It's not the biggest player on Wall Street in terms of political money. But Goldman Sachs is financial public enemy No. 1 in this year's election campaign.

The giant investment bank has become the symbol of the excesses of Wall Street, cited both by liberals leery of deregulated banking and conservatives opposed to big banks and "crony capitalism." And it's being singled out for its ties to the political establishment because of two top contenders for the presidency.

Hillary Clinton, the front-running Democratic candidate, received $675,000 in speaking fees from the firm. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a top challenger for the GOP nomination, borrowed $500,000 from the firm to help finance his Senate campaign and then failed to reveal it on one of his legally mandated disclosure forms. Also, his wife, Heidi, is a managing director at the firm in Houston, although she is on leave.

Their rivals drive home the connections to angry, anti-establishment voters.

And now he's going to go after Goldman Sachs? Doesn't work that way. Goldman Sachs owns him. Remember that folks: They own him. Donald Trump

"I don't take money from big banks. I don't get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs," Sen. Bernie Sanders said in a recent debate with Clinton.

"Can you really reform Wall Street when they are spending millions and millions of dollars on campaign contributions and when they are providing speaker fees to individuals? . . . Secretary Clinton – and you're not the only one, so I don't mean to just point the finger at you – you've received over $600,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs in one year."

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