He was a co-founder of WordPerfect, is an activist on gay rights and gave at least $657,000 politically since 2003.

As the current election year heats up, the following is a look at some of Utah's biggest donors who supply the money that fuels races.

Patrick and Jack Byrne

The son-and-father Byrnes, Utah's No. 1 and No. 3 individual donors respectively, in 2004 formed a political communication group called Save American Medicine.

They each gave it $500,000. The resulting $1 million purchased ads nationally targeting John Edwards, the running mate of Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry.

Edwards' career as a trial attorney before becoming a U.S. senator was unpopular with many doctors because he won many big malpractice suits. The ads asked viewers to call Edwards to ask him to support tort reform.

Patrick Byrne also gave $2,500 to "Swift Boat Vets and POWs for Truth," a group that attacked Kerry's Vietnam War record.

But their efforts to derail Kerry and Edwards does not mean the Byrnes dislike all Democrats. In fact, Patrick gave $25,300 to the Utah Democratic Party in 2003, $25,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $1,000 to Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah.

That helped make Byrne the fifth largest individual Utah donor to Democrats since 2003. But he was also the state's fourth largest individual donor to Republicans. Like many businessmen nationally, he appears to seek friends in both parties.

While the Byrnes did not respond to Deseret Morning News inquiries, an online blog that Patrick writes describes himself as "zig-zag moderate." His blog also says he gave an early $1,000 donation to Kerry (which Federal Election Commission records do not show) but then "changed my mind on Kerry" and gave to groups targeting him.

Big donations attract attention. When Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta looked for places nationally to visit to tout a plan to reduce transportation congestion, he chose Overstock.com. Other big donors — such as former ambassador John Price — have said that big donations have brought access to Cabinet members and other policymakers.

Mineta came to Overstock. com even though the Securities and Exchange Commission had just subpoenaed data about its accounting policies and financial projects, plus records of allegations made by Patrick Byrne contending that hedge-fund managers, analysts and business journalists tried to drive down Overstock.com's stock price to benefit short-sellers.

Bruce Bastian