Billionaire George Soros wants to donate one million dollars to a Super PAC (Political Action Committee) that indirectly supports Barack Obama for president, considering that similar pro-Republican groups will spend hundreds of millions to defeat him, reports the Wall Street Journal. Besides the donations to the pro-democrat Super PAC American Bridge 21st Century, the billionaire will donate another million dollars to America Votes, an organization run by Democrats that coordinates the main activities of a number of progressive groups across the country, said Michael Vachon, a spokesman for Soros.
In 2011, the billionaire has donated one million dollars to America Votes, the total amount offered for the campaign organization in 2012 rising to two million dollars. “In 2012, George (Soros) will focus his donations on the base organization and denunciation of erroneous policies promoted by conservatives” Vachon wrote in an e-mail broadcast Monday. “Both groups are part of a progressive infrastructure, the center-left, which plays an increasingly important role in the elections” that will take place in November.
Soros’ donations are among the largest coming from individuals in the 2012 presidential election. So far, the most important donor to a “Super PAC” was Jeffrey Katzenberg, chief executive of DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. Together with his wife, he offered last year the sum of two million to the “super political action committee” Priorities USA, another pro-Obama group. Soros was one of the major Democrat donors in the 2004 presidential election, when he contributed the sum of 23 million dollars for the creation of pro-democratic entities outside the campaign, which spent almost 200 million dollars in an attempt to defeat President George W. Bush. Since then, the billionaire has donated relatively small amounts, saying that he does not want to get involved in electoral campaigns. Besides his “normal” donations to the Democrats, he has directed the funds to progressive organizations that promote politics.
In November, a spokesman for Soros told the WSJ that the billionaire will probably not play a major role in financing “Super PAC” pro-democrat organizations, which was a major obstacle to Democrats’ ability to finance creation of new such groups to fight against the pro-Republican groups. Meanwhile, Republicans benefit from generous donations for anti-Obama groups such as American Crossroads and a “Super PAC” made with the purpose of indirect support to Mitt Romney.
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