Ryan has built a cash reserve that far exceeds what most House members enjoy. Ryan a prolific corporate fundraiser

Not that Mitt Romney needs help with campaign cash, but his new running mate is one of the most prolific fundraisers in Congress.

Paul Ryan has built himself a monumental cash reserve — more than $5.4 million — that far exceeds what most House members enjoy.


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Between April and June, Ryan raised about $1 million, his best fundraising quarter of the election cycle. Between January 2011 and late June, he’s taken in more than $4.3 million, according to federal records.

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week alone, Ryan raised $41,750 from various sources that include the political action committees of ConocoPhillips, Exelon Corp., the American College of Radiology, BNSF railroad, Wal-Mart and the Wisconsin Energy Corp., according to federal records submitted immediately before Wisconsin’s primary vote, which will be conducted Tuesday.

Employees and political action committees associated with Baker Tilly, Northwest Mutual, Abbott Laboratories, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Wells Fargo, AT&T and Goldman Sachs are among the top contributors to Ryan’s 2012 election campaign. Each has so far given more than $10,000 to his campaign, with Baker Tilly leading the pack at $19,250, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

For Ryan’s overall political career, employees and political action committees affiliated with the National Beer Wholesalers Association, AT&T , Koch Industries and Northwest Mutual have each given Ryan at least $65,000.

“He obviously appeals to the fiscal base of the Republican Party,” said Kathy Kiely, managing editor of the Sunlight Foundation, which tracks campaign finance matters. “And he’s got a pluperfect pedigree as a member of the GOP supply side brain trust.”

Ryan also operates a leadership PAC, called Prosperity PAC, that’s among Congress’ most wealthy and active — on the Republican side, only House Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy have more cash on hand, to date.

Prosperity PAC, which is separate and apart from Ryan’s campaign account, has this election cycle spread more than $500,000 around to dozens of political brethren, Federal Election Commission records indicate.

Retirees have been the most active donors to Prosperity PAC this election cycle, with people and PACs associated with the securities and investment, real estate, insurance and financial industries also donating heavily, Center for Responsive Politics data shows.

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On Aug. 3, Prosperity PAC did some financial housekeeping, filing amendments to its federal disclosure reports covering the months of April, May and June.

In each case, the PAC made adjustments of a few thousand dollars to its disbursement and cash-on-hand totals. Such amendments are fairly routine for political committees, but the timing of Prosperity PAC’s adjustment suggests Ryan didn’t want to leave any financial record to chance were he to become Romney’s running mate.

Tarini Parti contributed to this report.