December 2011 was a busy month for supporters of presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. The former speaker of the House had surged ahead of his Republican rivals in several polls. Suddenly he was being barraged by negative TV ads produced by Restore Our Future, a Super PAC for rival candidate Mitt Romney.

Gingrich did not have the money to retaliate. Individual donations in federal elections are restricted to $2,500. He needed his own Super PAC that could receive unlimited contributions.

Ever since the Supreme Court's 2010 decision in the Citizens United case paved the way for Super PACS, they have been a legitimate new tactic for political campaigns. As far as can be determined, Winning Our Future (WOF), the pro-Gingrich political action committee, did not do anything impermissible under campaign finance laws. But a look at its regular reports to the Federal Election Commission reveals a degree of legerdemain that appears commonplace in FEC records and makes it difficult for the public to know who ends up with the record amounts of money flowing into the political system today.

"Opaque transactions in politics undermine public confidence in the process," said Meredith McGeehee, owner of McGehee Strategies, which works on public interest advocacy, and policy director at the Campaign Legal Center.

Flying under the radar

Because Super PACs are required to operate independently of the candidates they support, three longtime Gingrich allies scrambled to assemble one on his behalf. Winning Our Future filed papers with the Federal Election Commission on December 13, 2011. Texas billionaire Harold Simmons seeded it with $500,000 and gave twice more, for a total of $1.1 million. The family of casino mogul Sheldon Adelson donated $21.5 million. By the end of March 2012, WOF had raised an additional $1.2 million, for a war chest of $23.8 million.

Who received that money is difficult to discern.

Within six weeks of the Super PAC's launch, three new companies were set up to serve as vendors for WOF. (A fourth had been formed earlier in 2011, after Gingrich declared his candidacy in May, by an individual behind one of the three later outfits.) These four new companies received 84 percent of WOF's total disbursements, according to FEC records.

Some political consultants said they set up separate companies for different races for accounting purposes or to create a kind of firewall between their political work and their commercial activities. Others said the maneuver can be used to conceal work being done simultaneously for rival camps. And it can have tactical advantages.

"A new entity means they can fly under the radar for a few minutes," said one source. "Theoretically, it slows down the opposition research on their buying style." Where a candidate chooses to advertise says a lot about the issues and voters he or she is targeting.

The key word is "buying." The biggest checks written by any campaign or Super PAC go to the companies that buy ads on TV, radio and the Internet. Under long-standing industry practice, the broadcaster gives the buyer a 15 percent discount that the buyer has kept as a commission. These days, the percentage kept by political media buyers is likely to be 5 percent or less, according to various industry insiders. The rest of the discount from the broadcasters may be apportioned any way the leaders of the PAC or campaign wish.

PACs are required to report expenditures, including recipient and amount. Bulk checks to media buyers routinely run into the millions of dollars without disclosing subcontracts and other expenses. Side agreements over splitting of the discounts from the broadcasters are not subject to FEC disclosure.

"Our system is based on the idea that (Super PACs) can basically spend money however they see fit, and if your donors think the committee is not spending it wisely, then they can decide not to give further," said FEC Commissioner Cynthia Bauerly.

Compensation mystery

Rick Tyler is a seasoned political operative who began advising Winning Our Future in December. He described in the harshest terms what he says is the common industry practice of PAC staff secretly divvying up portions of the discount: "Kickbacks … come back either to the campaign or the media vendor, in many cases the campaign manager. So you'll get a congressional campaign manager who on the surface you think is making $50,000-$60,000. The fact is he could be making hundreds of thousands of dollars - you have no idea because he's being paid separate from what you're seeing."

Total broadcast and cable spending during the 2012 race is projected to be $3 billion. That means as much as $450 million could be divvied up among political consultants and campaign or PAC staff according to negotiated fee agreements and informal side deals.

Tyler disparaged this opaque system of fee sharing as a hallmark of big-name political consultants. He didn't name any specifically, but he says WOF avoided their help. Yet it's clear that some of the pro-Gingrich Super PAC's vendors engaged in some opacity.

WOF's TV ad buys were handled by Media Advantage, which was incorporated in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on December 6, 2011 - a week before WOF submitted its organizing statement to the FEC. The owner was listed as Laura Lancaster, of Baton Rouge, who did not return phone calls from Reuters.

The real buyer, according to Tyler, was Ken Kurson, a partner and executive vice president of Jamestown Associates in Princeton, New Jersey. Neither Kurson nor Jamestown CEO Larry Weitzner would comment for this story.

Tyler said that when WOF first approached Kurson, Jamestown said it had a conflict: It was already handling TV ads for the pro-Rick Perry Super PAC Make Us Great Again.

While media buyers have no obligation to avoid such conflicts the way law firms or investment banks do, they prefer not to advertise them. Commercial clients may not want to be linked to certain politicians, and political clients may worry about leaks inside the organization.

Political vendors sometimes work for rival campaigns because there are more candidates than companies that can execute a good national media-buying strategy, according to industry experts. To avoid disclosing their identity in FEC records and to avoid leaks within the organization, one prominent media consultant explained, they spin off a separate corporation. How separate is another matter.

Jamestown Associates "just told Ken it would be fine to set up his own company," Tyler said in explaining why Kurson established Media Advantage in December.

Kurson was behind another mysterious WOF vendor, according to Tyler. Empire Creative is shown in FEC reports as receiving $195,875 to produce ads. This company was incorporated in Delaware on October 31, 2011, by National Registered Agents Inc. An official with National Registered Agents said the company has an agreement with its customers to keep their identities confidential. The incorporation documents reveal nothing beyond a post office box number in New York City.

Spotty records

The name of Sam Hassell does not appear on any FEC reports from Winning Our Future, but Reuters discovered that he received the largest chunk of money from the Super PAC. Payments totaling more than $8.1 million were made to his two companies. He created Marketel Media Inc five months before WOF was formed and Intelimarc Inc just nine days before.

Although Hassell is the sole stakeholder in Intelimarc, his name is not on its incorporation documents. Two local attorneys are cited instead. Because December was so hectic, said Hassell, he had his brother's law firm do the work. WOF paid Intelimarc $1.2 million for Internet and email advertising, according to FEC records.

In recent years, Hassell sold radio ads for Salem Radio Network, a national network of stations that feature Christian music and conservative talk show hosts. He left in May 2011 to become chief executive officer of one of its clients, the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC), a for-profit company that offers members discounts on various goods and services. When Hassell incorporated Marketel in July, AMAC was its only client. WOF is now a second.

