The Goldman Sachs primary: [View all]

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The Goldman Sachs primary

It’s Bush vs. Clinton at Wall Street’s wealthiest bank.

By Ben White - 3/2/15 6:44 PM EDT - Updated 3/3/15 12:23 PM EDT


NEW YORK — Forget the Democratic and Republican primaries: The two biggest names in the 2016 presidential race are competing directly against each other in an elite forum, the halls of Goldman Sachs.

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The battle for the hearts and wallets of Goldman Sachs titans goes right to the top. Goldman chief executive Lloyd Blankfein is close to Clinton and has held fundraisers for her. The former first lady, New York senator and secretary of state gave a well-paid speech to Goldman executives in 2013. She and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, have both raised huge sums from Goldman and all across Wall Street for their campaigns and charitable foundation. But Blankfein has also made warm comments about some in the Republican field including Bush. Blankfein has indicated he would be fine with either a Bush or Clinton presidency.

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Analysts say Goldman is hoping that either Clinton or Bush could help restore the reputation of an industry badly tattered by the financial crisis while pushing back against big tax hikes on capital gains and more stringent regulation of the financial industry. Both candidates are also viewed as defenders of the Federal Reserve, which has come under heavy criticism from both the far left and far right.

“The key for Goldman is to have its bets hedged both in its businesses and in politics,” said William Cohan, a journalist and former banker who wrote a history of Goldman. “And you can’t get any better for them than Jeb and Hillary, it’s a dream come true, they would win either way.”

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Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/jeb-bush-goldman-sachs-2016-election-115672.html#ixzz3XoVWmUOs