$10 million donation to pro-Mitt Romney super PAC comes from a familiar face

Multiple sources have confirmed that casino magnate
Sheldon Adelson is donating $10 million to the Restore Our
Future super PAC that indirectly supports Mitt Romney’s
presidential campaign.

“The $10 million figure appears to be the largest single
donation towards Mr. Romney’s efforts so far,” the
Wall Street Journal reported. “The
independent political action committee, by law, cannot
coordinate its work with the formal Romney campaign.
… Mr. Adelson and his family gave $21 million in
total to a PAC supporting (Newt) Gingrich during the early
primaries, but turned off the spigot after Mr. Gingrich
fell far behind in the races and the delegate count.”

The chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp., Adelson is
worth an estimated $24.9 billion.
After a recent one-on-one interview with Adelson, Forbes.com
writer Steven Bertoni described the billionaire as “an
Israel hawk who has donated hundreds of millions of
dollars to Jewish causes” and “had been willing to donate
as much as $100 million to his initial presidential
preference, Newt Gingrich.” (Bertoni also added this
nugget: “the $10 million donation he just made to Romney
is equivalent to $40 for an American family with a net
worth of $100,000.”)

“Adelson’s help is among the most coveted this cycle,” Politico’s
Maggie Haberman wrote. “The $10 million to Romney is a
lot — and he made clear to the nominee … that
he would be his biggest super PAC donor — but it’s
less than he gave Gingrich, with whom he has a personal
relationship.”

Adelson is far from the first billionaire to donate to
Restore Our Future. On Wednesday Forbes.com’s Clare
O’Connor detailed, “With (Adelson’s) gift, the tally
of America’s (billionaires) donating to Mitt Romney-
backing super PAC Restore Our Future is 32 — or, 8
percent of the Forbes 400.”

Even though Adelson had been supporting Gingrich
throughout the early phases of the 2012 presidential race,
Romney has consistently cultivated a cordial relationship
with the pro-Israel billionaire. For example, last year
Romney spoke to a Republican Jewish Coalition event
that Adelson hosted.

Time Magazine reported about that 2011
visit to see Jewish leaders in Las Vegas: “Mitt
Romney, a Mormon who doesn’t gamble, (paid) homage
to Adelson this weekend by appearing at his hotel, the
Venetian in Las Vegas, for the Republican Jewish
Coalition, a group for which Adelson holds a seat on the
board of directors.”