With boost from Adelsons, Restore Our Future rakes in $20 million

WASHINGTON — Pro-Romney “super PAC” Restore Our Future raised $20 million in just 17 days, according to finance reports filed Thursday, with half of its take coming from casino magnate and prolific Republican donor Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam.

The haul points to an amped-up fundraising pace by the group early this month in order to fund its final advertising blitz. The $20.1 million netted between Oct. 1 and Oct. 17 is more than what the group had raised in any full month this election cycle, save for last July when it brought in $20.7 million.

After spending $12.5 million, almost entirely on media and direct mail, the group entered the final three weeks of the election with $24 million cash on hand.

INTERACTIVE: Campaign contributions, by state

Super PACs and campaigns are filing their “pre-general election” finance reports ahead of the Thursday midnight deadline, the last major filing due before the election.

The super PAC also collected $1 million apiece from a quartet of donors: Jerry Perenchio, former chief of Spanish-language media company Univision; Julian Robertson, a billionaire hedge fund manager; Dallas-based investor Harold C. Simmons; and Edward St. John, a Baltimore developer. All except St. John are repeat donors to the group.

Chicago investor Ken Griffin, another repeat donor, gave $500,000, as did the Reynolds & Reynolds Co., an Ohio automotive software company. A trio of limited liability companies linked to top Reynolds executives gave a combined $1 million to the super PAC in May.

The group held a confab with contributors during a donors retreat the Mitt Romney campaign held last week at Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York, an event that highlighted how closely the group is tied to the campaign even as it is barred from coordinating with the campaign on strategy.

Restore Our Future also benefited from a rising stock market this year. In June, the committee said it received stock worth $50,265 from Sean Feiler, a New York financial analyst and chairman of a group called the American Principles Project that advocates a return to the gold standard. When the committee sold the stock last week, it was worth $67,119.

But the Miriam and Sheldon Adelson were the primary drivers of the group’s blockbuster raise, with each writing $5 million checks less than a week apart. On Oct. 11, the day Adelson wrote his check to Restore Our Future, he and his wife gave another $1 million to the Ending Spending Action Fund, a group backing Republican candidates. The next day, he donated $1.5 million to Independence Virginia PAC, which is supporting the election of GOP Senate candidate George Allen.

In all, Adelson has pledged to spend more than $70 million in the 2012 campaign. Together with his family, he has given at least $46.5 million in donations to groups that disclose their donations, according to campaign finance reports.

melanie.mason@latimes.com

matea.gold@latimes.com

Joseph Tanfani in the Washington bureau contributed to this report.