Wall Street investing in both parties

WASHINGTON, March 21 (UPI) -- Wall Street investment houses have opened their wallets in the 2008 election, contributing to presidential candidates in both major parties.

Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, running as economic populists to become the Democratic presidential nominee, collected more than $12 million combined from the securities and investment industry, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Clinton's total was at least $6.29 million and Obama's $6.03 million. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, brought in $2.59 million.

The figures were reported by the Center for Responsive Politics.

The totals include donations from investment companies' employees and political action committees.

At the end of February, McCain's Federal Election Commission reports filed Thursday showed he had nearly $8 million cash on hand, The New York Times reported. He began February with $5.2 million and raised $11.6 million during the month.

In the same month, Obama and Clinton raised a total of $80 million, their campaigns said. The candidates' FEC filings for the latest reporting period were not immediately available on the commission's Web site.