WOF bought $1.9 million in radio air time, according to Smart Media Group, a political advertising company in Alexandria, Virginia, that monitors political ads on TV, radio and cable outlets. According to its reports to the FEC, WOF paid Marketel at least $2.9 million solely for radio advertising.

That leaves $1 million - a third of the disbursements - that didn't show up as buys.

Hassell couldn't explain the gap or say how much his companies profited. He did say they took the "industry standard" of something less than 15 percent in commissions for the placing of radio ads.

Explanations for the gap could include Smart Media's missing some air-time purchases by Winning Our Future. Some of the expenditures listed in the Super PAC's reports to the FEC might have included money spent on something else, such as producing the ads. (Winning Our Future reported separate outlays for ad production.)

From the FEC records alone, however, it's hard to know where much of the $8.1 million paid to Hassell's two new companies ended up.

"You have to have people you can trust"

Rebecca Burkett came to Winning Our Future from American Solutions, a nonprofit political group run by Gingrich that largely closed down when he became a candidate. The Super PAC paid her $249,505 between December and March for fundraising and management consulting. In all, Winning Our Future paid out $217,834 for fundraising, although only $1.2 million was raised beyond amounts contributed by Simmons and the Adelson family.

A vendor listed as VHH Consulting LLC turned out to belong to the wife of Lee Habeeb, who helped build up the roster of popular conservative radio hosts at Salem Radio and has had a long association with Gingrich. He also helped WOF get organized in December, including providing advice about how to handle the radio and Internet advertising eventually contracted to Hassell's two companies. Habeeb and his wife, Valerie, have consulting companies in their hometown of Oxford, Mississippi - LMH Consulting LLC for him, VHH for her. VHH received $59,235 from Winning Our Future for consulting "on strategy and branding and the ways to go about putting the ads together," she said.

Why so many longtime Gingrich associates got business from Winning Our Future is no mystery, she said: "You have to have people that you trust. You need to know who you're dealing with."

Scams waiting to happen

Meredith McGeehee points to another tie that binds: "Any politician has a retinue of people that over time they build up, and if you're one of those consultants, one of those who provides services to those candidates, it's a great business. You can make a good living growing all the different services to the candidate or to the Super PAC."

But the complex web of shell companies effectively thwarts the transparency the Supreme Court took for granted in Citizens United, and scams or self-dealing would be difficult to detect.

"It's very hard to keep track of that and have accountability," said McGeehee.

Where she sees danger in the advent of Super PACs, Lee Habeeb sees opportunity.

"(The) Super PAC is constitutional, so it's with us for a while," he said. "To the talented will go some real spoils."

Gary Franchi, right, has warned of a 9/11 cover-up, FEMA concentration camps and the New World Order. He leads a Super PAC using unlimited campaign contributions to support Ron Paul, left, in the Republican presidential race.

As libertarian Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul looks for a state he can win, some of his supporters have turned to a new theme: voting fraud.

A Super PAC supporting Paul has pledged to monitor the vote in all the remaining states, using an army of exit pollsters to fight what it calls results that are "outrageous, unacceptable and patently un-American." The group, called Revolution PAC, has spent half a million dollars supporting Paul with videos, webcasts, online ads, direct mail, billboards and radio ads in primary and caucus states.

We first noticed Revolution PAC last week, when it told the Federal Election Commission that it couldn't meet the deadline to identify its donors, because of an error by its bank. Now Revolution PAC has filed its report.

As with many other so-called "independent" Super PACs, which can receive unlimited donations outside the normal rules of campaign finance, the pro-Paul group is operated by people with close ties to the candidate. The group's advisory board members include Penny Langford Freeman, Paul's political director from 1998 to 2007, and Joe Becker, chief legal counsel for Ron Paul 2008.

The leader of the group, its founder, chairman and treasurer, is Gary Franchi, a promoter of conspiracy theories and sophisticated social-media entrepreneur in the resurgent movement known as the Patriots.

The 34-year-old political activist from the Chicago suburbs told msnbc.com that his goal is a "non-violent intellectual revolution, which results in a full restoration of the federal Constitution."

Online videos produced by Franchi, and online interviews with him, add specifics:

• Franchi has supported the 9/11 Truth Movement, which supports the idea that the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, werean inside job to create a pretext for a reduction in American liberty, or at least involved a cover-up, with the World Trade Center brought down by a planned U.S. demolition, instead of terrorist-controlled airplanes. Franchi founded the Lone Lantern Society (a reference to Paul Revere indicating that foreign enemies are on American soil). The group supports "the birth of freedom and the death of the New World Order," a secretive elite that is supposedly trying to set up a world government. Lone Lantern has held street demonstrations on the 11th of every month in Chicago and elsewhere, demanding an investigation of 9/11. In New Hampshire in 2008, a video shows Franchi asking Tom Ridge, the former secretary of Homeland Security, who was campaigning for Sen. John McCain, whether Ridge would support an investigation of the "controlled demolition" of the World Trade Center. Ridge was having none of it, saying, "I just don't buy into that. That's a conspiracy theory that has no basis in fact. It's almost out of the Twilight Zone."
• According to a 2010 reportby the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks domestic fringe groups, "Gary Franchi is one of the leading promoters of a resurgent Patriot conspiracy theory that alleges the government is creating concentration camps for U.S. citizens." In 2009 he co-wrote and co-produced the video "Camp FEMA: American Lockdown," which claims that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is creating concentration camps on air bases and in vacant buildings to house political dissenters when the federal government proclaims martial law. "Your church may have already signed a deal with the devil," reads promotional material for the film. The film questions whether Census data will be used to round up Americans. Clips from Franchi's film on YouTube show Hitler youth marching while the narrator ominously describes President Obama's plans to expand AmeriCorps and the USA Freedom Corps, the volunteer initiative launched by the Bush administration after 9/11.
• Franchi operates Restore the Republic, which opposes the Federal Reserve, the IRS and the income tax, decries the control of the economy by the Rockefellers and the "banking cartel," and warns of government plans to plant RFID microchips into all Americans. The group was founded by Franchi and filmmaker and Libertarian presidential candidate Aaron Russo, and has been operated by Franchi since Russo's death from cancer in 2007. RTR shares an address with Revolution PAC in Northbrook, Ill. The group, which describes itself as a social media platform for like-minded individuals, promotes Russo's film, "America: Freedom to Fascism," in which Ron Paul declares, "If that's the definition of a police state — that you can't do anything unless the government gives you permission —we're well on our way." In a YouTube video interview with Franchi in 2008, Paul credited the Russo video with bringing a lot of people to his presidential campaign. The group has also placed billboards fueling the bogus claim that Obama is not an American citizen, asking, "Where's the REAL birth certificate?"

