After his convincing victory in North Carolina, Barack Obama is now the presumptive Democratic nominee. In terms of delegates and the overall popular vote, the math favors the Illinois senator.  However, a look at the contributions of the leading chief executives in America shows that these people support Hillary Clinton over Obama by a large monetary margin. The $152,000 in campaign cash given to Clinton by America's leading executives equals 46% of all monies given to the remaining three candidates and a quarter of the $610,250 given to all candidates since the beginning of the 2008 race for the White House.  We cross-referenced the latest list of publicly available information on contributions to the presidential candidates with our just-updated report on CEO compensation at the 500 largest American companies. As we previously explained, while looking at the contributions of the Forbes 400, no matter how rich or poor you are, the law limits each U.S. citizen or permanent U.S. resident to a $2,300 direct donation to a particular candidate for the primaries, and the same amount for the general election.  Clinton's $152,000 haul from the top executives is more than twice Obama's take of $67,400; she received these donations from 44 top executives, compared with 24 for Obama. Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain has raised $108,175 from 53 of America's big bosses, first place among those seeking the Republican nomination in 2008. However, McCain's share is only good enough for third place among all candidates who were running for the White House in 2008.  In second place in the GOP: Mitt Romney, who we discussed as a potential running mate for John McCain here. Romney raised $91,425 from the top executives and a total of $105 million before pulling the plug on his campaign.  Which candidate claimed the second spot overall? Senate Finance Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd. The Connecticut senator raised $113,050 from the chief executives of America's 500 biggest public companies before dropping out of the race. Dodd, a superdelegate, has endorsed Obama, perhaps currying favor for the Illinois senator from those executives that supported him in his failed primary bid.  Even if Obama does not receive support from Dodd's backers, he has more than made up for the difference with contributions from nonexecutives. Obama leads all comers, with $235 million in total contributions, compared with $189 million for Clinton and $81 million for McCain, according to the most recent filings with the Federal Election Commission.  Of the 101 executives who donated to the three remaining challengers, nine executives hedged their Democratic bets, giving to both Clinton and Obama. Six corporate chiefs gave to both Clinton and McCain, two hedged between Obama and McCain, and one boss, Lehman Brothers (nyse: LEH - news - people ) CEO Richard Fuld, gave money to all three candidates, $2,300 to Obama and McCain and $4,600 ($2,300 for both primary and general) to Clinton.
Obama may have the lead in delegates, the popular vote and money raised, but top CEOs prefer Clinton.