Outside spenders’ return on investment

by Lindsay Young

investigations

Dec 17, 2012 12:00 pm

Updated: Dec. 18

Election Day 2012 produced some big winners — and some really big losers — whose names never appeared on any ballot. After outside groups spent more than $1.3 billion in independent expenditures to influence the outcome of the election, we now get to see just what all that money bought them — or didn't.

Turns out some of the smart money wasn't so smart after all when it came to making political bets. This year, the pro-business GOP Crossroads fundraising combine and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce weren't as good at picking winners as the labor movement, which appears to be one of the surprise winners of Election Day.

Using Follow the Unlimited Money, Sunlight calculated returns on investment for the outside groups that gave the most during this year's general election campaign. This includes super PACs, non-profit organizations and political party committees. We left out the big committees focused solely on helping presidential contenders — Restore Our Future, which backed Mitt Romney, and Priorities USA, which supported President Barack Obama — because their won/loss percentage will be obvious from the election results. The groups listed below all played in more than one contest.

The percentage under each group's name represents their fall batting average: It reflects how much of their money went to support candidates who won and to oppose candidates who lost in the general election campaign. Our calculation does not include money spent on primary contests or special elections. And our data is only as good as the group's reporting to the Federal Election Commission. If you see discrepancies or errors, email us here.

Click on the "full profile" links to see the full list of candidates supported by each group. One other caveat: We have calculated our "ROI" committee by committee: Some groups, such as AFSCME, made donations through more than one committee. The list below is a sampling of the highest-dollar donors. You can find a full chart of every outside spender and their returns on investment here.

Our calculations reflect races that have been called by the Associated Press; we will continue updating this data as more contests become final and amendments are filed.

(CLARIFICATION: One of the updated ROI numbers visible Dec. 17 was off because of a bug in the program we used, leading to double counting of some expenditures that had been itemized in the National Rifle Association of America Political Victory Fund's amended post election report. We did not realize the error because totals reported by the Federal Election Commission reflected the same error. We have corrected the error, and the NRA Political Victory Fund's ROI is correctly calculated at less than one percent.)

View video explaining the data here.

AMERICAN CROSSROADS

1.29%

Total spent campaign 2012: $104,746,715

1.29% of $103,595,960 spent in the general election and ending in the desired result.
Supported 0 winning candidates; 0.00% of money went to supporting winning candidates.
Opposed 2 losing candidates; 1.29% of money went to opposing losing candidates.

AMERICAN CROSSROADS

1.29%

Total spent campaign 2012: $104,746,715

CROSSROADS GRASSROOTS POLICY STRATEGIES

14.43%

Total spent campaign 2012: $70,586,641

NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE

31.88%

Total spent campaign 2012: $64,653,292

DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE

61.66%

Total spent campaign 2012: $60,681,466

DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE

79.73%

Total spent campaign 2012: $52,105,196

MAJORITY PAC

87.88%

Total spent campaign 2012: $37,498,340

US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

6.90%

Total spent campaign 2012: $32,676,075

NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE

24.05%

Total spent campaign 2012: $31,710,841

HOUSE MAJORITY PAC

70.66%

Total spent campaign 2012: $30,447,657

AMERICAN FUTURE FUND

5.57%

Total spent campaign 2012: $23,959,072

FREEDOMWORKS FOR AMERICA

24.48%

Total spent campaign 2012: $19,669,391

AMERICANS FOR TAX REFORM

57.35%

Total spent campaign 2012: $15,794,582

SEIU COPE (SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL EDUCATION)

77.91%

Total spent campaign 2012: $13,241,402

ENDING SPENDING ACTION FUND

15.33%

Total spent campaign 2012: $13,250,796

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE COUNTY & MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES P E O P L E

52.96%

Total spent campaign 2012: $12,449,401

AMERICAN ACTION NETWORK INC

60.33%

Total spent campaign 2012: $11,785,919

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA POLITICAL VICTORY FUND

0.83%

Total spent campaign 2012: $11,159,493

LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS INC

83.00%

Total spent campaign 2012: $10,897,016

INDEPENDENCE USA PAC

46.09%

Total spent campaign 2012: $8,230,464

CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP FUND

58.05%

Total spent campaign 2012: $9,450,237

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION INSTITUTE FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION

10.74%

Total spent campaign 2012: $7,448,017

NOW OR NEVER PAC

14.30%

Total spent campaign 2012: $7,760,174

PATRIOT MAJORITY USA

42.52%

Total spent campaign 2012: $7,509,093

WORKERS' VOICE

76.02%

Total spent campaign 2012: $6,340,554

WOMEN VOTE!

80.18%

Total spent campaign 2012: $7,750,051

SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION PEA-FEDERAL

91.20%

Total spent campaign 2012: $5,306,123

CLUB FOR GROWTH ACTION

41.79%