Franchi has been a frequent guest of Texas talk show host Alex Jones, who warns about the New World Order on his infowars.com and other websites. In a videotaped interview with Jones, Franchi explained that at 17 he began to read about "the committee of 300, the Club of Rome, the Council of Foreign Relations," and other groups of the New World Order.

He said his parents, thinking he was mentally ill, had him heavily medicated for 10 years. But he continued his reading, particularly about the implantation of RFID microchips by government, and formed the Lone Lantern Society to tell people that "the enemies are here."

"It's the truth, it's the message, that's piercing the darkness," Franchi told Jones. "Anything that's done in darkness, anything that is hidden in secret will be revealed. It's having an impact. People are waking up by the millions, Alex, by the millions! The New World Order does not stand a chance."

'Derogatory'
Franchi agreed to answer questions from msnbc.com, but only by email.

He said labels are distracting, and the description of him by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a "conspiracy theorist" is "derogatory and inflammatory language."

In regard to Sept. 11, he said his view is that "I personally, alongside Russo, 9/11 Family members, and thousands of architects and engineers do advocate for a more thorough investigation, preferably free from the Executive Privilege invoked during the Bush Administration."

Of Paul, Franchi said, "Ron Paul is my candidate because he understands what is affecting this nation, i.e. the Federal Reserve, an unsustainable foreign policy, and the loss of civil liberties under the guise of security."

Orlin Wagner / AP

Ron Paul has credited Franchi for bringing in more supporters for his presidential campaign.

Paul has had a vague and uncertain connection with fringe views and conspiracy peddlers for decades. In several cases he has welcomed their support, neither repudiating their views nor explicitly endorsing them.

For example, in 2007 Paul was asked by a student and 9/11 skeptic, "We've heard that you have questioned the government's official account." Paul replied, "Well, I never automatically trust anything the government does when they do an investigation because too often I think there’s an area that the government covered up, whether it’s the Kennedy assassination or whatever."

When asked if that meant that he wanted an additional investigation, he added, "I think we have to keep pushing for it. And like you and others, we see the investigations that have been done so far as more or less cover-up and no real explanation of what went on."

The year-end accounting to the FEC by Revolution PAC shows that it brought in $518,201 during the second half of 2011, since its founding last summer, and spent $434,432 supporting Paul, with $83,770 in cash on hand at the end of the year.

These amounts are small compared with the official Paul campaign, which raised $26 million (second to Romney among Republican candidates) by year end, and another pro-Paul Super PAC, Endorse Liberty, which spent $3.3 million. A third pro-Paul Super Pac, Santa Rita, spent $320,000.

Larger donors to the Revolution PAC include Texas rancher Margaret Bowman, who gave $50,000; and Scott Banister, an early investor in PayPal, who gave $10,000. Another $10,000 came from Judy Kay Gray, of Buffalo Grove, Ill., who paid $2.5 million to settle a false advertising claim by the Federal Trade Commission in 2008 regarding her company, North American Herb and Spice, and its claims that its oregano oil treated cold and flu.

Large donors received a free book signed by Thomas Woods, an author and member of the Revolution PAC advisory board. Woods is a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Mises is one of the members of the Austrian School of Economics, whose ideas have influenced Paul, such as his call for a return to a gold standard. The PAC paid Woods $1,200 to sign his books for donors.

Gary Franchi on his webcast Reality Report.

The Revolution PAC paid $41,487 to Franchi or his group Restore the Republic, including $3,000 a month in management fees, $1,766 a month in rent at their shared office in Northbrook, Ill., and a 10 percent commission on large financial donations solicited. Franchi, the group's chairman and treasurer, said in response to questions that these are reasonable charges, much lower than is common, and that he has provided more support to the PAC than it has paid to him, considering the value of his in-kind donations of his time and services.

"I am personally not a representative for Dr. Paul nor should my beliefs be construed to be his," Franchi told msnbc.com. "Nor am I sure if Ron Paul believes in all the issues that concern me, however I do know I stand with him on the constitutional issues he continues to highlight throughout this election cycle and as he has done for over 20 years. That is why I formed Revolution PAC and produce content that I feel highlight his principled consistency and advocacy of fidelity to the Constitution."

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Should Ron Paul accept support from Revolution PAC? Post your comment below.

Earlier coverage of the Super PAC financial reports:

Obama bundler to 'de-register' as lobbyist

Influence game: big donors and what they want

NBC video: Million-dollar donors fuel Super PACs

After TV cameras leave, Romney PAC discloses $18 million

Casino magnate Adelson's family gave early money to Gingrich PAC

Spielberg, labor union are big backers of Obama Super PAC

Perry PAC's $1 million donor got help with nuclear waste dump

Major GOP Super PAC raised $51 million in 2011

Not 'Desperate' for cash: Obama lists his big fundraisers

Sugar Daddy: Huntsman's father gave $1.9 million to Super PAC

Colbert Super PAC raises $1 million; non-satirical PACs to follow

The millionaires, billionaires and companies giving big sums to political committees supporting Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Barack Obama have important business with the next president. Some are already in trouble with the government. Some are pressing for new laws or regulations that would benefit their interests in energy, mining and high finance.

The Associated Press reviewed financial reports, regulatory filings, court records, public statements and more to identify favors that the biggest donors so far in the presidential campaign might want in return for their contributions worth $100,000 or more. In some cases, these donors have given $1 million or more to help Obama's challengers or the president.

An exhaustive review of their motives is nearly impossible, since new federal rules governing such contributions allow donors to effectively remain anonymous if they funnel cash into the campaign through corporate partnerships or other mechanisms that can frustrate investigation.

The presidential campaigns all have said they do not trade political favors for election money.

Among AP's findings:

—An energy firm run by William Koch, a $1 million donor to the pro-Romney political committee, paid to lobby Congress on mining and safety issues and also over a proposed federal land swap that would enlarge the donor's Colorado ranch.

—The casino company run by Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire whose family has given $11 million to a political committee that supports Gingrich, has acknowledged it's under federal investigation by the Justice Department and a civil probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission for possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The company denies wrongdoing and says the investigation stems from an allegation by a disgruntled employee. Adelson's family has provided nearly all the money that the pro-Gingrich group has received so far.

