PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel donated $1.7 million last month to a super PAC supporting GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul, a report filed today shows. Overall, Thiel has donated $2.6 million to Endorse Liberty, created last year to aid the Texas representative.
The Republican presidential candidates and the other super PACs active in this year's election are filing January fundraising reports to the Federal Election Commission today.
The reports are expected to show a sharp uptick in fundraising for former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, who raised less than $2.2 million in 2011 before winning a string of contests early this year. He now leads Mitt Romney in the latest public polls in Michigan, which votes Feb. 28.
On Friday, President Obama reported a sharp drop from four years ago in his fundraising. He collected $29.1 million for his campaign and the Democratic National Committee in January. Nearly $11.9 million went into his campaign account, a third of what he raised as a candidate in January 2008.
Today's filings also will give the public a picture of the unions, corporations and wealthy individuals financing super PACs, the new outside groups raising and spending unlimited amounts to influence the presidential contest and other races. The groups have spent millions of dollars on negative attack ads to shape the GOP primary battle.
The reports are due by midnight.
