The GOP's Top Campaign Donors for the 2012 Candidates, from Romney to Gingrich

A candidate’s biggest donors say a lot about who the candidate is and where his or her campaign stands. The Daily Beast looks at the top five contributors for the 2012 race as of December for each of the remaining Republican candidates...

Does the candidate profit most from Wall Street or from hometown businesses? Are there behind-the-scenes connections between the candidates and their big-dollar donors? We use data from the Center for Responsive Politics, which analyzes campaign-finance data from the Federal Election Commission to find out. The contributors here either sponsor political action committees or are an individual donor’s employer. We also include the top five donors to Herman Cain—who earlier this month dropped out of the race but will still be an option for Iowa caucusgoers—and the top donors for Barack Obama, the ultimate target of GOP candidates.