—A hedge fund run by a New York investor, Paul Singer, who gave the pro-Romney group $1 million, has pushed for federal laws that would give official U.S. backing to the firm's legal efforts to profit from the debt of distressed and Third World nations.

—A board member and former chairman of a prestigious Los Angeles hospital, John C. Law with the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, has given the pro-Obama committee $100,000 as the hospital has lobbied Obama's administration over Medicare and Medicaid funding for teaching hospitals and electronic medical records, the National Institutes of Health and Army research programs.

— A Pennsylvania coal producer, Consol Energy Inc., which donated $150,000 to the pro-Romney group, paid a $5.5 million fine last year for violations of the Clean Water Act at six of its mines. It is lobbying to prohibit the federal government from regulating greenhouse gas emissions. Weeks after the company gave money to support Romney, who previously had agreed that humans are contributing to climate change, the candidate appeared to back off that position and said he would oppose spending high amounts of federal money to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, like those from coal plants.

The high-dollar contributions have flowed into the presidential campaign through so-called super PACs, which can support a specific candidate but can't lawfully coordinate their spending with a candidate's campaign. The groups, given a green light by the Supreme Court in 2010 when it stripped limits on corporate and labor union spending in elections, have already proved to be strategically successful for candidates. The pro-Romney group, Restore Our Future, spent $8.8 million on ads in Florida alone — more than Romney's own campaign — and has already booked TV spots in Arizona, Michigan and Minnesota.

A Romney campaign spokeswoman, Andrea Saul, dismissed any suggestion that wealthy donors are motivated by their private interests to fund the committee's operations.

"To the degree Americans support Mitt Romney," she said, "it's because he can reverse the decline of the Obama economy and get Americans back to work."

Obama so far has fewer big-money donors. He is able to marshal the resources of the Democratic National Committee, and it is typically easier for incumbents to raise money closer to the November election.

Public-interest groups have warned since the Supreme Court ruling that wealthy individuals, corporations, unions and other interests would seek favors in return for unlimited campaign contributions.

"The size of these donations counts for a lot, and the candidates will naturally be grateful to these organizations and their donors," said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics in Washington. "And with greater support, comes increased gratefulness."

Consol, which gave $150,000 to support the pro-Romney group, is the largest producer of coal from underground mines, with operations in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It also has interests in natural gas, using hydraulic fracturing — known as fracking — to extract gas with high-pressure streams of water, sand and chemicals.

Most of Consol's coal is sold to electric utilities. Such utilities are the dominant source of sulfur and carbon dioxide emissions, and Consol has backed Republican efforts to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency under Obama from issuing greenhouse gas regulations that the company says could increase its costs and affect the market for coal and natural gas.

Consol spent more than $3 million on energy and environmental lobbying last year, including the hiring of a Washington firm, Forscey & Stinson, to support legislation that would prohibit the EPA from issuing the greenhouse gas rules.

Romney once expressed clear concerns about global warming. Last June, he told a New Hampshire town hall that humans have contributed to climate change, although it is not clear by how much. "And so I think it's important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and global warming that you're seeing," he said.

On Oct. 27, after Consol gave $150,000 to help Romney's presidential campaign, he visited the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, the arena where the National Hockey League's Penguins play. "My view is that we don't know what's causing climate change on this planet," Romney said. "And the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce (carbon dioxide) emissions is not the right course for us."

Six days after Romney's remarks, his campaign deposited $1,000 checks from four of Consol's senior executives." Another executive, J. Brett Harvey, the company's chief executive officer, also serves on Romney's 2012 Pennsylvania Finance Committee.

Consul spokeswoman Lynn Seay said it is common practice for the company "to support political candidates that share a similar philosophy as it relates to a domestic energy policy that recognizes the value and importance of coal and natural gas."

Last month, the EPA objected to Consol's proposal for a mountaintop removal mine in southern West Virginia that would be one of Appalachia's biggest. The EPA had first objected to a permit for the mine on the day that Obama was inaugurated.

Among the pro-Obama group's biggest donors, the Service Employees International Union, has given $1 million so far toward his re-election as it fights Republican plans to restrict the National Labor Relations Board's authority to force employers to move or close plants in efforts to avoid unionization.

The Obama super PAC, Priorities USA Action, also received $100,000 from Law, the managing director of Warland Investments, a commercial real estate and investment firm in Santa Monica, Calif. Law is on the board at Cedars-Sinai and was previously the hospital's chairman. The hospital spent $369,000 in 2011 lobbying on federal health policies during Obama's presidency, according to Senate records.

The pro-Gingrich group, Winning Our Future, has been kept running largely with money from casino mogul Adelson. He and his wife, Miriam, gave $5 million each this month. Miriam's eldest daughter gave $500,000, and her other daughter and son-in-law donated $250,000 each.

Adelson's casino, Las Vegas Sands Corp., has been the target of federal investigations, in part over allegations that the company bribed officials in expanding its Chinese business. A spokesman declined to publicly discuss his boss' support for Gingrich. Adelson wrote last month in an email to The Washington Post: "My motivation for helping Newt is simple and should not be mistaken for anything other than the fact that my wife, Miriam, and I hold our friendship with him very dear and are doing what we can as private citizens to support his candidacy."

The head of a New York-based hedge fund, Singer of Renaissance Technologies, gave the Romney super PAC $1 million. Renaissance lobbied Congress last year on proposals that would aid hedge funds in efforts to collect on debts purchased from Argentina and other foreign governments. Renaissance is one of several international hedge funds that have bought debt in distressed and Third World nations at low prices and sometimes have used lawsuits to force the countries to pay restitution.

A spokesman, Peter Truell, declined to discuss Singer's support for Romney but Renaissance officials have said that buying sovereign debt is only one aspect of the company's business.

Singer has also been outspoken in his criticism of some aspects of the massive overhaul of banking and trading regulations brought by the Dodd-Frank Act and other legislation since the recession. Last August, Romney told a New Hampshire audience that he favored repealing the Dodd-Frank law.

Another executive, William Koch, also gave $1 million to the Romney super PAC from his personal funds and corporate accounts. Koch runs Oxbow Carbon LLC, a fossil fuels processor and mining company that wants changes to laws and regulations on mining, safety issues and climate change. Unlike his brothers, Charles and David Koch, who are long-time supporters of conservative causes, Bill Koch has funded both GOP and Democratic candidates in the past.

