Throughout Southeast Michigan, business executives and professionals have opened their checkbooks for the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Michigan native and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Crain's Detroit Business reports.
Their contributions, many at the $5,000-per-candidate maximum for individuals, are among the $6.4 million that Obama and Romney collectively have raised from the region, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C.
Of the nearly $5.5 million that Romney had raised in Michigan as of the beginning of this month, $3.6 million came from metropolitan Detroit, and $281,910 came from the Ann Arbor metro area, according to the data. Obama, who had raised more than $3.5 million in Michigan as of Oct. 1, received $1.7 million from metro Detroit contributors and $804,324 from the Ann Arbor area.
Supporters also have contributed to the so-called super PACs, political action committees that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to advocate in support of or against political candidates. The super PACs can't donate directly to the candidates.
