California is the land of milk and honey for political candidates. The Golden State has been more lucrative for both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney individually than any other state in the country.
Since the start of 2011, Californian rainmakers have donated $30,592,451 to Obama and $17,568,562 to Romney, based on Federal Election Commission data released on Aug. 21.
So who are these generous Cali political junkies? The celebrity-studded slideshow below shows who the donors are, where they live and where they work, based on data sent to The Huffington Post from the Center for Responsive Politics.
About one-third of the 30 donors below gave primarily to Republican causes, including the two biggest donors in the entire state. This follows the national trend that Romney receives a higher percentage of large individual contributions than his opponent, while Obama receives a higher percentage of small individual contributions.
Nationally, since Jan. 2011, Obama has raised $348,413,128, and Romney has raised $193,373,762.
Kathleen Miles was interviewed about this story on KNX (CBS radio). Listen to the audio here.
HuffPost Live will be taking a comprehensive look at the corrupting influence of money on our politics Aug. 30 and Sept. 6 from 12-4 p.m. EDT and 6-10 p.m. EDT. Click here to check it out -- and join the conversation.
Hey politicians, here are the top Californians to make your friends:
Totals include contributions to candidates, committees, super PACs and outside groups combined. Percentages represent how much of the total went to Democratic (Dem) or Republican (Rep) candidates or groups.
