WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin congressman who has breathed new life into Republican Mitt Romney's bid for the White House, also brings his status as a fundraising heavyweight.
During his 14-year career in Congress, Ryan has been propelled by sizeable donations from insurance companies and other players in the financial sector, including notable hedge fund names.
Ryan's campaign has so far reported raising $4.3 million this election cycle, with $5.4 million in cash on hand as of July 25, making it one of the top-raising congressional campaigns this year.
His leadership Prosperity PAC, or political action committee, has collected another $3.7 million this cycle.
The biggest contributors behind Ryan this cycle are family members and employees of Elliott Management, a Wall Street hedge fund run by prominent Republican donor Paul Singer, who has helped raise millions for the party, including for Romney.
Now, as Romney's vice presidential pick for the Republican ticket, Ryan is already energizing donors, especially those in the Wall Street scene.
Anthony Scaramucci, managing partner at alternative investment firm SkyBridge Capital LLC, said people in the hedge fund community with whom he has spoken are "ecstatic" about the Ryan choice.
"Of everybody in the Republican leadership, there's nobody that understands pro-growth economic policies and how massive deficit spending can actually lead to a drag on job creation better than Paul Ryan," said Scaramucci.
Scaramucci, who is one of the eight co-chairs of Romney's National Finance Committee, gave $5,000 last year to Ryan's Prosperity PAC.
BIG NAMES
Ryan, a 42-year-old Washington insider who has spent practically his entire career on Capitol Hill, has in recent years garnered national attention for his dramatic proposals to slash the federal budget.
The campaign money has followed.
Financial firms went all-out for Ryan in the 2010 election cycle, when Republicans swept into the House of Representatives as the majority party and Ryan became chairman of the powerful House Budget Committee.
That year, Ryan received nearly $500,000 from the securities and investment industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group.
Top givers included Elliott employees with $35,419, and Affiliated Managers Group, a Massachusetts-based asset manager, with $22,666.
Ryan also received $23,364 from SAC Capital Advisors, one of the world's biggest and most successful hedge funds that is run by billionaire Steven Cohen.
Representatives for Cohen and Singer declined comment.
Topping the list of Ryan's 2010 donors as well as the list of his biggest donors over his career since 1998 is Northwestern Mutual, a life insurance company based in Milwaukee, in Ryan's home state of Wisconsin, according to a tally by CRP.
Northwestern's PAC and employees have given $89,300 to Ryan's campaign since his first run for Congress in 1998, CRP analysis shows.
"Congressman Ryan - whose district includes our Franklin, Wis., Campus - has always expressed a willingness to listen to our views on public policy matters and appreciates the importance of individuals' planning for their financial security," company spokeswoman Betsy Hoylman said in an emailed statement.
Among Ryan's other top 10 donors over the course of his career are mobile carrier AT&T with $74,850, drug company Abbott Laboratories with $61,700, and health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield with $58,150.
Ryan has received $65,500, his sixth-biggest donation, from the energy company Koch Industries, run by prominent conservative financiers and big 2012 election donors the Koch brothers.
Many of Ryan's biggest donations came from trade groups, including the National Beer Wholesalers Association at $75,000, National Auto Dealers Association at $68,500, National Association of Home Builders with $67,750 and National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors with $65,000.
WILL SMALL DONOR GIVE?
While Ryan's youthful energy has fired up the Republican Party's conservative base, the fundraising disclosures show Ryan appealing to a similar group of donors - retired professionals, insurance and finance workers - as Romney.
What is less clear is Ryan's ability to attract small donors.
Romney and the Republican Party have outraised President Barack Obama and the Democrats for the past three months in a row, topping $100 million a month largely thanks to his appeal to a disgruntled Wall Street.
But one area where Romney continues to lag is Obama's historic advantage: the small donors, which are seen as a gauge of grassroots enthusiasm and support.
Obama has raised almost 40 percent from donors giving $200 or less as of June 30, compared with Romney's haul of only 15 percent from such donors, according to an analysis by the Campaign Finance Institute.
Some observers argue that Ryan, who plays up his Midwestern roots, could offset Romney's lackluster appeal to less-wealthy Americans.
But Ryan's history hardly indicates an outpouring of grassroots enthusiasm. Ryan has already raised more this election than his 2010 haul of $3.8 million, but no thanks to small donors. Their contributions dropped to 15 percent of his haul from 22 percent in 2010, according to Reuters' analysis of Ryan's campaign donations.
(This story is corrected to show that Northwestern donation number does not include Ryan's leadership PAC)
(Reporting by Alina Selyukh and Alexander Cohen in Washington, and Sam Forgione in New York; Editing by Karey Wutkowski and Xavier Briand)
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