Many top hedge fund managers back Obama
If you were member of the Wall Street aristocracy, one of those hedge fund hot shots who makes half a billion dollars a year, which horse would you bet on in the race for the White House?
Senator John McCain seems like the natural choice for the rich who are voting their wallets. After all, McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, might help the wealthy keep more of their supersize incomes by making the Bush tax cuts permanent.
Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, the two Democratic contenders, talk about getting tough on the rich. But Clinton has a lot of old friends on Wall Street. Maybe she could figure out how to create a bubblicious economy like the one her husband presided over in the 1990s. Wall Street likes a good bubble.
And Obama? He backs something called the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, a measure that would limit all offshore accounts that the wealthiest hedge funds have set up. Thats not something Wall Street wants.
And yet for all of this, many of the wealthiest hedge fund managers are lining up behind the Obama campaign.
Many of the top 10 managers on Alpha magazines mind-blowing 2007 rich list, which was released last week, have put money on Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign contributions. They have each given the maximum donation allowed: $2,300. (Lets face it, this is pocket lint to these guys.)
Obamas hedge fund contributors include:
John Griffin, the founder of Blue Ridge Capital, who made $625 million in 2007, according to Alpha. Griffin is backing Obama after initially supporting Mitt Romney.
Kenneth Griffin (no relation) of Citadel Investment Group in Chicago, who earned $1.5 billion. He contributed to the Obama campaign after the senator went to his office last year.
Stephen Mandel of Lone Pine Capital, who took home $710 million last year.
And, of course, George Soros, who earned almost $3 billion last year. It is no surprise that Soros, a Democratic stalwart, is backing Obama. Soros campaigned against President George W. Bush in 2004, and Moveon.org, which Soros has plied with tens of millions of dollars, endorsed Obama in February.
Of course, not every Richie Rich is backing Obama.
James Simons, the mathematician who runs Renaissance Technologies and made $2.8 billion last year, has donated to Clinton.
And Steven Cohen of SAC Capital, whose take-home pay was $900 million, is splitting his money down the middle: He donated $28,500 to both the Democratic and Republican Senatorial Campaign Committees. (He had given money to Senators John Sununu, a New Hampshire Republican, and Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat.)
John Paulson of Paulson Co., the top earner with $3.7 billion last year, doesnt appear to have a financial dog left in the hunt: He gave to Mitt Romney and Rudolph Guliani.
Philip Falcone, who founded Harbinger Capital Partners and made $1.7 billion last year, has given to the Republican National Committee but not to any individual candidate. (His firm may have bought itself influence in another way: It recently won agreement from The New York Times, the publisher of the International Herald Tribune, to add two members to its board.)
Timothy Barakett of Atticus Capital, who made $750 million, and O. Andreas Halvorsen of Viking Global Investors, who earned $520 million, dont appear to have given money to either side.
By the way, just so we dont forget: These guys are not like you and me. The median U.S. family earned $60,500 last year.
So why is Obama such a popular choice among the hedge fund crowd?
In a word, access. Unlike McCain and Clinton, Obama is relatively new to national politics and is therefore open to bringing new people - and new money - into the tent. For money types who want a table, or at least to look involved and get an invitation to the right parties, Obama is the candidate.
As one of the hedge fund managers on the Alpha list said, “To be in Hillarys inner circle, you had to be giving a decade ago, when Bill was president.” The same goes for McCain.
The Clintons Wall Street sanctum is filled with old pals from the worlds of banking and private equity. These people have been with the Clintons since the beginning. They include Roger Altman, chairman of Evercore Partners and former deputy Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton; and Steven Rattner, co-founder of Quadrangle Partners. (Rattners wife, Maureen White, is a co-chairwoman of finance for Hillary Clintons campaign.)
