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through final pre-election finance reports in mid-October -- the methodology is below -- The Associated Press has ranked the top five financial supporters bankrolling the Republican presidential run:
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• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Chicago is President Barack Obama's kind of town when it comes to top-dollar campaign donations. Windy City media baron Fred Eychaner was a leading Obama donor during the 2008 campaign and has raised more money for the president's re-election campaign this election season than any other Democratic donor.
• Eychaner joins DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, a New York hedge fund manager, a Southern California billionaire and a Michigan philanthropist in giving millions of dollars to help Obama win a second term. They are helping fund a presidential election that surpassed $2 billion in October, with money going toward the individual Republican and Democratic campaigns as well as independent "super" political committees working on the campaigns' behalf.
• Political donations can open doors that are closed to most people. Big-dollar donors are often invited to state dinners at the White House and other events with the president. They also may be asked to weigh in on public policy, especially if it affects their own financial interests. And the ranks of ambassadors, advisory panels and other government jobs traditionally are filled with those who have been unusually generous during the campaign.
• Based on an examination of more than 3.9 million campaign contributions through final pre-election finance reports in mid-October -- the methodology is below -- The Associated Press has ranked the top five financial supporters of Obama's:
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• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Tina Curl was so eager to see her 9-year-old daughter's killer executed Tuesday night that she couldn't even take her seat in the witness room.

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