Restore Our Future vs Winning Our Future

The Florida primary is set to take place this Tuesday.

A few weeks ago, it appeared as though Mitt Romney was going to sail to the Republican Presidential nomination. Things quickly changed after Newt Gingrich turned in a couple of strong debate performances that helped him win in South Carolina, and now we have a race again.

Florida is a pivotal state - if Romney can convincingly win on Tuesday, then he will re-capture his momentum and be far out in front of Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum once again. If Gingrich wins Florida, then the race for the Republican nomination will be a toss up.

The "Super PACs" have been raining down money on TV stations, radio stations and direct mail campaigns over the past week or so in Florida.

Two Super PACs have been particularly active over the past week, spending millions upon millions of dollars - Restore Our Future, Inc. and Winning Our Future.

Super PACs are allowed to raise unlimited amounts of money that can be spent either attacking or supporting a candidate. The only caveat is that they can not co-ordinate directly with a candidate.

Restore Our Future, Inc. is pro-Romney/anti-Gingrich, while Winning our Future is pro-Gingrich/anti-Romney.

The battle between the two Super PACs really boils down to a battle between the hedge fund industry and the Adelsons (Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson). The hedge fund industry is heavily backing the pro-Romney Super PAC, while the Adelsons are heavily backing Winning our Future (they have reportedly donated at least $10 million already).

Let's look at some of the biggest backers of the Restore Our Future, Inc. SuperPAC from January 1st, 2011 until June 30th, 2011:

Edward Conard, $1,000,000
John Paulson (Paulson & Co., Inc.), $1,000,000
Louis Moore Bacon (Moore Capital Group, LP), $500,000
Paul Edgerly (Bain Capital), $500,000
Rodger Krouse (Sun Capital Advisors, Inc.), $125,000
Lee Ainslie (Maverick Capital, LTD), $100,000
Bradley Bloom (Berkshire Partners), $100,000
Richard Boyce (TPG Capital, LP), $100,000

Mitt Romney clearly has some big backers, and these backers will undoubtedly keep showering the Restore Our Future, Inc. SuperPAC with money as the race for the Republican nomination continues.

For Newt Gingrich, on the other hand, the question is - will Sheldon Adelson's money be enough to keep Newt in the race?

Filed under: General Knowledge