Romney, who formerly headed a Wall Street firm, Bain Capital, that specialized in taking over ailing companies, then either rebuilding them or selling off pieces to other investors, is far outpacing President Obama in attracting Wall Street donors, according to CRP.
“Romney has received nearly twice as much as Obama from the finance, insurance and real estate sector, according to the Center’s preliminary analysis. Still, Obama has raised about $3.9 million from the FIRE sector — about 4.4 percent of his overall $89 million war chest,” CRP said.
“During his 2008 presidential bid, the finance sector donated more than $42 million to Obama’s campaign, and Wall Street interests alone contributed more than $15 million. Since then, as president, Obama pushed threw financial regulatory reform legislation, which he has touted as containing the “strongest consumer protections in history” — much to the consternation of the finance community,” according to CRP.
For more on Romney’s time at Bain and other aspects of his experience prior to seeking the White House, see Examiner columnist Michael Barone here. And for Obama campaign strategiest David Axelrod’s latest take on the GOP race, go here.
The FIRE segment was the second largest source of campaign donations for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, as well as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-MN, and former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain.
For more from CRP, go here.
