Harmonix head top donor to Stephen Colbert super PAC

Gaming personalities rarely pick sides in a political fight, but Harmonix cofounder Alex Rigopulos has been revealed as the single largest donor for the political action committee of comedian Stephen Colbert. The New York Times today released a compiled list of the largest super PACs looking to influence the 2012 US presidential race, along with notes about the big money donors contributing to each of the organizations.

With a donation of $9,600, Rigopulos was the single largest donor to Colbert's Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow super PAC as of the end of 2011. None of the group's other donors gave more than $5,000, but Colbert announced last month that his group has raised more than $1 million to date.

So far, the only candidate Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow has supported was Herman Cain in last month's South Carolina Republican primary election. Cain dropped out of the race in December, after his name had already been locked onto the South Carolina ballot.

While campaign finance regulations prevent individuals from donating more than $2,500 to a candidate in any given election, PACs that have no direct tie to a specific candidate can receive unlimited donations from individuals and corporations. Despite the ban on coordinated efforts between candidates and PACs, most of these groups are run by individuals who have worked as aides or advisors to the candidate they support.

While Rigopulos' donation tops the list for Colbert's super PAC, it is dwarfed by other groups' top supporters. The super PAC supporting Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney boasts 11 donors of $1 million each and a total take of $30.2 million. The super PAC supporting President Obama has only raised $4.4 million but counts the single largest donor of all in Dreamworks Animation head Jeffrey Katzenberg, who gave $2 million to see Obama get a second term.