The New York Times reports that liberal billionaire George Soros has donated $1 million to the Obama Super PAC and $500,000 to two Democratic Congressional Super PACS. The announcement was made at a Super PAC luncheon headlined by former President Bill Clinton, and was attended by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Charles E. Schumer.
A longtime political adviser to Mr. Soros, Michael Vachon, made the announcement at a luncheon on Thursday hosted by the Democracy Alliance, a group of liberal donors who have already invested heavily in building grassroots organizations and research institutes. Mr. Soros will also give an additional $500,000 to two super PACs backing congressional Democrats. Other donors at the lunch were expected to commit between at least $10 million more to Democratic super PACs, suggesting that many — like Mr. Soros — had overcome their aversion to the purely advertising-oriented super PACs.
The luncheon, which was headlined by former President Bill Clinton, suggested a rapprochement of sorts between progressive donors who have traditionally favored movement-building and Democratic strategists who badly want large checks to finance the party’s emerging super PAC apparatus, which only in recent months have begun to draw significant financial support, much of it from traditional party sources like Hollywood, trial lawyers, and unions.
