The Republican candidates flirt heavily with New York -- especially Wall Street funders.
Wall Street once loved Obama. In 2008, the financial services industry, including big banks like Goldman Sachs, showered him with campaign contributions. This year, they’re not so in love with the president’s policies and rhetoric toward Wall Street and are turning their affections to Mitt Romney.
Politico reports:
Despite a large overall fundraising advantage, Obama has raised just $5.1 million from the finance, insurance and real estate sectors so far this cycle compared with $12.4 million for Mitt Romney’s campaign, according to Sheila Krumholz, executive director of CRP.
“The financial industry overall, cycle after cycle, is always a No. 1 source of campaign funds. It is even more so in 2012. It is head and shoulders above any other industry,” Krumholz said. “And Romney has a large lead, which is extraordinary given that Obama has such a large lead in total receipts.”
This is looking more like a break-up than a lovers’ quarrel. Politico quotes one Wall Streeter who is taking the president’s policies personally:
“The problem for the Obama administration,” the executive continued, “is they went beyond policy disagreement or shared sacrifice rhetoric and decided to use their bullhorn to question the social legitimacy of the very people [who] helped put the president in office. They basically said there was something untoward about how these people earned their keep and supported their families.”
Meanwhile, facing fast-dwindling funds, Newt Gingrich has ramped up his own fundraising efforts. He, too, is turning to New York, flirting heavily with the city in a new campaign ad (that comes out only weeks after he derided New York “elites” who live in “high-rises” and “ride the subway”:
Read more:
Politico: Wall Street turns wrath – and cash – on Obama
The Atlantic Wire: Newt Love-Hates New York Like a Real New Yorker
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