"Despite the political statements, this administration has done nothing to help the coal industry, and we feel their energy policy is debatable," said Brad Goldstein, an Oxbow spokesman.

Oxbow also pushed for approval of the Central Rockies Land Exchange, a proposed swap of land tracts in Colorado and Utah to enlarge Koch's 4,500-acre Bear Ranch. The proposed deal with the federal government would allow Koch to acquire several adjacent parcels of federal land in exchange for turning other tracts over to the U.S. The proposal, which requires congressional approval, has brought some local opposition but is under consideration.

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AP Business Writer Daniel Wagner contributed to this report.

Contact the Washington investigative team at DCinvestigations (at) ap.org

Follow Jack Gillum at http://twitter.com/jackgillum

A Super PAC supporting Ron Paul was the only major presidential fundraising operation to miss Tuesday's federal deadline for disclosing its donors. The Revolution PAC blamed an error by its credit card company.

Because of bad information provided by the company, the PAC told the Federal Election Commission, it didn't know who its donors were.

The Super PAC is not the same as the official campaign for Paul, a libertarian and Texas Republican member of Congress. The campaign filed its report on time, and by law the PAC can't coordinate its activities with the campaign, although the PAC is operated by Paul supporters, including his former political director.

"To Whom It May Concern," the Revolution PAC wrote to the FEC at 11:48 p.m. ET Tuesday, just 12 minutes before the midnight deadline for its legally required report.

"Please be advised that on the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan 31, Revolution PAC ... was advised by one of its credit card processing vendors that said vendor had provided erroneous information. As a result, credit card donations reported by the vendor and recorded by the PAC were erroneous.

"As we do not have compete details on the specific donations involved, we are unable to correct our information prior to the filing deadline, and are therefore not filing any report at this time.

"We will contact our FEC advisor Feb 1 to determine how best to proceed."

The Super PAC didn't name the credit card company.

The Revolution PAC has been filing its separate reports of expenditures, and has spent $126,000 so far, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

A profile of the group is available from the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan investigative reporting group. Its leaders include Gary Franchi, Web-TV host and director of Restore the Republic, an online clearinghouse and social media site for Ron Paul followers; Lawrence W. Lepard, Venture capital investor at Equity Management Associates, and Penny Langford Freeman, Paul’s former political director.

Two other PACs supporting Paul did file their reports on time.

Endorse Liberty reported $1,020,055 in receipts.

Nearly all of its revenue, $900,000, came from hedge fund manager Peter Thiel, a founder of PayPal. The group also got $10,000 from Sean Wheeler of Marietta, Ga., CEO of Pure Hypnosis, which sells a hypnotic treatment for smoking addiction.

A list of the donors to Endorse Liberty is here.

Another pro-Paul PAC, the Santa Rita Super PAC, reported 234,096 in receipts.

Donors to Santa Rita include hedge fund manager Mark Hart III and Shannon Hart, of Fort Worth, $100,000; real estate investor Donald Huffines of Dallas, $50,000; and Patrick Walker of Little Rock, $50,000. All listed their occupation as self-employed investor.

A list of the donors to Santa Rita is here.

Super PACS are known to the Federal Election Commission as independent committees, because they are forbidden to coordinate their activities with campaigns. Outside the limits of campaign finance laws, Super PACs may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals. They can use that money to advocate for or against political candidates.

The Ron Paul presidential campaign organization filed its report on time, showing $26,104,721 in receipts and $24,199,806 in expenditures so far in this election.

A list of the campaign's 22,956 donors is here.

Read more about the reports filed Tuesday:

After TV cameras leave, Romney PAC discloses $18 million

Casino magnate Adelson's family gave early money to Gingrich PAC

Spielberg, labor union are big backers of Obama Super PAC

Perry PAC's $1 million donor got help with nuclear waste dump

Major GOP Super PAC raised $51 million in 2011

Not 'Desperate' for cash: Obama lists his big fundraisers

Sugar Daddy: Huntsman's father gave $1.9 million to Super PAC

Colbert Super PAC raises $1 million; non-satirical PACs to follow

By Bill Dedman, msnbc.com, and Michael Isikoff, NBC News
with reporting by NBC's Azriel Relph and Lisa Riordan Seville

After the speeches were over and the TV cameras in Florida were turned off, the pro-Mitt Romney Super PAC called Restore Our Future disclosed its fundraising Tuesday night, just before the midnight ET deadline.

It showed total receipts of $17.9 million during the last six months of last year. It had previously reported raising $12.2 million in the first six months of the year. The PAC ended the year with $23.6 million in the bank, hoarding a huge bankroll for the primaries and general election. The figures for January are not yet included.

Top Wall Street moguls from big hedge fund and private equity firms, including principals from Bain Capital,  topped the list of donors that pumped more than $17.9 million into the Mitt Romney Super PAC,  helping to bankroll attack ads in the Republican primary states.

But while the filing by Restore Our Future shows its formidable fundraising prowess, it will do little to alleviate criticism that Romney is too closely tied to Wall Street and other corporate interests.

The Romney Super PAC collected seven $1 million donations, including one from Paul Singer, the billionaire and secretive head of the Elliott Management hedge fund, and two others from hedge fund kingpins Julian Robertson of Tiger Management and Robert Mercer of Rennaissance Technologies.

Others accounting for $1 million donations included Florida energy executive Bill Koch of Oxbow Carbon, who has also been a fundraiser for Romney's presidential campaign; Miguel Fernandez, who chairs a Miami private equity firm MBF Healthcare Partners; and Rooney Holdings of Tulsa Oklahoma.

Also giving a total of $1 million were firms headed by Frank L. VanderSloot of Idaho. He is also the co-chair of Romney's Idaho finance operation. His firms, operating under the names Melaleuca Inc., Melaleuca of Asia Ltd. Co., Melaleuca of Japan Inc., Melaleuca of Southeast Asia Inc., gave a total of $250,000. The company sells Nicole Miller Timeless Age Defying Serum and other home "wellness"  remedies. Forbes magazine has a profile of VanderSloot here.

Three executives of Bain Capital, the private equity firm formerly headed by Romney, gave a total of $625,000.

Romney has insisted he is not involved in the Super PAC and has no control over its ad buys or messages. But further evidence that the group is working closely with Romney's interests came Tuesday night when Restore Our Future held back its required filing with the Federal Election Commission until after Romney had given his victory speech in the Florida primary.

