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WASHINGTON -- Hard times may have settled over Wall Street, but campaign cash from banks and securities firms has flooded Washington as Congress and the White House gird for a regulatory revamp of the financial industry.

The Democrats' 2006 retaking of Congress and perhaps the heated presidential race have sharply tilted Wall Street donations toward Democrats, though nearly every politician and both major parties are recipients of this largesse.

Data gathered by the Center For Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan Washington group whose opensecrets.org Web site tracks political giving, reckons that the banking-and-investment industry is giving nearly twice as much to Democrats as to Republicans in the 2008 cycle.

Based on records from 2007 through January, the center calculates that the Democratic Party has raked in about $15.1 million from employees and political action committees of banks and investment companies, compared to $7.7 million for Republicans. The numbers for March, a traditionally heavy month for campaign fund-raisers, have yet to be reported. In the 2004 cycle, the center said, the campaign cash was more equally distributed, with Republicans hauling in $22 million compared with $19.5 million for Democrats.