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Democrats seek to build funding arm to rival GOP in 2016

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Democrats intend to double spending from 2012

Traditionally, in presidential races, Democrats lack the fundraising power wielded by Republicans, as most large corporations and rich donors vote to the right; but now Democrats intend to change the game by finding rich donors of their own.

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Highlights

By Matt Waterson (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
6/1/2015 (8 years ago)

Published in Politics & Policy

Keywords: Hillary Clinton, U.S., 2016, President, Politics, Democrat

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Throughout 2015, Harold Ickes, a political ally of Hillary Clinton, has been instrumental in organizing meetings with union leaders, political strategists and potential backers all over the country in an effort to form a large pool of donors to back the likely Democratic nominee.

Already Republican hopefuls have gathered large pools of donors who have committed hundreds of millions of dollars to the GOP's 2016 ambitions. These donors vary from Las Vegas casino owners, Wall Street investors and even the Koch brothers.

But Clinton lacks the powerful investor pool that showed in 2008 and 2012, including Fred Eychaner, a Chicago based investor and entertainment mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg.

The problem appears to be that the Democrats lack any single donor willing to throw their weight behind a candidate.

"No one has stepped forward as the savior," said veteran Democratic consultant Matt Bennett.

Currently, Priorities USA Action, the super PAC that is backing Clinton, has only scrounged up about $15 million. While the race for Democratic nomination is currently slow and allows Clinton time to catch up, the financial disparity between Republicans and Clinton may effect the 2016 election.

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Ickes, a member of the Priorities USA board, has been meeting with numerous supporters discussing how to raise up to $300 million for Clinton and other Democratic groups, nearly twice as much as Democrats spent in 2012 to get Obama reelected, that same year Republican and right leaning super PACS' spending outstripped those on the left by a great margin.

It is unclear if Democrats can manage to actually out-raise Republican candidates in the 2016 election, but as the Democrat's number of candidates remains small and the Republican field remains crowded, it is a distinct possibility.

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