Final look at outside spenders’ 2012 return on investment

by Lindsay Young

investigations

May 16, 2013 6:04 pm

The controversy over the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of Tea Party groups has put a spotlight on the non-profit groups that played such a prominent role in the 2012 campaign. The groups have become popular conduits for political funds because, unlike political action committees, they do not have to disclose donors to the Federal Election Commission.

While most of the groups whose applications the IRS slow-walked were relatively small givers, many groups that did land non-profit status gave big. Check out this page to see the “social welfare” non-profits who made political expenditures in the 2012 election cycle.

Because of the interest, the Sunlight Foundation has decided to update the Return on Investment feature we first published the day after the election. This analysis looks at more than 100,000 lines of itemized expenditures made by outside spending groups (super PACS as well as 501(c) non profits) and calculates the amount of money that went toward the desired result on Election Day. Our update accounts for updated filings and amendments at the Federal Election Commission and our own data cleanup.

For more details on each group listed below click on the “see ROI breakdown” button. You can sort by general election spending, candidate, support or oppose, and election result. Or, look at the group’s 2012 election profile on Follow the Unlimited Money.

This list below includes the top spending outside groups of 2012. To see more, download total contributions aggregated by organization organizational totals here and candidate totals for each group here.

Our data is only as good as the information reported to the FEC. If you think there is a discrepancy in the data please email us.

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.

General election	Candidate	Support or oppose	Result
$84,549,506	Obama, Barack	Oppose	won general
$346,582	Berkley, Shelley	Oppose	lost general
$992,171	Kerrey, Robert	Oppose	lost general
$1,319,897	Baldwin, Tammy	Oppose	won general
$728,652	Kaine, Timothy	Oppose	won general
$64,097	McCaskill, Claire	Oppose	won general
$1,386,787	Donnelly, Joseph	Oppose	won general
$6,565,941	Romney, Mitt	Support	lost general
$1,846,583	Tester, Jon	Oppose	won general
$1,345,194	Thompson, Tommy	Support	lost general
$4,022,606	Nelson, Bill	Oppose	won general
$427,940	Wilson, Heather	Support	lost general

General election	Candidate	Support or oppose	Result
$586,103	Enyart, William	Oppose	won general
$438,880	Schreibman, Julian	Oppose	lost general
$7,828	Wilson, Heather	Support	lost general
$1,014,095	King, Angus	Oppose	won general
$592,026	Hernandez, John	Oppose	lost general
$6,653,556	Berkley, Shelley	Oppose	lost general
$6,363,711	Brown, Sherrod	Oppose	won general
$498,198	Mcdowell, Gary	Oppose	lost general
$1,487,310	Horsford, Steven	Oppose	won general
$1,479,252	Heitkamp, Heidi	Oppose	won general
$564,167	Mullen, Brendan	Oppose	lost general
$1,227,058	Slaughter, Louise	Oppose	won general
$312,338	Ruiz, Raul	Oppose	won general
$637,050	Warren, Elizabeth	Oppose	won general
$358,688	Vilsack, Christie	Oppose	lost general
$4,717,104	Baldwin, Tammy	Oppose	won general
$10,559,258	Kaine, Timothy	Oppose	won general
$1,373,094	Bustos, Cheri	Oppose	won general
$3,138,406	Tester, Jon	Oppose	won general
$623,166	Heinrich, Martin	Oppose	won general
$280,266	Berg, Richard	Support	lost general
$1,079,312	Boswell, Leonard	Oppose	lost general
$6,801,816	Romney, Mitt	Support	lost general
$858,066	Bishop, Timothy	Oppose	won general
$15,344,487	Obama, Barack	Oppose	won general
$3,327,340	Donnelly, Joseph	Oppose	won general
$264,054	Maloney, Sean	Oppose	won general