The filing underscores the key role of wealthy donors and companies in funding the super pacs. Some 62 of its contributors gave $100,000 or more.

Other big donors include:

Chris Shumway, Shumway Capital Investments, Greenwich, Conn., $750,000.

Bob Perry, Perry Homes, Houston, $500,000.

Steven Webster, Avista Capital, Houston, $500,000.

The full list of donors is here.

By contrast, a Super PAC supporting Newt Gingrich reported $2.1 million, not counting $10 million from a casino magnate donated in January.

The Super PAC supporting President Obama reported $4.4 million received by year end. A Super PAC supporting Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has dropped out of the Republican race, reported $5.5 million.

Super PACS are known to the Federal Election Commission as independent committees, because they are forbidden to coordinate their activities with campaigns. Outside the limits of campaign finance laws, Super PACs may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals. They can use that money to advocate for or against political candidates.

Read more about the reports filed Tuesday:

Casino magnate Adelson's family gave early money to Gingrich PAC

Spielberg, labor union are big backers of Obama Super PAC

Perry PAC's $1 million donor got help with nuclear waste dump

Major GOP Super PAC raised $51 million in 2011

Not 'Desperate' for cash: Obama lists his big fundraisers

Sugar Daddy: Huntsman's father gave $1.9 million to Super PAC

Colbert Super PAC raises $1 million; non-satirical PACs to follow

By Michael Isikoff, NBC News, and Bill Dedman, msnbc.com
with reporting by NBC's Azriel Relph and Lisa Riordan Seville

The report shows receipts of $2.1 million. The PAC's spending reports, which by contrast cover the month of January, already show the same PAC spending nearly $9 million so far. 

Even before the Adelsons contributed $10 million, three of his family members had already plunked down $1 million in seed
money for the group.

The PAC reported a $500,000 contribution from one of Adelson's step-daughters, Sivian Ochshorn,  and another $250,000 from another step-daughter, Yasmin Lukatz. Another family member, Oren Lukatz, gave an additional $250,000. All  three listed themselves as "self employed" at 3355 Las Vegas Blvd. in Las Vegas, the address of Adelson's Las Vegas Sands Hotel, and gave the money the same day, Dec. 22.

Also giving a big check to the Gingrich Super PAC was Harold Simmons, the chairman of Contran Corporation, a Texas firm that owns a controversial radioactive waste dump. He had already given two checks totalling $1 million to the Rick Perry Super PAC.

The Associated Press described Adelson's interest in Gingrich in this way: "Adelson is an extreme conservative and staunch backer of right-wing Israeli politicians. Gingrich has held policy positions that would match Adelson's regarding U.S.-Israeli relations, including a pledge to issue a directive on his first day as president to relocate U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. That would enrage Palestinians who demand that part of Jerusalem be their capital in any future two-state solution."

The full list of donors to the Winning Our Future PAC is here.

Read more about the reports filed Tuesday:

After TV cameras leave, Romney PAC discloses $18 million

Spielberg, labor union are big backers of Obama Super PAC

Perry PAC's $1 million donor got help with nuclear waste dump

Major GOP Super PAC raised $51 million in 2011

Not 'Desperate' for cash: Obama lists his big fundraisers

Sugar Daddy: Huntsman's father gave $1.9 million to Super PAC

Colbert Super PAC raises $1 million; non-satirical PACs to follow

Super PACS are known to the Federal Election Commission as independent committees, because they are forbidden to coordinate their activities with campaigns. Outside the limits of campaign finance laws, Super PACs may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals. They can use that money to advocate for or against political candidates.

By Bill Dedman, msnbc.com, and Michael Isikoff, NBC News
with reporting by NBC's Azriel Relph and Lisa Riordan Seville

Hollywood director Steven Spielberg and the Service Employees International Union were among the big donors to a Super PAC supporting President Barack Obama. Priorities USA Action filed the report Tuesday with the FEC showing $4.4 million raised to support the president's re-election.

Spielberg chipped in $100,000, and the SEIU gave the largest amount,  $1 million.

The total contributions to Priorities USA Action are, however,  far less than those being raised by the Super PACs for the Republican candidates and appear to put the group well behind its initial goal of raising $100 million on behalf of the president's re-election.

But there are signs that the Obama Super PAC is being financed by a related non-profit group that is in turn raising money from secret donors. Such non-disclosing political entities were denounced in 2010 by President Obama. But in Tuesday night's filing, the pro-Obama Priorities USA Action reported that it has gotten $215,234 from its non-disclosing sister group, Priorities USA, listing the funds as reimbursements for its operating expenses. As a nonprofit, Priorities USA is not required to file any public reports with the Federal Election Commission.

Proirities USA Action and Priorities USA, which has already begun running attack ads on Mitt Romney,  were founded last year by two former Obama White House aides -- former deputy press secretary Bill Burton and political aide Sean Sweeney. Burton said in an email to NBC News that the two groups Priorities groups together have now raised a total of $6.7 million, adding: "I have no doubt we'll raise our goal. The question is when we'll raise it."

The SEIU, which organizes workers in government jobs, health care and property services, has been a strong supporter of Obama. Its leaders have been named among the most frequent visitors to the White House, when the Obama administration released most of its visitor logs.

Other donors to the Obama Super PAC include:

 The American Association for Justice PAC has contributed a total of $50,000 to the PAC, and has also given a total of $100,000.00 to the House Majority PAC, which supports Democrats.

John C. Law is the managing director of Warland Investments, a major landowner in Cypress, Calif. He has given $100,000 to Priorities USA, and is a big donor to Democratic political causes.

Akerman Senterfit is a law and lobbying firm with locations throughout the U.S. Records show $20,000 going to Priorities USA from the firm, and another $10,000 from Joseph L. Falk, who specializes in the mortgage banking industry at the firm.

William E. Little Jr. gave $150,000. He is chairman of George Little Management, LLC, a large producer of trade shows for consumer goods in the United States, and a Bates College trustee.

Lenny Mendonca gave $50,000. He is a direcdtor in the San Francisco office of McKinsey & Co., chairman emeritus of the Bay Area Council, and chairman of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute. He is the former chair of Repair California, the organization behind the call for a limited Constitutional Convention to address the structural elements that have made governing California so difficult. He serves on the board of The New America Foundation.

The full list is here.

Tuesday is the day for the so-called Super PACS to file an annual report of donors. NBC News and msnbc.com will be scouring the filings, and posting details. We'll have updates on msnbc.com, and could always use your help identifying the economic and political interests behind the names.

