Bill and Hillary Clinton have managed to raise in excess of $2 billion over the past 20 years, with half of that amount coming from the corporate world,
The Wall Street Journal reported.
"Clinton Inc. is going to be the most formidable fundraising operation for the Democrats in the history of the country," GOP lobbyist and fundraiser Rick Hohlt told the newspaper. "Period. Exclamation point. It sure causes concern."
After leaving the White House in 2001, the Clintons said they were $12 million in the red.
Today, they are millionaires who also sit astride an effective fundraising apparatus that supports their charitable and political causes. The money they have raised over the years comes in the form of campaign contributions, speeches, and donations to groups that back their policy and philanthropic interests, the Journal reported.
A Hillary Clinton presidential run could open wide corporate coffers for the Democratic Party. As secretary of state, she made promotion of business interests a top priority. The Clintons' biggest backer on Wall Street is Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Bill Clinton favored policies that allowed commercial banks to act as investment banks.
By comparison, President Barack Obama has raised less than 50 percent of his money from corporate donors.
Republican fundraiser Sam Geduldig said Clinton "has the credibility among Wall Street donors that could make it likely that Wall Street moves back into the Democratic fold."
Unions are more modest Clinton benefactors to the tune of $40 million, according to the Journal.
While pulling together precise tallies is difficult, an analysis by the Journal and the nonpartisan
Center for Responsive Politics revealed that over two decades the Clintons raised between $2 billion and $3 billion from various sources.
In contrast, its took former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush four presidential runs to raise $2.9 billion, according to the Journal.
Progressives fret over Hillary Clinton's ties to Wall Street.
"It's hard to imagine someone being willing to jail Wall Street bankers who broke the law if that same person is getting paid a lot of money by Wall Street bankers," Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee told the Journal.
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