The Center for Public Integrity

Winning Our Future, the super PAC associated with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and credited with keeping his campaign alive, raised $2.1 million in 2011, according to a report filed Tuesday night with the Federal Election Commission.

The group is best known for its top patron, casino owner and billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who, together with his wife, have given it $10 million. But the most recent FEC report is through the end of 2011 and those contributions have yet to be reported.

The group ended the year with a healthy $1.2 million in the bank. It spent heavily in January, to little effect, apparently. Gingrich was soundly defeated in the crucial Florida primary Tuesday.

Even without Adelson, the super PAC drew support from a handful of wealthy donors. Harold Simmons, whose Contran Corp. also donated $1 million to the pro-Perry “Make Us Great Again” super PAC, gave $500,000 to the pro-Gingrich group, as did W.S. Probst of Huntsville, Ala.

While Sheldon and wife didn't make any donations, it appears members of their family did.

Sivan Ochshorn, Adelson’s step-daughter, gave $500,000. Yasmin Lukatz, Adelson’s niece, who is now head of marketing at tech startup Evo and a former “Special Assistant to the Chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands” kicked in $250,000 as did husband Oren Lukatz, a photographer.

The two are frequent Republican donors.

A handful of Democratic super PACs and nonprofits reported raising together just over $19 million last year, a paltry sum compared to the leading GOP groups.

The groups formed last year to help President Barack Obama win a second term and improve Democrats’ congressional fortunes.

The total is based on a joint press release the groups issued Tuesday evening. It includes more than $6.7 million for Priorities USA and Priorities USA Action, started in early 2011 by two former White House aides, Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney — a slow start toward their goal of roping in $100 million to spend this election year. 

In the first half of last year, the two groups backing Obama raised over $5 million, which underscores their lackluster results in the second half.

Federal Election Commission filings show Priorites raised $1.2 million in the fourth quarter, which included $500,000 from the Service Employees International Union and $100,000 from movie director Steven Spielberg.

Two other groups, American Bridge 21st Century and American Bridge 21st Century Foundation, which are providing opposition research to help Obama and congressional candidates, reported that they had raised $6.5 million last year.

Founded by David Brock, the former conservative activist turned liberal firebrand, these two groups are shooting to raise between $15 million and $20 million this election season.

Of their $6.5 million, more than half or $3.7 million, was donated to the super PAC American Bridge 21st Century according to fundraising sources familiar with the results. And $2.7 million went to the foundation, a non-profit arm that doesn’t have to disclose donors’ names.

The patriotically named Red White and Blue Fund, a super PAC created to support former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum's bid for the White House, only managed to raise about $730,000, according to a Federal Election Commission filing.

Of the total, $331,000 came from Foster Friess, an investor from Jackson, Wyoming.

Thus far, all the group's spending has been in support of Santorum, with one big exception. The day before the South Carolina primary, the group spent $1.1 million on an anti-Gingrich telephone campaign, according to FEC records.

Friess told iWatch News Tuesday that he donated at least another $250,000 in January to match what the fund raised from a recent mailing soliciting support from a group of 5,000 "sportsmen."

“We just sent a second mailing to the same list,” Friess said, noting that he’ll match the funds that this mailing brings in as well.

Mitt Romney cemented his position as the favorite to win the GOP nomination with a first-place finish in Florida Tuesday thanks in no small part to an outside spending group that raised $30 million last year, more than the campaigns of any one of his rivals.

"Restore Our Future" raised nearly $18 million in the second half of 2011 to go with the $12.2 million the group brought in for the first half of the year. The group has spent $17.5 million so far in the primary races, just about double that of pro-Gingrich group "Winning Our Future." The super PAC has poured millions of dollars into advertising criticizing the former House Speaker.

The investment industry was far and away the most generous donor to the pro-Romney campaign. Donors included included several buddies from his old employer, Bain Capital, who gave a combined $750,000.

The top donors were Julian Robertson of Tiger Management LLC and Paul Singer of Elliott Management Corp. Both gave $1 million. Robertson is a hedge fund pioneer and wealthy investor. Singer is known for buying other nations' bad debt and collecting on it for a profit. Rooney Holdings Inc., a Tulsa, Oklahoma, construction company, also gave $1 million.

Chris Shumway of Shumway Capital Management gave $750,000. Bob Perry, a homebuilder whose capacity for giving to GOP causes seems endless, gave the group $500,000.

