“We have billionaires writing checks, large checks, to influence the outcome of the election,” George W. Bush recently complained to the New York Times. Luckily, the checks are going mostly his way.

Total number of Americans with net worth of $1 billion or more: 277

Number of billionaires who donated to presidential campaign during 2004 election cycle: 154 (56%)

Number who donated to Bush: 122 (79% of donors)

Number who donated to Kerry: 37 (24% of donors)

Number who donated to both Bush and Kerry: 6

Number who donated to Nader: 1

Of these, number who are actually Bush fund-raisers attempting Kerry sabotage: 1

Number of Texas billionaires donating solely to Bush: 18

Number of Texas billionaires donating solely to Kerry: 0

Notable billionaires for Kerry:
Warren Buffett
David Geffen
Leonard Lauder
Ralph Lauren
Pierre Omidyar
Ron Perelman
Sumner Redstone
George Soros

Notable billionaires for Bush:
Steve Ballmer
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Dell
Bill Gates
Kirk Kerkorian
Bruce Kovner
Henry Kravis
Drayton McLane
Richard Mellon Scaife
Charles Schwab
Alice, Jim, John, and S. Robson Walton
Sanford Weill
Stephen Wynn
Jerry Yang

Notable billionaires who have not yet given to either Bush or Kerry:
Ross Perot
Steven Spielberg
Oprah Winfrey

Related:

• Archive: “Features”
• Table of Contents: Aug 31, 2004 issue of New York | Subscribe!