Mars family, owner of anti-gay Snickers franchise, are top billionaire Republican activists

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Some of you mentioned that the Mars family, which owns Snickers and M&Ms and lots of other candy brands, isn't just the family that produced the series of violent homophobic ads yesterday, they're also one of the Republicans' top billionaire activist families.

Looking up the Mars family on FecInfo, we found over $10,000 in donations from a Jacqueline Badger Mars, of The Plains, Virginia, to Republican causes, including John McCain's exploratory committee for president. Jacqueline Badger Mars is also the name of one of the Mars daughters - she's worth $10 billion or so - and the Mars corportation just happens to be based in Northern Virginian which is where The Plains, Virginia is located as well. Thus, I think it's safe to conclude that this is the same woman.

And lest you think the Mars family keeps their Republican largesse to helping candidates, they were also one of the top billionaire Republican families funding the lobbying effort to repeal the Estate Tax. That means that you Democratic Hill offices out there, if you'd like to weigh in on this controversy, it's a two-fer - you can defend civil rights and bash a leading Republican activist donor family.