Wall Street is buyi..., err, putting its money behind these presidential candidates

[marmar]

WASHINGTON -- In the early campaign money race for the 2016 presidential election, executives and employees of big bank institutions are lining up behind three candidates: Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republicans Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.

Clinton, the former secretary of state and New York senator, leads all candidates, with $432,610 from big banks' executives, employees and their spouses. This includes banks like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldmans Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, UBS, Barclays, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank.

Bush, whose fundraising is somewhat obscured by the fact that he raised $100 million for his super PAC until June 15, was close behind, with $353,150 for his official campaign. When his super PAC numbers, to be reported on July 31, are taken into account, Bush likely will have raised millions from these bank executives. In third place, Rubio pulled in $105,669. No other candidate cracked six figures.

Fundraising from Wall Street banks is watched closely among political actors as a signal of how well-funded a particular candidate will be and how much establishment support they will have. Lower Manhattan is the Mecca of political money, as candidates from both parties make repeat pilgrimages to raise cash for their campaigns. The broader financial sector, which encompasses hedge funds, investment firms and private equity aside big Wall Street banks, is the single largest source of funds for all federal political campaigns, providing more than $2 billion since the 2008 election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. ...........(more)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wall-street-is-putting-money-behind-these-presidential-candidates_55b143e7e4b08f57d5d414ad?