Foster Friess swings to Romney

By: Kenneth P. Vogel and Dave Levinthal April 10, 2012 05:51 PM EDT                 Friess and his wife have donated $1.9M to Republican candidates in 2012. | AP Photo

Foster Friess, the retired investor who spent nearly $1.7 million boosting Rick Santorum’s presidential run, is ready to help Mitt Romney. “I’m obviously going to be of help in whatever way I can,” Friess told POLITICO Tuesday afternoon, hours after Santorum suspended his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination, cementing Romney’s status as the party’s presumptive nominee. Friess, who was in Washington to accept an award from the Horatio Alger Association, said he had yet to discuss his planned shift in allegiance with Romney’s campaign campaign or the Washington-based super PAC supporting it. “I’ve got some plans as to how I might be able to be of help,” said Friess. “The bottom line is, I’m going to be very supportive and I’ll probably have plans to share with you a little later on.” Friess had mostly refrained from echoing Santorum’s sharp attacks on Romney, and in fact, had donated $1,000 to Romney’s campaign last May. He subsequently emerged as the biggest patron of Santorum’s campaign, as well as a prominent traveling surrogate. He also became one of the faces of a new breed of big-money politics in which a single donor can essentially float a presidential campaign with unlimited contributions outside groups including super PACs. The $1.7 million that Friess donated to super PACs supporting Santorum played a pivotal role in boosting the former Pennsylvania senator’s cash-strapped campaign to a surprising Iowa caucus win, as well as a subsequent sweep of the primaries in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota. Friess suggested he might support the Karl Rove-linked Crossroads groups, which are planning to spend as much as $300 million attacking President Barack Obama and boosting Romney. “I’m not sure if I have already,” Friess said when asked about whether he intended to donate to Crossroads, which is comprised of both a super PAC called American Crossroads and a non-profit group called Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies. “I know that I have contributed to some other groups, but I can’t remember which ones. There are so many of them. They’re all over the place.” Federal Election Commission records show that Friess, a retired mutual fund guru, and his wife Lynn, have donated $1.9 million to Republican candidates and causes in the 2012 election cycle. Most of that - $1.6 million – went to the Red, White and Blue Fund, a super PAC that spent about $7.5 million supporting Santorum and attacking his opponents. Friess also gave $50,000 to the Leaders For Families Super PAC, which is associated with influential Iowa Christian conservative leader Bob Vander Plaats. It was established in December, quickly raked in $150,000 – half of which came from the Red, White and Blue Fund – and used the cash to air radio and television ads and place automated telephone calls touting the endorsement of Santorum by Vander Plaats. “His endorsement was world changing,” Friess told POLITICO not long after the Iowa win. He added Tuesday that Santorum’s campaign was “a historical political miracle … And now, the challenge is how do we keep as much of that momentum that he generated alive and well to go into the fall elections.” Leaders for Families finished last year with more debt than cash on hand. But the Red White and Blue Fund ended February with about $365,000 in the bank, though its spending slowed over the last several weeks — often an indication of fundraising trouble. As a super PAC, it could potentially switch its allegiances to another candidate, or, as in the case of the formerly pro-Herman Cain 9-9-9- Fund super PAC, transfer the money to another super PAC. A source familiar with the Red White and Blue Fund suggested the PAC might follow the lead of Santorum, who in his Tuesday announcement did not endorse Romney. “It was formed to help Rick,” the source emailed. “Really need to let the dust settle, and see what Rick does, too.”