Bain Capital founder Mitt Romney raised over $257,000 (€191,806) from private equity firms for his US presidential campaign, but his take so far pales beside the largesse hedge funds have shown to rival candidate Christopher Dodd.

Private equity firms are clearly supporting one of their own for the presidency, devoting more than twice as much money to former private equity partner Mitt Romney than any other candidate, according to Thomson Financial's peHUB.com.