Restore Our Future was co-founded by Carl Forti, Romney’s 2008 political director. It also employs Charles Spies as treasurer, Romney’s chief financial officer and counsel in 2008.

The organization was created thanks to a Supreme Court ruling that allowed political organizations to collect unlimited amounts from wealthy donors, corporations and labor unions and use those funds to either support or defeat a candidate. These so-called 'super PACs' appear poised to play a major role in elections this year.

Midnight Jan. 31 was the deadline for super PACs and presidential campaigns to file their end-of-the-year financial disclosure statements with the Federal Election Commission. To get a look at some of last night's action, iWatch News pulled together the most revealing takeaways from campaign spending during the year 2011.

Super PAC American Crossroads and its sister organization raised more than $51 million last year with more than 60 percent of the total flowing into Crossroads GPS, the nonprofit arm that is not required to report its donors.

American Crossroads, a super PAC that reports to the Federal Election Commission, raked in $18.4 million last year, including a $5 million donation from Texas tycoon Harold Simmons, plus another $2 million from Contran, a company that he controls, according to Crossroads sources.

Crossroads GPS, the nonprofit group that shares leadership and offices with American Crossroads, pulled in $31.6 million last year, a ratio similar to what the two groups accounted for in 2010 when they raised a combined $71 million.

The two Republican groups were launched in 2010 by GOP super consultants Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie.

They are now getting fundraising help from former Mississippi Governor and ex-party chairman Haley Barbour. The groups have publicly said that they’re shooting to raise at least $240 million to help the GOP win the White House and control both houses of Congress.

Donors and fundraisers who have been solicited by Barbour and other group leaders, say that privately the two Crossroads groups are aiming for $300 million, the most ambitious outside effort underway.

Currently plans call for spending about half the funds to help take the White House, and the rest to win the Senate and keep the House, say fundraisers close to the groups.

The Crossroads groups appear to be the biggest beneficiaries of court rulings in 2010 that permitted corporations, individuals and unions to give unlimited amounts to groups that expressly advocate for or against candidates.

"Make Us Great Again," the presidential super PAC that supported Texas Gov. Rick Perry, raised $5.5 million, according to election reports filed Tuesday with a big chunk of the funds coming from energy companies.

Oil companies and executives dominated the list of contributors giving at least $1.3 million, according to a Center for Public Integrity review of the government filing.

The largest amount given by a single donor was from Contran Corp., of Dallas, which gave two $500,000 contributions for a total of $1 million.  Contran Corp. is a large holding company with diverse interests. It is controlled by Texas billionaire and mega-donor Harold Simmons who has supported Perry in Texas politics.

Such corporate contributions would be illegal were it not for the Citizens United Supreme Court decision in 2010, which allowed corporations and labor unions to fund ads to support or oppose a candidate. 

Make us Great Again was founded by Mike Toomey, a former chief of staff to Perry. Toomey gave $100,000 to the super PAC as did Texas homebuilder Bob Perry. The group ran mostly positive ads showing Perry in a favorable light.

The closeness of the super PAC to Perry’s campaign was cause for some controversy, leading several good government groups to file a complaint with the FEC. The groups claimed that Make Us Great Again shared video with the Perry campaign to be used in advertisements.

Perry endorsed Newt Gingrich when he dropped out of the race. He is not term limited in Texas and may make another run for governor.

The super PAC reported $605,000 cash on hand.

Herman Cain, barely two weeks after suspending his presidential bid, founded his own super PAC called Cain Connections.

The problem is that Herman Cain may — by the letter of the law — still be an active presidential candidate.

“Suspending” one’s campaign means nothing legally to the Federal Election Commission, according to the agency. Cain has not filed to terminate his campaign committee with the FEC, nor has he publicly announced the definitive end of his campaign.

In fact, he was on Tuesday's Florida primary ballot.

Nine days after Cain Connections’ inception, it had its first contribution — $50,000 from real estate magnate and former New York Post publisher Peter Kalikow. Super PACs, which cannot spend money in coordination with a particular candidate’s campaign, can accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations and unions.

But because Cain himself is running the super PAC, some questions of legality arise.

Paul Ryan, at the Campaign Legal Center, said that if Herman Cain is indeed still an active candidate, Cain Connections’ acceptance of the $50,000 contribution would be a violation of campaign finance law.

That $50,000 contribution to his super PAC could be seen as a $50,000 contribution to Cain’s campaign. The legal limit is $2,500 per candidate per election.