Sunlight Foundation

A collection of Sunlight’s coverage of the 2012 elections following the money, tracking the fundraisers and reporting throughout the campaign season:

• Sunlight's Position

  • Money's Influence on Politics Extends Way Beyond Election Day

  • Five reasons big money still matters after Election Day 2012

• Projects

  • Election 2012: Sunlight Following the Money

    Sunlight’s hub page that ran throughout the 2012 campaign season.

  • Political Money Weather Report

    Sunlight’s weekly video series on 2012 Election spending — where it’s happening, who’s behind it, which candidates are most affected –and of course, what we don’t (but should) know.

• Reporting

  • Outside spenders' return on investment

  • Party Time's Year in Review Extravaganza

  • To the victors go the spoils: What top donors want

  • More of Sunlight's Election Coverage

• Editorials

  • New York Times: A Landslide Loss for Big Money

    “The biggest danger of allowing the wealthy such an outsized voice has always been that the money binds them closer to politicians, and creates a sense of obligation.”

  • Washington Post: A campaign awash in cash

    “Outsized contributions by a wealthy few threaten to distort the political system. Secret contributions threaten to corrupt it. In light of wrongheaded rulings by the Supreme Court, these problems will be difficult to fix. But at the very least, ramped-up disclosure rules and limits on what super PACs can do in coordination with particular candidates would improve a system in critical condition.”

  • USA Today: The $6 billion presidential contest

  • Sacramento Bee: We still need a fix for corrosive, sly super PACs

• TV

  • CSPAN: Washington Journal with Sunlight's Kathy Kiely

  • MSNBC: Rachel Maddow cites Sunlight's Post-Election Analysis

  • WJAC: Late Political Donations Make a Difference