"I stand by you." Republican presidential candidate, former Gov. Buddy Roemer, issued a statement yesterday coming out in support of the fast-growing Occupy Wall Street movement.

There was an explosion today at the Magnablend Chemical plant in Texas, leaving many concerned about possibility of dangerous gases going into the air.

Somehow this isn't very surprising. Bloomberg reports today on the contuing shift in financial support of Wall Street executives from President Obama to Republican presidential hopeful, and friend of the banks, Mitt Romney.

According to the Associated Press, “Three commissioners appointed by Gov. Rick Perry may grant some of the nation's largest refineries a tax refund of more than $135 million — money Texas' cash-strapped schools and other local governments have been counting on to help pay teachers and provide other public services.”

It's been a whirlwind end of the summer. Here's a recap of Public Campaign and Public Campaign Action Fund's (PCAF) work from August 19-September 16, 2011.

FROM THE BLOG:

At last night's Republican presidential debate, Rep. Michele Bachmann went after Rick Perry for taking money from Merck, a pharmaceutical giant, and then issuing an executive order that required Texas schoolgirls to receive vaccinations that Merck produces. While this is certainly troubling, and her noting of the influence of wealthy corporate and special interests is correct, her own record makes it clear that those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

“If you’re saying I can be bought off for $5,000, I’m offended,” Gov. Rick Perry said at the CNN/Tea Party debate last night when confronted by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) about getting campaign cash from Merck while signing an executive order requiring girls to get vaccines made by the company.

They say that everything is bigger in Texas. And in the case of presidential hopeful Gov. Rick Perry's (R) treatment of his big money donors, this certainly seems to be the case. From doling out state contracts to friends who write big campaign checks to the emergence of Perry Super PACs run by close former associates, there's no shortage of material on the plain-spoken Texan.

Here's a glimpse of Perry's record so far:

Rick Perry sure can fundraise. It might be easier when a large chunk of his campaign money comes from your own appointee's.

"It's not healthy for rich people to feel maligned."

That's a recent quote from a Wall Street executive, who has shifted his campaign giving from President Obama to Mitt Romney. According to that article, "67 people who work in the financial sector and live in the New York City metro area gave to Obama in 2008 and to the former Massachusetts governor in 2011."

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) released the congressional fundraising numbers for the first half of this year, and not surprisingly, they are huge.