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Though his spending is on a much smaller scale, he is joining other wealthy Americans by bankrolling outside groups to influence elections.
The Huffington Post said Sunday that it would bankroll a group of investigative journalists and make the nation's economy an initial priority for coverage.
Mr. Pickens, who provided $3 million to bankroll the group during Mr. Kerry's race against President Bush, responded by saying he would not consider giving Mr. Kerry the reward unless he surrendered his combat films and more military records.
In 1966, however, when Wes Brunson, a rich American acquaintance, decided to bankroll a group featuring Allen and Ayers, who recruited Wyatt and Ratledge, Hopper decided to stick with the Wilde Flowers until summer 1967, and that autumn he became Soft Machine's road manager.
In Kuwait, meanwhile, the interior minister, Sheikh Jaber Khaled al Sabah, accused Iran last September of "harboring and bankrolling" terror groups including al Qa'eda, a charge that Iran vehemently denied.
The brothers have also bankrolled three groups that have played a central role in the Tea Party movement: Americans for Prosperity, which replaced the Kochs' old Citizens for a Sound Economy, and which has received an estimated $60 million from the brothers, as well as FreedomWorks and Freedom Partners.
Philip was bankrolling the group.
The casino magnate almost single-handedly bankrolled the group behind the former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 2012.
Mr. Freeman joins a growing roster of Hollywood supporters bankrolling the group, which has shown an uptick in recent fund-raising but remains far behind its Republican counterparts.
