As stated in the note from the Sunlight Foundation′s Board Chair, as of September 2020 the Sunlight Foundation is no longer active. This site is maintained as a static archive only.

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Who let the dog out? Frosh Republican Allen West’s tweet sics would-be pooch adoptees on the Marines

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A tweet from Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., calling for volunteers to adopt IED-sniffing dogs has contributed to a situation that Marines might describe as a 'snafu.' 

On West's Facebook page, a post stated that the Marine Corps has 400 decommissioned dogs in need of 'forever homes.' West (or a staffer) promoted the page on Twitter and deleted it two hours later. The deletion was captured by Sunlight Foundation's Politwoops, a site that records and posts deleted tweets from politicians. The Facebook post has since been removed. 

Information about the dogs was based on a military listserv email sent ...

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Rapper donor, mystery million and other fun finds in pop-up PAC filings

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(Updated 8:42 a.m. Oct. 16)

Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel Michel, known as Pras, can now add 'political activism' to his long list of talents. Michel is the only reported donor to super PAC Black Men Vote. He ponied up $250,000.

It's just one of the interesting nuggets turned up by the Sunlight Reporting Group's examinations of filings by super PACs that made their first-ever unveilings of donors Monday, as reports from committees that file on a quarterly schedule were due at the Federal Election Commission. Sunlight has identified nearly two dozen committees that surfaced as independent ...

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Political Ad Sleuth debuts: Track the money behind the campaign ads

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Ad sleuth logo Above Las Vegas last week, the air invisibly crackled with attacks and counter-attacks by candidates for a House and a Senate seat -- not to mention President Obama, his rival Mitt Romney and their backers. In Denver, there was a clash of political fronts:  Outside groups like Planned Parenthood and Crossroads GPS competed for airtime with each other, as well as the candidates they are supporting.

In Grand Rapids, Mich., ads in a high-priced contest over a bridge to Canada dominated the TV airwaves, while in Sacramento, it was ballot initiatives and House races vying for voters' attention. Milwaukee viewers were ...

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GOP convention through the eyes of Sunlight Live

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Wordle of RNC speeches

If you missed Sunlight Live's coverage of the Republican National Convention in Tampa last night, you missed a lot. A Wordle cloud of most-used terms from the speeches is above; below, a synopsis of some of Sunlight's observations, data and analysis, which our Sunlight Live tool allows us to provide to you on the same computer screen where you are watching a video stream of the convention proceedings.

Be sure to tune in tonight for our coverage of the second night. A few highlights from last night, whose theme was alternately you didn't build that, we did ...

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Do House freshmen speak differently?

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Prices. Mother. Bless. Soldiers. Borrowing. Corporate. Abortion. Seniors.

What do these words have in common? They are all significantly more prominent in the speech of congressional freshmen than in overall speech patterns of House members, based on a new Sunlight Foundation analysis of the Congressional Record.

Transportation. Cosponsor. International. Order. Public. Intelligence. Human. Respect.

What do these words have in common? You guessed it. They are all significantly less prominent in the speech of congressional freshmen.

In general, there’s not a whole lot of difference in how the freshmen speak compared to their more senior colleagues. But certain words ...

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Profile: Rick Berg

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Party: Republican
State and District: North Dakota, 1
Born: Aug. 16, 1959 Hettinger, N.D.
Campaign cash raised: $6,364,759
Money from businesses that lobby: $1,384,525
Money from leadership PACs: $374,726
Money from in-state / out-of-state: $2,678,539 / $2,878,405 
At-risk in November? Yes
Outside group spending: $35,595.78 in opposition
Net worth in 2010: $12,146,147 to $54,979,033
Net worth in 2011: $22,656,129 to $64,735,994

 

Berg's Capitol Words profile

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House freshmen in tight races: How many first-termers will be one-termers?

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The 89 freshmen who roared into Washington last January are now experiencing the power, and also the perils, of incumbency. A number of them are not safe bets for reelection and some will certainly be one-termers. Of this fall's close races involving freshmen, a dozen stand out, based on the rankings of the nonpartisan political handicapper Charlie Cook.

Of them, 11 are Republicans who rode to power on the anti-Washington Tea Party wave. The remaining imperilled newcomer is Rhode Island Democrat David Cicilline.

These are all bound to be expensive races where outside group spending may -- as it did ...

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Profile: Nan Hayworth

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Party: Republican
State and District: New York, 18
Born: December 14, 1959 Chicago, Ill. 
Campaign cash raised: $2,148,329
Money from businesses that lobby: $751,164
Money from leadership PACs: $149,626
Money from in-state / out-of-state: $724,546 / $331,581
At-risk in November? Yes
Outside group spending: $3,900 in support /  $46,826 in opposition
Net worth in 2010: $9,347,241 to $22,463,000
Net worth in 2011: $12,237,262 to $29,298,006

 

Hayworth's Capitol Words profile

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Profile: Dan Benishek

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Party: Republican
State and District: Michigan, 1
Born:  April 20, 1952 Iron River, Mich.
Campaign cash raised: $2,629,497
Money from businesses that lobby: $552,450
Money from leadership PACs: $214,400
Money from in-state / out-of-state: $366,264 / $100,731
At-risk in November? Yes
Outside group spending: $1,846 in support/ $39,858 in opposition
Net worth in 2010: $3,335,080 to $7,956,000

 

Benishek's Capitol Words profile

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Profile: Jim Renacci

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Party: Republican
State and District: Ohio, 16
Born:   December 3, 1958 Monongahela, Pa.
Campaign cash raised: $4,554,671
Money from businesses that lobby: $678,134
Money from leadership PACs: $158,025
Money from in-state / out-of-state: $868,232 / $123,633
At-risk in November? Yes
Outside group spending: $46,735 in opposition
Net worth in 2010: $32,345,756 to $51,775,662

 

Renacci's Capitol Words profile

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