The official deadline for filing is midnight ET (12 a.m. Wednesday), so reports may trickle in. And it wouldn't surprise us if some campaigns file late tonight as attention is focused on voting results in the Florida Republican primary.

Super PACS are known to the Federal Election Commission as independent committees, because they are forbidden to coordinate their activities with campaigns. Outside the limits of campaign finance laws, Super PACs may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals. They can use that money to advocate for or against political candidates.

Read more about the reports filed Tuesday:

After TV cameras leave, Romney PAC discloses $18 million

Perry PAC's $1 million donor got help with nuclear waste dump

Major GOP Super PAC raised $51 million in 2011

Not 'Desperate' for cash: Obama lists his big fundraisers

Sugar Daddy: Huntsman's father gave $1.9 million to Super PAC

Colbert Super PAC raises $1 million; non-satirical PACs to follow

Update: The full list of donors to the Super PAC is here, but that filing does not list the greater amount donated to the nonprofit.

WASHINGTON (AP) — American Crossroads, the Republican "super" political committee that plans to play a major role in this year's presidential campaign, raised more than $51 million along with its nonprofit arm last year, The Associated Press has learned.

The figures from Crossroads — the group backed by former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove — were among the first financial reports being made public Tuesday, the deadline for super PACs and presidential candidates to file financial reports with federal election officials.

While most recent public attention has focused on groups spending major sums for negative TV ads assailing GOP presidential primary rivals Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, Tuesday's figures are a sign of even greater spending to come in the general election battle between the Republican nominee and Democratic President Barack Obama.

Other big Super PACs required to disclose their donors Tuesday include Restore Our Future, the Romney-leaning PAC that has contributed to a deluge of ads hammering Gingrich, and Winning Our Future, the Gingrich-supportive group that has been critical of Romney's time at a venture capital firm. Both super PACs are run in part by former advisers to the candidates.

The American Crossroads PAC has about $15.6 million cash on hand, representing only part of the money it has in the bank to spend on defeating Obama. Financial details from Crossroads GPS — the nonprofit arm — are unclear because it doesn't have to disclose its donors under IRS rules, althoughCrossroads GPS was responsible for most of the groups' fundraising haul.

The Crossroads war chests underscore the extraordinary impact Super PACs could have on this year's race for the White House. In GOP primaries so far, groups working for or against presidential candidates have spent roughly $25 million on TV ads — about half the nearly $53 million spent on advertising so far to influence voters in the early weeks of the race.

Crossroads' financial reports, which the AP obtained ahead of the Federal Election Commission, identify wealthy donors who had given contributions reaching as high as seven figures by the end of 2011. Among the largest contributors is Dallas businessman Harold Simmons, who gave the group $5 million last November and whose holding company, Contran Corp., donated an additional $2 million.

Simmons is a major donor to GOP and conservative causes who pumped as much as $4 million into the "swift boat" campaign that helped sink Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry in 2004. Simmons, an early supporter of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's presidential run, also was a fundraising "bundler" putting donations together for Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Other Super PACs have already had a major effect this primary season. One group, for instance, effectively saved Newt Gingrich's candidacy, while another tore into him in Florida and elsewhere. At the minimum, the groups' spending is a precursor to the general election — when super PACs aligned with both Republicans and Obama plan to dole out even larger sums.

These groups are the products of a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that removed restrictions on corporate and union spending in federal elections. The groups can't directly coordinate with the candidates they support, but many are staffed with former campaign workers who have an intimate knowledge of a favored candidate's strategy.

Since this summer, the groups have spent tens of millions on ads in key GOP primary states like Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida. The PACs have also unleashed millions on expenses typically reserved for campaigns, including direct mailings, phone calls and get-out-the-vote efforts.

Few groups are likely to be as influential as American Crossroads, which plans to raise hundreds of millions of dollars this election cycle and enlists support from high-profile GOP figures such as former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.

Crossroads' financial reports show other large donors such as Joseph W. Craft III, a Tulsa businessman whose Alliance Holdings, a major coal producer, gave $425,000. Other contributions include: $500,000 from Dallas-based Crow Holdings; $250,000 from Chicago philanthropist and GOP supporter Janet Duchossois, and $100,000 from Sam Zell, a Chicago real estate billionaire whose Tribune media company is now in bankruptcy.

Outside spending by individuals isn't new. Liberal-leaning billionaire George Soros gave more than $20 million to help groups supportive of Kerry — these groups were known as "527" organizations — and his 2004 White House bid. But the high court's Citizens United ruling essentially gave a green light to individuals who want to pump unlimited sums into outside groups that would in turn support candidates.

The Obama campaign on Tuesday disclosed a list of 61 people who raised at least half a million dollars for the president's re-election efforts. Among them are movie producers Jeffrey Katzenberg and Harvey Weinstein and embattled former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, whose $70,000 in contributions from himself and his wife were refunded by the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

A handful of other financial filings began trickling in to the Federal Election Commission Tuesday afternoon, including those from the Gingrich campaign. It said the former House speaker raised $10 million during the fourth quarter, in addition to $5 million this month. Those totals are separate from super PAC money being spent on his behalf by outside groups.

Perry, the Texas governor who was an early star in the Republican primaries, raised an anemic $2.9 million this past quarter, compared with $17.2 million within the first two months of his entering the race last summer. The Jon Huntsman-leaning Our Destiny super PAC raised about $2.8 million — with more than $1.8 million coming from his father, Jon Huntsman Sr.

Endorse Liberty, a group supportive of libertarian-leaning Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, said it raised $3.9 million for online advertising in key primary states.

___

Associated Press writers Stephen Braun and Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.

By Michael Isikoff, NBC News
with reporting by NBC's Azriel Relph and Lisa Riordan Seville

The Obama campaign on Tuesday released an updated list of 445 major "bundlers" of campaign contributions, including a "Desperate Housewives" star, a Silicon Valley mogul, and a former Energy Department advisor who pushed a government loan for the now bankrupt Solyndra solar company.

The report provides new evidence of just how important big money bundlers are in presidential campaigns. In all, the 445 bundlers raised $74 million to $100 million for the Obama re-election campaign, the campaign reported, according to totals calculated by NBC from the rough ranges the campaign reported for each person's collections. Just 61 elite fundraisers among that group brought in at least $30 million, or at least $500,000 apiece.

The Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group, calcuated that the bundlers raised $35 of every $100 raised by the Obama campaign groups since April, when he launched his re-election campaign.

