There’s a reason they’re called Masters of the Universe. The 25 top hedge fund managers took home a sweet $11.6 billion last year, even in a time of tightening credit and falling stock prices which shuttered many less-nimble funds.

Willie Sutton robbed banks because that’s where the money is. Political candidates go hat in hand to hedge fund managers because that’s where even more money is.

When the Republicans won the White House in 2000 and 2004, many attributed the victories to the GOP’s sophisticated voter databases.

Millionaire Susie Tompkins Buell is a candidate’s dream, the sort of contributor who’s willing to give again and again and again.

“I get worked up and ask, ‘What can I do?’ and the first answer is always to give money,” Buell told The New York Times in 2004.

Buell is worked up again - this time over the prospect that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton might not get the Democratic presidential nomination.

A voter turnout group backed by George Soros has been fined by the Federal Election Commission for improper fundraising in the 2004 election.

The now-inactive organization called America Coming Together agreed to pay a $775,000 penalty. According to the FEC announcement, the group failed to properly report expenditures to candidates and failed to meet federal guidelines for administrative expenses.

America Coming Together conducted a major get-out-the-vote campaign in 2004, in an effort to help elect John Kerry.