In the last full week before the election, outside spending groups have bombarded voters with a record $210 million in ads, direct mail, and other political expenditures, and, as in weeks past, the vast majority of the funds went to support Republican candidates.
Since Sept. 7 -- when the FEC began requiring all groups to disclose independent expenditures, regardless of the content -- the rate of outside spending has ballooned, reaching a new high this week. A Sunlight analysis of Federal Election Commission records shows that organizations dropped $132.6 million to back Republicans in the period between Oct. 26 and Nov. 1, while just $76.4 went to help Democrats. That compares to $26 million for the second week of September.
Continue readingDark money data
Earlier today, we released an analysis of dark money spending in this year's election. For those who want to play around with the underlying data, here is the raw data: Dark Money Groups
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 11/2/12
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Questions raised after CRS report pulled: Democrats are raising questions about why a nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) report was pulled after some objections from Republicans. The report found no correlation between top tax rates and economic growth, an issue that has been debated along partisan lines. (New York Times)
- Office of Congressional Ethics forwarded three names: The Office of Congressional Ethics forwarded the names of three people for further investigation by the House Ethics Committee last quarter, according to a report released this week. The names are not released in the report. (The Hill)
- Hurricane maps available thanks to gov data: Detailed maps with information about Hurricane Sandy were thanks in part to the government data made available to the public and third-party developers. (TechCrunch)
Influence Explored: Education Sector Contributes Millions to Presidential Race
With the Higher Education Opportunity Act up for renewal in 2013, either President Obama or Mitt Romney will need to address higher education, particularly funding and student loans. And although neither campaign has placed much focus on higher education, both candidates touched on the issue during the Presidential debates.
Political Money Weather Report: Final Forecast
In these final days before the election, check out our Political Money Weather Report to run you through the cloudy season we're enduring. To stay up with the latest money tallies and reporting stories keep your eyes on our Elections 2012 hub page.
Continue readingLatest Dark Money Tallies: $213 million in the general election and counting, 81% on behalf of Republicans; 34 races with $1 million or more
Back in July, Senate Republicans successfully blocked the DISCLOSE Act, which would have required all organizations spending $10,000 or more to reveal their donors. Now we understand why. Though Nov.1, $213.0 million has been spent by “dark money” groups to influence the 2012 elections. Of that, $172.4 million (81%) has been spent to help Republican candidates, as compared to $35.7 million (19%) to help Democrats. (By “dark money” we mean groups that do not disclose their donors and only are required to disclose their congressional race spending within 60 days of House and Senate elections and their presidential race spending following the national party conventions).
Continue readingMore guns of October: FSA PAC drops $600,000 in final days of election
Another newly formed super PAC, FSA PAC, or Fair Share Action, is dropping late money, this time on the Democrats’ side. The group reported spending $497,000 to buy an ad supporting Obama on the last day of October and more than $119,000 to support Montana Senator Jon Tester.
According to FSA PAC's FEC filing, the pro-Obama ad is airing in Colorado.
FSA is connected to a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit social welfare organization, the Fair Share Alliance, which is not required to disclose its donors. The latter group's executive director is Brad Martin, a former ...
Continue readingOutside spending group defends Republican outsiders
In the final weeks leading up to Election Day, an outside spending group with ties to two infamous negative campaigns against Democrats has launched efforts to rescue two Republican Party outcasts.
Freedom's Defense Fund is an independent political action committee advocating for limited government with a consultant connected to both the discredited "birther" rumor questioning President Barack Obama's citizenship and the 2004 Swift Boat campaign questioning the Vietnam combat credentials of that year's Democratic presidential candidate, Massachusetts' Sen. John Kerry. Recently, the group poured $312,589 into two states:
- Missouri to support Rep. Todd Akin in his ...
Mystery PAC drops $1.7 million before revealing Adelson connection
A super PAC that deliberately disguised its connection to Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson emerged from the shadows to drop nearly $1.7 million in a single day this week to oppose President Barack Obama's reelection, one of a series of money bombs in a week where outside spending threatens to top $200 million.
On the same day it filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission declaring the expenditure, Republicans for Prosperous America also announced it was changing its name to the Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund, thereby revealing its ties to the Republican Jewish Coalition, a politically active nonprofit ...
Continue readingConservative columnists’ anti-Obama ads backed by unknown donors
The super PAC run by conservative columnists Michael Reagan and Dick Morris is dropping last-minute money on series of ads against President Barack Obama, and the vast majority of the donors are unknown.
Super PAC for America had only $16,000 in the bank at the end of September. But it’s been infused with cash the second half of this month – and the sources of that bounty will be unknown to the public until December. That's because donations made after Oct. 17 don't have to be reported to the Federal Election Commission until after the election.
Reagan ...
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