George Soros gives $2 million toward Obama campaign
WASHINGTON -- Liberal financial heavyweights are becoming more involved in the presidential campaign.
The growing list of financial supporters now includes George Soros, who has pledged $2 million to political groups supporting President Obama's re-election, as well as progressive causes.
Activists say the goal is to hold Republicans accountable and to counterbalance the hundreds of millions of dollars that are expected to be spent supporting Mitt Romney and GOP candidates.
Soros' pledges include $1 million to the advocacy group America Votes and $1 million to American Bridge 21st Century -- an outside "super" political committee supportive of Obama's campaign.
GOP super PACs so far have raised tens of millions of dollars more than their Democratic counterparts.
Soros' donations, which he announced to supporters by email on Monday night, signal that wealthy liberals are becoming more involved in what is expected to be a costly presidential campaign.
Some super PACs, such as the Romney-supportive Restore Our Future, already have spent more than $50 million on TV ads.
Soros' contributions add to a small but growing list of wealthy progressive individuals and groups contributing to super PACs supporting the Democratic incumbent. They include comedian Bill Maher and Hollywood producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, who have each given more than $1 million to Priorities USA Action, a PAC founded by two former Obama aides.
The Service Employees International Union has donated $1 million to the group, which can't legally coordinate with Obama's campaign.
"As he has in the past, George is focusing his political giving in 2012 on grass-roots organizing and holding conservatives accountable for the flawed policies they promote," Soros adviser Michael Vachon said by email
The presidential election is the first in which billionaires have a green light to give unlimited sums of cash to groups that support their favored candidates, thanks to a handful of federal court cases -- including the Supreme Court's decision in the 2010 Citizens United case -- that stripped away campaign-finance regulations of years past.
