Thursday we released a revamped design of Politwoops! 
You can read about some of the changes to the features and content in Nicko's post on the main blog, but the main news of the day is that we've now open sourced the code. That means, you can create your own Politwoops instance to track the deleted tweets of any subset of people you fancy.
2Day in #OpenGov 10/9/12
NEWS ROUNDUP: Government Live out of state? FOIA denied: The Supreme Court is hearing a case from Virginia about whether a... View Article
Continue readingWhen is a political ad not a campaign ad? Federal judge decides for FEC
The murky rules around electioneering ads may have gotten slightly less unclear this week, but not thanks to the Federal Election Commission.
A federal judge issued an opinion Thursday that appears to give the green light to a Virginia-based conservative nonprofit based called the Hispanic Leadership Fund to run some controversial ads that seem to be aimed at criticizing President Obama without disclosing the spending (or donors) to the Federal Election Commission.
Judge T.S. Ellis III ruled that some of the five ads that stymied the FEC back in June are "electioneering" -- a term of art for ads that ...
Continue readingOutside spending tops $105 million–and counting–in just nine days
Outside spending groups--PACs, super PACs, nonprofits and party committees--have spent a staggering $105 million to influence federal elections over the past nine days. Overall, outside spending in the 2012 election is now just a few million short of $600 million, according to Sunlight’s Follow the Unlimited Money tracker.
The $105 million, disclosed on independent expenditure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, was spent from Sept. 26 to Oct. 4 and includes an $11 million ad buy by the conservative super PAC American Crossroads opposing President Barack Obama and reimbursements amounting to as little as 31 cents that the ...
Continue readingSolid blue states attracting a lot of political green
Republican groups are pumping millions into states usually thought of as Democratic strongholds, seeking to tip competitive House races into their favor. The result? Three big Democratic states -- California, New York and Illinois--are the top targets for outside spending in congressional races, according to the Sunlight Foundation's Follow the Unlimited Money.
The 2010 U.S. Census triggered redistricting across the country, creating once-a-decade opportunities in some districts. So while President Barack Obama and his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, are ignoring three of the nation's most populous states -- neither candidate has placed an ad there at least since Aug ...
Continue readingMedia spending tops $100 million in 10 key Senate races
Voters in 10 states with competitive Senate races have been inundated with more than $106 million in campaign propaganda, an analysis of independent expenditure reports and campaign expenditure records from the Federal Election Commission shows.
The total represents a combination of ad spending by outside groups and candidates' combined, and is likely a considerable understatement as candidate campaign committees' third-quarter filings have yet to be made public by the FEC.
But the spending we know about so far underscores the stakes involved as the two parties battle for control of the Senate, where Democrats currently hold a six-vote edge. Of ...
Continue readingSave the Date: Sunlight Halloween Open House October 30
Mark your calendars, we’re having another Sunlight Halloween Open House! It’s been a little over a year since our last... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 10/5/12
NEWS ROUNDUP: Government Another STOCK Act delay? Financial disclosure requirements for some federal workers under the STOCK Act have already been... View Article
Continue readingConservatives hail Mitt, each other in Denver
Our Denver-based colleague, Nancy Watzman, caught some of the big speakers at Wednesday's Conservative Political Action Conference in Denver.
Continue readingPolitwoops Overhaul in Time for the Elections
Politwoops, Sunlight's project to track deleted tweets from U.S. politicians that was recently named one of TIME Magazine's 50 Best Websites of 2012, is getting a big refresh and expansion today.
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