And the winner is…. Madison Avenue!

Judging by what has happened in the Primaries so far, that is my prediction for the nation’s headlines next November 7.

The Federal Election Commission reported that close to 60 corporations and wealthy individuals gave checks of $100,000 or more to a “super PAC” supporting Mitt Romney in the months leading up to the Iowa caucuses, underwriting a $17 million blitz of advertising that has swamped his Republican rivals in the early primary states. This was far more than the $2,500 check each could legally write to his campaign. All told, the group, Restore Our Future, raised about $18 million from just 200 donors in the second half of 2011.

Millions of dollars came from financial industry executives, including Mr. Romney’s former colleagues at Bain Capital, who contributed a total of $750,000; senior executives at Goldman Sachs, who contributed $385,000; and some of the most prominent and politically active Republicans in the hedge fund world, three of whom gave $1 million each: Robert Mercer of Renaissance Technologies; Paul Singer of Elliott Management, and Julian Robertson of Tiger Management.

Harlan Crow, the Texas construction magnate, gave $300,000 personally and through his company. William Koch, whose brothers Charles and David are among the country’s most prominent backers of conservative causes, gave $1 million personally or through Oxbow Carbon, the energy company he founded. Members of the Walton family, founders of the Walmart chain, gave over $200,000, while Bob Perry — a wealthy home builder who has long been the top patron of Mr. Romney’s erstwhile rival, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas — chipped in $500,000 in early December.

But the Democrats haven’t been exactly sitting on the sidelines. Mr. Obama reported raising a total of $140 million in 2011, far eclipsing the $57 million Mr. Romney raised for his campaign for the year.

The figures underscored the deep divide between how each party’s presidential contenders are financing their early bids for the White House. To quote the New York Times: “Mr. Obama exploiting the well-oiled machinery of an incumbent with a powerful grass -roots apparatus and hundreds of ‘bundlers’ gathering checks of up to $2,500 per person from friends and associates, and his Republican opponents relying far more heavily on independent groups empowered by court decisions that have made it easier for wealthy individuals and corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money to intervene directly in election contests.”

That in a nut shell explains the essential difference between our two major parties.