Re: Wall Street Now Backing Democrats

Is it because Wall Stree expects Democrats to win? Or because Wall
Street is tired of the Bush economy?

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Bumperstickers: http://www.cafepress.com/bush_doggers?pid=2794571

Cisco Kid wrote:
Street bullish on Dems

Firms sending more money to Bush foes in congressional races

BY MICHAEL FORSYTHE and GEORGE STEIN
Bloomberg News

Wall Street, which backed President Bush and his fellow Republicans when
they were riding high, is putting most of its money behind Democratic
candidates in this year's U.S. congressional elections.

Democrats received $3.1 million from executives and employees at 11 leading
securities firms in the first half of 2006, compared with $1.95 million for
Republicans, according to Federal Election Commission figures. Lloyd
Blankfein, chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., is among the
biggest Democratic givers; John Mack, CEO of Morgan Stanley and a former
Bush fundraiser, has given more to Democrats than Republicans this year.

"Wall Street is always trying to back winners," said Gary Goldstein,
chairman of the Whitney Group, a New York-based executive-recruitment firm
specializing in securities personnel, and a self-described political
independent. He and others say investment bankers see the Republicans
dragged down by such issues as the war in Iraq, Bush's handling of Hurricane
Katrina and the slowing U.S. economy.

Democrats last posted a significant fund-raising lead among investment banks
in 2001, receiving 10 percent more than Republicans. The two parties were
about even in 2002, following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and
Republicans got most of the donations from 2003 through 2005.

CASH FOR CLINTON
Sen. Hillary Clinton, a New York Democrat, is the biggest beneficiary of
Wall Street's largesse in the current campaign. She has collected at least
$580,000 so far, according to an analysis of FEC reports by Dwight L. Morris
& Associates, a Bristow, Virginia, firm that monitors money in politics.

As a group, securities and investment firms rank third in political giving
behind lawyers and the real-estate industry, according to the Center for
Responsive Politics in Washington, which tracks money in politics. Goldman
Sachs and its employees have given more for this year's races than any
company in the U.S., the group said.

Wall Street contributions come from two sources: individuals, and political
action committees that pool donations from managers and hand out the money
under the firm's name. PAC contributions still favor Republicans. Since
2001, the 11 securities firms have contributed $51.3 million to political
candidates, more than two-thirds of it from individuals, according to the
Morris firm.

A CHANGE AT THE TOP
Blankfein, 51, has given $25,000 to the Democrats' bid to win control of the
Senate, FEC figures show. His predecessor at Goldman was Henry Paulson, now
Bush's Treasury secretary, who raised at least $100,000 for the president's
2004 re-election.

Mack, 61, raised at least $200,000 for Bush's re-election while he was
co-CEO of Credit Suisse Group. This year, he and his wife have contributed
at least $8,000 to Clinton, eight times what he gave to Republicans,
according to FEC records.

Mack's chief administrative officer, Thomas Nides, is a Democrat who once
worked for former House Speaker Thomas Foley, a Washington Democrat, and
also helped run Sen. Joseph Lieberman's Democratic vice presidential
campaign in 2000.

Not all the investors betting on a Democratic victory are on Wall Street.
Futures traded on the Dublin-based Intrade Internet market, which as
recently as February gave Republicans a 70 percent chance of maintaining
their 12-year control of the House of Representatives, now put the odds at
less than 50 percent. The Web site gives Republicans an 84 percent chance of
holding the Senate, which they've controlled since 2003.

BUSH BACKERS
This year's shift to the Democrats is particularly notable given that
Paulson, former Morgan Stanley CEO Philip Purcell, Mack, Merrill Lynch & Co.
CEO Stanley O'Neal and Bear Stearns Cos. CEO James Cayne all were major
fundraisers for Bush's re- election in 2004.

Mack was traveling and was unavailable for comment. Jeanmarie McFadden, a
spokeswoman for New York-based Morgan Stanley, declined to comment on the
firm's financial giving. Mack also has given to Republicans, including
$1,000 for Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who will be up for re-election
in 2008.
At New York-based Goldman Sachs, "the firm's political action committee
contributes to those we believe are intelligently sympathetic to free
markets," spokesman Peter Rose said. "However, individuals at the firm are
free to give to whomever they want, and I cannot speculate on their
motives."

The Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley PACs still give most of their donations
to Republicans. In fact, Morgan Stanley's PAC is giving more than 70 percent
of its donations to Republican candidates, the highest proportion ever,
according to PoliticalMoneyLine, a Washington-based company that tracks
money in politics.

SENATE CAMPAIGN
Democratic fund-raisers credit Sen. Charles Schumer of New York and Rep.
Rahm Emanuel of Illinois with helping bring in the money. The two men head
the party fund-raising committees in the Senate and House respectively.

"Chuck Schumer and Rahm Emanuel have been enormously effective," said Orin
Kramer, a general partner at Boston Provident Partners LP in New York and a
Democratic fund-raiser who is chairman of New Jersey's Investment Council,
which oversees state pension funds.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has received $1.5 million for
the November elections from the 11 securities firms, more than any candidate
or party committee, according to Dwight L. Morris & Associates.

Wall Street's shift to the Democrats underscores earlier reports that show a
similar trend among hedge-fund managers and private-equity executives. All
told, the financial-services industry has given about 50 percent of its
donations for the 2006 elections to Democrats and 48 percent to Republicans,
according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

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