General election	Candidate	Support or oppose	Result
$402,736	Barber, Ronald	Oppose	won general
$1,656,405	Barrow, John	Oppose	won general
$1,462,461	Mcdowell, Gary	Oppose	lost general
$1,842,900	Matheson, James	Oppose	won general
$160,157	Benishek, Daniel	Support	won general
$1,070,797	Chandler, A.	Oppose	lost general
$1,750,820	Sutton, Betty	Oppose	lost general
$1,551,107	Tierney, John	Oppose	won general
$776,381	Owens, William	Oppose	won general
$623,928	Perlmutter, Edwin	Oppose	won general
$1,423,628	Kreitlow, Patrick	Oppose	lost general
$2,426,556	Bera, Amerish	Oppose	won general
$338,233	Shea-Porter, Carol	Oppose	won general
$445,301	Duckworth, Tammy	Oppose	won general
$1,619,016	Mcintyre, Mike	Oppose	won general
$1,340,007	Schreibman, Julian	Oppose	lost general
$1,402,619	Maffei, Daniel	Oppose	won general
$1,161,269	Hernandez, Jose	Oppose	lost general
$630,829	Ruiz, Raul	Oppose	won general
$1,433,864	Sinema, Kyrsten	Oppose	won general
$1,999,556	Foster, William	Oppose	won general
$42,020	Buerkle, Ann	Support	lost general
$2,354,799	Kirkpatrick, Ann	Oppose	won general
$1,455,503	Gill, David	Oppose	lost general
$141,421	Paton, Jonathan	Support	lost general
$105,609	Love, Mia	Support	lost general
$577,197	Hochul, Kathy	Oppose	lost general
$134,708	Mcsally, Martha	Support	lost general
$2,456,275	Mcnerney, Jerry	Oppose	won general
$2,000,743	Nolan, Richard	Oppose	won general
$416,014	Braley, Bruce	Oppose	won general
$1,022,209	Maloney, Sean	Oppose	won general
$1,625,560	Schneider, Bradley	Oppose	won general
$964,871	Rahall, Nick	Oppose	won general
$768,006	Loebsack, David	Oppose	won general
$2,149,389	Bustos, Cheri	Oppose	won general
$195,441	Lawson, Alfred	Oppose	lost general
$922,186	Wilson, Charles	Oppose	lost general
$82,126	Gibson, Christopher	Support	won general
$1,798,271	Kuster, Ann	Oppose	won general

General election	Candidate	Support or oppose	Result
$18,586	Noem, Kristi	Oppose	won general
$12,928	King, Steve	Oppose	won general
$659,178	Gill, Ricky	Oppose	lost general
$287,268	Brooks, Maggie	Oppose	lost general
$963,463	Buerkle, Ann Marie	Oppose	lost general
$387	Barletta, Lou	Oppose	won general
$2,626,936	Denham, Jeff	Oppose	won general
$6,422	Wilson, Joe	Oppose	won general
$2,805,872	Schilling, Robert	Oppose	lost general
$1,487	Harris, Andrew	Oppose	won general
$185,277	Coors, Joseph	Oppose	lost general
$1,162,086	Doheny, Matt	Oppose	lost general
$2,233,810	Heck, Joe	Oppose	won general
$13,000	Djou, Charles	Oppose	lost general
$87,664	Ribble, Reid	Oppose	won general
$757,351	Koster, John	Oppose	lost general
$1,985,073	Bass, Charles	Oppose	lost general
$837	Hartzler, Vicky Jo	Oppose	won general
$208,845	Maldonado, Abel	Oppose	lost general
$2,311,068	Plummer, Jason	Oppose	lost general
$1,909,199	Rothfus, Keith	Oppose	won general
$15,693	Hanna, Richard	Oppose	won general
$1,364,042	Biggert, Judy	Oppose	lost general
$1,854	Flores, William	Oppose	won general
$4,843	Desjarlias, Scott	Oppose	won general
$6,472	Whelan, Brian	Oppose	lost general
$1,652,836	Duffy, Sean	Oppose	won general
$1,650,732	Rouzer, David	Oppose	lost general
$3,440	Gosar, Paul	Oppose	won general
$447	Herrera, Jaime	Oppose	won general
$10,139	Tavaglione, John	Oppose	lost general
$144,229	Mcintyre, Mike	Support	won general
$335,657	Enyart, William	Support	won general
$325,615	Dold, Robert	Oppose	lost general
$7,676	Palazzo, Steven	Oppose	won general
$32,068	Hayworth, Nan	Oppose	lost general
$2,768,735	Davis, Rodney	Oppose	won general
$423,167	Tipton, Scott	Oppose	won general
$2,177	Gardener, Cory	Oppose	won general
$2,036,601	Coffman, Michael	Oppose	lost general

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%