Among the newly named bundlers who have raised at least $500,000 or more for the Obama re-election are Marc Benioff, a Silicon Valley computer tycoon who founded Salesforce.com and hosted a fundraiser for the president at his home last spring; Jack Rosen, a prominent New York real estate developer who is chairman of the American Jewish Congress; and Kawana Brown, the chief operating officer of Magic Johnson Enterprises.

Altogether there are 88 newly disclosed bundlers for the president's campaign. Those raising $200,000 to $500,000 include Eva Longoria, the Desperate Housewives actress; Stewart Bainum, chairman of Manor Care and Choice Hotels International; Joel Cantor, owner of Cantor Partners real estate firm; and Mai Lassiter, wife of film producer James Lassiter.

The Obama list of $500,000 bundlers includes some notable names that have previously been disclosed, such as Hollywood moguls Jeffrey Katzenberg (who has also donated $2 million to an Obama superpac), film producer Harvey Weinstein, and UBS Americas chairman Robert Wolf.

One of the president’s top bundlers, former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine, recently caused embarrassment for the campaign when his investment  firm, MF Global, filed for bankruptcy, triggering an FBI investigation into whether its clients’ money had been mishandled. The Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee last month returned over $70,000 of funds donated by Corzine  and his wife.

Another name previously disclosed is a former Energy Dept. adviser, Steve Spinner, of Menlo Park, Calif., who pushed the controversial funding of the Solyndra energy company. Emails uncovered by a Congressional committee last fall showed that Spinner, while on an Energey Department board, repeatedly pushed officials to finalize a loan for Solyndra before Vice President Joe Biden visited the company in September 2009. "What is he waiting for?" Spinner wrote to a DOE official. I have the OVP [Office of the Vice President] and WH [White House] breathing down my neck on this."

Other names on the list include:

David Cohen, the executive vice president of Comcast, the cable firm that owns NBC and is co-owner of msnbc.com

Anna Wintour, editor in chief of Vogue

Laura Ricketts, co-owner of the Chicago Cubs

Jon Corzine, former governor of New Jersey and former chairman of bankrupt MF Global Holdings

Thomas Carnahan, founder of wind farm company Wind Capital Group

Andrew Tobias, Miami, financial writer

Crystal Nix-Hines, lawyer and Hollywood writer

Mark Gallogly, private equity investor and member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board

The full list is here.

In an official filing with the FEC, the campaign's fundraising arm, Obama for America, reported having $82 million cash on hand at year end. It raised $40 million in the last quarter. A related campaign arm, Obama Victory Fund, reported raising $24 million in the last quarter, finishing the year with $1 million on hand. The Obama Victory Fund, controlled by the campaign, jointly contributes to the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Overall, 61 Obama fundraisers are now in the highest bundler category, "$500,000 plus," 20 more than were on the previous list of 41 listed last fall.

The Obama campaign is so far the only presidential campaign to voluntarily disclose its bundlers, fundraisers who are key to a presidential campaign’s success because they collect  checks en masse from multiple donors,  giving them far more clout than individual contributors who are still limited to giving $2,500 a piece.  Although John McCain and Obama both disclosed their bundlers in 2008.

Update: Mitt Romney released a short list of bundlers on Tuesday, but only the names required by law to be disclosed, because they are lobbyists. Those names are here.

President Obama, as a United States senator, proposed legislation in 2007 that would have required disclosure of supporters who raised $50,000 or more. That legislation was not enacted, but Obama voluntarily released names during his campaign and during his term in office.

Read more about the reports filed Tuesday:

After TV cameras leave, Romney PAC discloses $18 million

Spielberg, labor union are big backers of Obama Super PAC

Perry PAC's $1 million donor got help with nuclear waste dump

Major GOP Super PAC raised $51 million in 2011

Sugar Daddy: Huntsman's father gave $1.9 million to Super PAC

Colbert Super PAC raises $1 million; non-satirical PACs to follow

By Bill Dedman, msnbc.com, and Lisa Riordan Seville, NBC News

A Super PAC supporting Jon Huntsman Jr., the former candidate in the Republican presidential primary, has filed its annual report of donors, showing that the candidate's father provided 70 percent of its support.

Jon Huntsman Sr., who founded chemical company Huntsman Corp., gave $1,887,040 to the Our Destiny PAC in the last quarter of 2011.

Our Destiny PAC showed 2,680,560 in receipts during 2011. Other money may have come in during the first month of 2012, not yet reported.

Other top donors included:

• Peter Arnott, Research Affiliates, $250,000
• C. Boyden Gray, attorney, $50,000
• Craig McCaw and Susan McCaw (McCaw Cellular), $75,000
• William E. Oberndorf, SPO Partners, $50,000
• James R. Swartz, Accel Management Co., $100,000
• Nicholas F. Taubman, Mozart Investments, $50,000
• Christy R. Walton, Wal-Mart heir and philanthropist, $50,000
• Jim Walton, Wal-Mart heir and Arvest Bank chairman, $100,000

Susan McCaw is a former U.S. ambassador to Austria. Craig McCaw is the founder of McCaw Cellular, a mobile phone company now a part of AT&T. McCaw had a net worth of about $1.6 billion as of September, according to Forbes.

The candidate's full report is here.

Tuesday is the day for the so-called Super PACS to file an annual report of donors. NBC News and msnbc.com will be scouring the filings, and posting details. We'll have updates on msnbc.com, and could always use your help identifying the economic and political interests behind the names.

The political action committees must disclose by midnight tonight who gave them money, and how much they spent to support or oppose candidates in the presidential race, including the Republican candidates and President Obama as well.

The official deadline for filing is midnight ET (12 a.m. Wednesday), so reports may trickle in. And it wouldn't surprise us if some campaigns file late tonight as attention is focused on voting results in the Florida Republican primary.

Super PACS are known to the Federal Election Commission as independent committees, because they are forbidden to coordinate their activities with campaigns. Outside the limits of campaign finance laws, Super PACs may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals. They can use that money to advocate for or against political candidates.

Read more about the reports filed Tuesday:

After TV cameras leave, Romney PAC discloses $18 million

Spielberg, labor union are big backers of Obama Super PAC

Perry PAC's $1 million donor got help with nuclear waste dump

Major GOP Super PAC raised $51 million in 2011

Not 'Desperate' for cash: Obama lists his big fundraisers

Colbert Super PAC raises $1 million; non-satirical PACs to follow