The big story in the 2012 election so far is the dominance of a set of outside campaign entities that plan to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in an attempt to defeat President Barack Obama and elect Republicans to Congress. 
 
 That might be starting to change. 
 
 Billionaire investor George Soros plans to donate $1 million to super PAC American Bridge 21st Century, a pro-Democratic outside group that is helping Mr. Obama and fellow Democrats. 
 
 A spokesman for Mr. Soros says that he will also donate $1 million to America Votes, an organization run by Democrats that helps to coordinate the grassroots activities of progressive groups around the country. (Mr. Soros previously gave $1 million to America Votes last year, bringing to $2 million the total given to the organization for the 2012 campaign season.) 
 
 “George is focusing his political giving in 2012 on grassroots organizing and holding conservatives accountable for the flawed policies they promote,” said the spokesman, Michael Vachon, in an email Monday night. “Both groups are part of a progressive infrastructure, or center left establishment, that plays an increasingly important role in elections.” 
 
 The donations from Mr. Soros are among the largest by an individual Democratic donor in the 2012 election. 
 
 So far, the largest donor to any pro-Democratic super PAC is DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg and his wife, who gave a total of $2 million last year to the pro-Obama Priorities USA. 
 
 Mr. Soros was one of the top Democratic donors in the 2004 presidential election when he contributed $23 million to a set of pro-Democratic outside campaign entities that spent a total of nearly $200 million in an attempt to defeat then-President George Bush. 
 
 Since then, Mr. Soros has given a relatively modest amount. He said he no longer wanted to be a big player in electoral politics. Other than regular donations to the Democratic Party, he has focused his money on progressive organizations that promote policy. 
 
 Last November, Mr. Soros’s spokesman told The Wall Street Journal that he would likely not play a major role in funding the pro-Democratic super PACs. 
 
 That presented a big obstacle to the ability of Democrats to fund the slate of new super PACs sets up to combat pro-Republican outside groups. 
 
 Meantime, Republicans appear to have courted a set of well-heeled businessmen who are pouring money into anti-Obama groups, such as American Crossroads and a super PAC formed to back former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. 
 
 One of the largest Republican donors, Texas businessman Harold Simmons, says he plans to donate about $36 million to pro-Republican campaign entities this election. 
 
 ______________________________________________________ 
 
 
 
 2016 Election Calendar | WSJ/NBC Polls | 2016 Poll Standings 
 
 
 
 Politics Alerts: Get email alerts on breaking news and big scoops. 
 
 Capital Journal Daybreak Newsletter: Sign up to get the latest on politics, policy and defense delivered to your inbox every morning. 
 
 
 
 For the latest Washington news, follow @wsjpolitics 
 
 
 
 For outside analysis, follow @wsjthinktank 
 
 
 
 ||||| 5 years ago 
 
 (CNN) - Billionaire financier George Soros has donated $1 million to the left-leaning super PAC American Bridge, a source with the organization said Monday. 
 
 The donation marks the first major foray into the 2012 presidential race for Soros, a high-profile supporter of President Barack Obama. In 2008 Soros helped the president raise a record amount of campaign cash. 
 
 
 
 - Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker 
 
 In a statement, American Bridge's founder David Brock said Soros' donation would help his organization influence the 2012 election. 
 
 "American Bridge is committed to being a permanent part of the progressive community by providing strategic support to organizations across the country and working to influence elections in 2012 and beyond," Brock wrote. "Thanks to investments by progressive leaders like Mr. Soros we have been able to build a cutting edge organization that we will continue to build upon in order to keeping providing effective and efficient services to the progressive movement." 
 
 Soros has been critical of Citizens United, the 2010 Supreme Court decision that made possible the creation of super PACs, which are allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on a candidate as long as they don't coordinate with campaigns. In February, told CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" the new political organizations would "create an unequal playing field, which will further destroy the political system." 
 
 He made the comments shortly after Obama's re-election team announced it would urge donors to contribute to a super PAC supportive of the president's candidacy called Priorities USA. Records filed with the Federal Election Commission in April show Soros has not yet contributed to Priorities USA. 
 
 Super PACs backing Republican candidates played a major part in the GOP primary process, spending millions on mostly negative ads in early voting states. The super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, Restore Our Future, spent $38.9 million in the first three months of 2012, much of it on campaign television commercials in support of Romney and critical of his rivals for the GOP presidential nomination. 
 
 CNN's Jim Acosta, Ashley Killough and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report. 
 
 Also see: 
 
 Romney adviser left after being silenced, source says 
 
 Ayotte: I'm more qualified than Obama 
 
 Gingrich steps up support for Romney, predicts Mourdock wins in Indiana
– George Soros has put himself back in the big leagues of political donors with a pair of hefty donations to pro-Democratic groups. The billionaire—who donated $23 million to groups opposing George W. Bush's re-election in 2004—has given $1 million to the advocacy group America Votes, and $1 million to the pro-Obama super PAC American Bridge, creator of an anti-Romney ad featuring OJ Simpson and the cast of Friends, reports the Wall Street Journal, which notes that Democrats are far behind the GOP in super PAC funding. "George is focusing his political giving in 2012 on grassroots organizing, and holding conservatives accountable for the flawed policies they promote,” says a Soros spokesman. “Both groups are part of a progressive infrastructure, or center left establishment, that plays an increasingly important role in elections. Soros has been critical of Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision that allows him and other billionaires to spend unlimited amounts of cash on groups supporting their preferred candidates, CNN notes.