Obama strategist Axelrod twists the knife saying billionaire Romney donors should be 'asking where my refund is'
President Barack Obama's top strategist has mocked wealthy donors to the Romney campaign by saying that if he had been a billionaire Republican donor he'd be 'asking where my refund is'.
Speaking on the final Obama campaign conference call to reporters, David Axelrod said: 'The result was very heartening. You saw literally billions of dollars to try and not just unseat the President but to change the Congress, change the Senate and expand the Republican majority in the House.
'And as we sit here today the Senate is more Democratic, there are more Democrats in the House and if I were one of those billionaires who were funding Crossroads or one of those other organisations I'd be wanting to talk to someone and asking where by refund is because they didn't get much for their money.
Burning money: Karl Rove, left, spent more than $175m of donors' money on the election for no reward and left those who contributed furious when Romney, right, and the Republicans were defeated on Tuesday night'The heartening news if you can't buy the White House, you can't overwhelm the Congress with super PAC dollars and I think there'll be reluctance in the future when Mr Rove and others come knocking on the door because of what happened on Tuesday.'
American Crossroads and an affiliated non-profit Crossroads GPS, both run by Karl Rove, former top strategist for President George W. Bush, spent more than $175.8 million in the 2012 election cycle.
Of the 10 candidates they spent the most to defeat, only one Representative Shelley Berkley, who was running for the U.S. Senate in Nevada, went down to defeat. More than $113 million alone targeted Obama.
Gloat; David Axelrod dais today many of the billionaires who bankrolled Romney will think twice in the futureRove has also faced mockery from the Right. The morning after Mitt Romney was defeated, blowhard mogul Donald Trump tweeted, somewhat inaccurately: 'Congrats to @KarlRove on blowing $400 million this cycle. Every race @CrossroadsGPS ran ads in, the Republicans lost. What a waste of money.'
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Among the disappointed contributors who met Romney for a thank you brunch on Wednesday morning was casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who paid out more than $60 million. All eight of the candidates he backed with tens of millions of dollars lost.
On election night, he told a Norwegian reporter who asked him what his money had been spent on: 'Paying bills. That’s how you spend money. Either that or become a Jewish husband - you spend a lot of money.'
Jonathan Collegio, a spokesman for Crossroads, told 'USA Today' said the group helped Romney remain in contention and that this was understood by donors.
'Anyone who invests in a campaign or a super PAC knows there is a degree of risk involved in that investment in a political climate where an incumbent president can out-raise his challenger by hundreds of millions of dollars.'
But some donors are dismayed at the way their money was spent, with a number blaming the Romney campaign for being roundly outclassed by Obama's operatives.
'I don't regret party with my money in the cause of helping our country,' one New York-based donor told Mail Online. 'But I would feel better today if I could tell you that this defeat was beyond our control.
Futile: David Koch, above, and his brother Charles raised $400m to support the Republicans while Donald Trump tweeted that the money that Karl Rove raised was a 'waste of money' Down the drain: Casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, above, spent $60m supporting eight candidates, who all lost, while Linda McMahon, right, spent nearly $100 million of her own money on two unsuccessful races for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut in three years'Governor Romney is a good man but he was not best served by his staff. It's all Monday morning quarter-backing but the campaign allowed Obama's people to portray him as a callous rich guy probably did for him in the end.
'There was enough money there to fight back and it didn't happen. No, I won't be asking for a refund. But next time I might question more closely exactly how it will be spent.'
The 2012 election was the most expensive in American history with an estimated $6 billion being shelled out for a result that was the preservation of the status quo.
Linda McMahon, a Republican and former professional wrestling executive, spent nearly $100 million of her own money on two unsuccessful races for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut in three years.
Obama faced some $386 million in negative advertising from super PACs and other groups, over twice what Democratic groups supporting him spent on media.
Most of the cash came from a small group of wealthy donors taking the opportunity afforded to them by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which permitted unlimited contributions.
Harold Simmons, a Texas industrialist, gave $26.9 million to Republican super PACs, while Joe Ricketts, owner of the Chicago Cubs, spent nearly $13 million on funding a super PAC attacking Obama for government spending.
A donor network overseen by Charles and David Koch, billionaire industrialists and philanthropists, is believed to have raised close to $400 million for tax-exempt groups that are not required to disclose their spending.
Rove has told donors that things would have been much worse without their cash. This was echoed by Haley Barbour, former Mississippi governor and a Crossroads fundraiser.
He told the 'New York Times': 'I believe that some of that money actually kept Romney from getting beat down by the carpet-bombing he underwent from the Obama forces.'