2012: Gingrich recauda 4 millones en tres meses

Newt Gingrich ha recaudado 4 millones de dólares en el tercer cuarto del año a través de su organización American Solutions. Es mucho en un momento en el que el dinero todavía no está pendiente de la campaña presidencial. Supera en recaudación a todos sus potenciales rivales, pero tiene truco: su organización, a diferencia de los comités de acción política de los otros posibles candidatos, es un grupo 527 que puede recibir donaciones sin límite, incluso de corporaciones. El problema está en que al no ser un comité de acción política tradicional, no puede donar dinero de forma directa a candidatos al Senado o al Congreso, y eso le impide tejer una red de apoyos e influencias como están haciendo Romney, Pawlenty o Palin.

(...) Gingrich’s 527 group, American Solutions for Winning the Future, in the third quarter accepted contributions of $300,000 from the coal giant Peabody Energy, $150,000 from an executive at Ohio’s American Electric Power and $100,000 from investment magnate Charles Schwab.

American Solutions' mission is advocating for less government spending and regulation, but it has come under fire for promoting the interests of its donors, including by opposing legislation to limit carbon emissions, and also for financing a shadow political operation for Gingrich.

It spent $3.7 million in the third quarter, including several thousand dollars on “major donor gifts” from Amazon.com. But the bulk of its spending went towards funding a 20-plus-person staff, polling, a slick web presence and Gingrich and his staffers’ travels around the country. For instance, in the third quarter, the group spent nearly $410,000 on charter jet airfare

(...) This year, it’s brought in a total of $9.9 million, more than the PAC fundraising of Gingrich’s next three most active fundraising potential rivals for the nomination. According to reports filed this week, former Gov. Massachusetts Mitt Romney’s PACs raised a total of $5.1 million this year, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s PAC brought in $2.5 million, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s groups raised nearly $2.1 million. (...)