Restore Our Future has hit a fundraising milestone: The super PAC supporting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has clocked $100 million in contributions since it was organized just two years ago this month.
That puts the pro-Romney super PAC far ahead of the rest of the PAC pack when it comes to fundraising, Sunlight's Follow the Unlimited Money tracker shows, though just how wide a lead it enjoys won't be possible to determine until the rest of the campaign committees file their latest reports with the Federal Election Commission. Committees that report monthly to the FEC -- a group ...
Continue readingCalling all ad sleuths: Get happy; get data; get empowered
Wondering who’s flooding your living rooms with non-stop streams of negativity? Selling your would-be elected representatives like so many bars... View Article
Continue readingNobel economics laureates both gave to Democrats
The two American economists who on Monday won a Nobel Prize for their work on "matching methods," theories on how to link supply with demand, are both modest political donors with a decidedly partisan streak.
Both Lloyd Shapley and Alvin Roth have exclusively favored Democrats in their campaign contributions, Sunlight's Influence Explorer reveals.
Shapley, with the University of California at Los Angeles, was more active as a donor earlier in his career. The professor emeritus hasn't made a contribution since Democrat Gray Davis was governor of California in 2001, and his earlier donations were all to Democratic causes ...
Continue readingArlen Specter 1930-2012: In his own words
Sometimes irascible but ever the embodiment of political pragmatism, former Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania lost his battle with cancer Sunday. A Democrat-turned-Republican-returned-Democrat, he represented his state in the Senate longer than any other Keystone State lawmaker until he lost a primary race in 2010.
A look at Specter's profile on Sunlight's Capitol Words, which tracks lawmakers' speeches on the floor of Congress, reveals a rarity in contemporary politics: a politician who moved easily across party lines. His most oft-uttered word was the name of another senator, Tom Harkin of Iowa, who for most of Specter's 30-year ...
Continue readingTwoops! Scott Brown (briefly) hails Elizabeth Warren appointment
Sometimes the fastest thumbs in politics are just too fast for their own (or their bosses') good.
About 15 minutes into Wednesday night's debate between Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., and his Democratic challenger, Elizabeth Warren, Team Brown -- using the boss' campaign Twitter account -- tweeted out a brag about the senator authoring an amendment to create a consumer protection board for members of the military service "which is now headed by Holly Petraeus."
That's a good name to drop. Holly Petraeus is the wife of retired Gen. David Petraeus, who commanded U.S. and allied forces in Iraq and ...
Continue readingTarget Nevada: Silver State drawing lots of green from campaigns
Nevada is used to high rollers, but the state has special reason to be blase about this set.
President Obama is in the state, prepping for his Wednesday debate with his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, after headlining a Sunday night rally in Las Vegas. Romney's wife Ann arrives in Las Vegas Monday for a rally in nearby Henderson and then an evening fundraiser at the home of Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, no slouch herself in the political underwriting department. And first lady Michelle Obama arrives Wednesday for a campaign stop in Reno.
Residents of the ...
Continue readingGross Political Product: Outside campaign spending tops 2010 total
In a campaign that's supposed to be about an ailing economy, there's just one financial indicator that remains consistently robust: Call it the Gross Political Product.
The latest signal of just how profitable a business politics remains is available on Sunlight's Follow the Unlimited Money, which shows outside spending at nearly $465 million as of Sunday evening. That's more than the total for the entire 2010 campaign, the first that took place following the Supreme Court's landmark Citizens United decision, which allowed corporations and unions to give in unlimited amounts.
This cycle's outside spending ...
Continue readingThe money bombers: Which outside spenders have the most for the homestretch?
Heading into the final stages of the 2012 campaign, the super PAC in position to have the biggest impact, by far and away, is American Crossroads, Sunlight's Follow the Unlimited Money tracker shows.
Of all the outside spenders who filed monthly reports Thursday with the Federal Election Commission, the super PAC founded by veteran Republican strategists Ed Gillespie and Karl Rove, has by far the biggest stockpile of cash: more than $32 million. The intriguing question: Will Crossroads, which has spent $25 million so far opposing President Barack Obama's reelection, continue to invest in the presidential race, or ...
Continue readingUnfree the press?
Maybe the scariest thing about the horror sweeping the Middle East — and now, south Asia — is the more-than... View Article
Continue readingDemocratic convention watch: Join the conversation tonight
The Sunlight Foundation is at the Democratic convention, literally and virtually, and you can join us online Wednesday and Thursday nights.
Our colleagues in Charlotte, Liz Bartolomeo and Keenan Steiner, are following the (oops - did we see corporate? And super PAC? yes we did!) money at all the parties. They can't possibly make all 400+ that we've got in our Party Time database. But they are doing their best. See something we don't know about? Let us know!
And we are exposing the Democrats to Sunlight at night via Sunlight Live. This platform enables our team to ...
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