Today, politics is a rich man’s game. Look no further than the 2012 elections and that season’s biggest donor, 79-year-old casino mogul  Sheldon Adelson. He and his wife, Miriam, shocked the political class by first  giving $16.5 million in an effort to make Newt Gingrich the Republican presidential nominee. Once Gingrich exited the race, the Adelsons invested  more than $30 million in electing Mitt Romney. They donated millions more to support GOP candidates running for the House and Senate, to  block a pro-union measure in Michigan, and to  bankroll the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other conservative stalwarts (which waged their own campaigns mostly to helpRepublican candidates for Congress). All told, the Adelsons donated $94 million during the 2012 cycle — nearly four times  the previous record set by liberal financier George Soros. And that’s only the money we know about. When you add in  so-called dark money, one estimate puts their total giving at closer to $150 million.

via Billionaires Now Own American Politics | Alternet.