Hotel/casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, whose $60 million or more of contributions to Republican candidates this election cycle made him the largest political donor in U.S. history, is taking the failure of that spending in stride.
He backed eight candidates, including Mitt Romney, mostly with donations to super PACs and outside interest groups. None of the eight emerged victorious Tuesday.
Asked Tuesday night how he thought his money was spent, the Las Vegas titan responded, “Paying bills, that’s how you spend money. Either that or become a Jewish husband — you spend a lot of money,”
The New York Times reports.
Adelson certainly wasn’t alone in putting his fortune to work for Republican candidates. Billionaire financier Harold Simmons doled out $26.9 million to super PACs supporting Mitt Romney and Senate candidates.
And Texas homebuilder Bob Perry forked over $21 million to super PACs working for Romney and Senate candidates Connie Mack in Florida and George Allen in Virginia.
Donors who provided more than $300 million to American Crossroads and Crossroads GOP, the groups associated with strategist Karl Rove, expressed their displeasure with the fruits of their donations after the elections.
Real estate mogul Donald Trump clearly wasn’t too impressed with Rove’s performance himself. “Congrats to @KarlRove on blowing $400 million this cycle. Every race @CrossroadsGPS ran ads in, the Republicans lost. What a waste of money,” the billionaire wrote on Twitter.