Political Hotsheet
By

Laura Strickler /

CBS News/ February 17, 2012, 10:40 AM

Adelson plans new $10M donation to Gingrich super PAC -- sources

Billionaire tycoon fueling Gingrich campaign ads

Sheldon Adelson, left, and Newt Gingrich, right

UPDATED 3:39 p.m. ET

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's faltering campaign is expected to get another shot in the arm, CBS News has learned.

Billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson plans to give another $10 million to the outside group backing the former Georgia lawmaker who is running behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, a source close to Adelson told CBS News.

Adleson and his family have already given $11 million to "Winning our Future," the super PAC backing Gingrich. The group, which bombarded the airwaves in South Carolina last month ahead of the primary there, is largely credited with helping Gingrich win in the Palmetto state.

The latest $10 million cash injection would raise the Adelson family's contribution to $21 million, and a different source close to Adelson said he is prepared to drop another $4 million for a total of $25 million. The Huffington Post calculated that the billionaire casino owner earns about $3.3 million an hour.

The donation is expected to arrive at "Winning Our Future" within days, the source said, but still too late to make deadline for the scheduled release of donations on February 20th. The donation details are expected to be revealed in the March 20th filing with the Federal Election Commission.

Adelson has previously indicated his support for Gingrich is based on their shared commitment to Israel. But the billionaire has also indicated that despite his ongoing support for Gingrich, he will maintain a commitment to whoever becomes the Republican nominee.

A "Winning Our Future" spokesman declined comment.

A source close to the super PAC told CBS News a new infusion of $10 million would "change everything" and they could hit the button to go on television with ads supporting Gingrich "in 30 seconds."

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Additional reporting by Scott Conroy.

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
143 Comments Add a Comment
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erpicferl says:
instead of throwing the money away on a loser like newt he could give his employees at the venetian raises..but he's jewish so no raises for them i'm sure.
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dtomp says:
Now we know why they are selling his president Newt L. Gingrich
domain names on ebay. He will make all he can then slide off into the dark. This is really getting crazy. What a chump!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230748311844
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Herne42 says:
WHAT A DUMB A$$!.... 10 million dollars GONE!..... That's a lot of books and educational material. Medicine.life saving medical treatments. Food and clean water...

Some people in this world just make me wanna vomit. Greedy F^**in bastards the whole lot of em.
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Herne42 replies:
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I think I'll volunteer at the local animal shelter this week.
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tvwatcher5345 says:
don't we have enough pro-israeli neocons trying to influence our government?, can't we just ship them over and use them as ground troops for an invasion of iran? they might even last all of twenty seconds in combat
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venusvegasvada says:
Sheldon pulls the arm on the two-faced bandit and learns a few things about gambling from the Master...

Bing!..BAR!...Bing!..Moon Base!...Bing!....Lemon!

"Damn it Newt!" says Sheldon, "I thought you said this one was a sure thing? You guaranteed it was ready to pay off!"

Newt says- "Oh you were so close man! Did you SEE that! You almost got had something with that last pull, I could feel it!"

"I'm telling you, this machine is ready to pay off BIG TIME! It hasn't done anything in so long it has to be ready to hit! Why don't you try it again?"

Machine says;

"Please Insert another 10 million in tokens to pull again"
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norcalruss says:
The photo of these three looks sinister, what are they looking at and thinking about? A plot to control the world? It must be nice to have 20 million dollars in pocket change to support a lost cause such as the Toad's hapless campaign. Maybe Adelson wants to have the first casino in the Toad's moon colony LOL!!

The bigger issue is that one super rich person can influence a general election for the entire nation. I don't think this is a good example of democracy. The Supreme Court decision, regarding PACs being able to receive limitless money, was a bad one.
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in_exile says:
The guy gives new meaning to "burning money". I guess it's his to burn. Maybe he gets to write it off?
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1pheasant1 says:
Snake eyes!
Slither...
Fold!
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IAMJONVON says:
Sheldon.........

the voice of Israel would like to dismiss the current OCCUPANT of the White House and the closest man resembling his ideal OCCUPANT would be NEWT............ but, the old boy is toxic and cannot be elected even if sweetened with Rubio or Col. West..... that's just the way it is...... sorry, Sheldon !
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JohnWest1943 says:
What a horrid waste of money. NOOT had no chance at this point. He is a fat washed up insider with more baggage than American Airlines. The casino owner is a fool.
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in_exile replies:
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All it does is keep the race going between Grinch and Santorum. At this point, Santorum needs to be put under the spotlight the way Romney and Grinch were, and it will happen with Grinch in the race. So it's not all bad.
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