Voters head to the polls for primaries in six states today, with those in Arizona, North Dakota and Virginia inundated with the most money from super PACs trying to influence their votes. Here's a rundown of what outside groups are spending in the Grand Canyon, Peace Garden, and Old Dominion states, according to Sunlight's Follow the Unlimited Money tracker:
Special Election: Arizona's 8th Congressional District
Among today's races, the special election to fill the remaining term of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who resigned in January to focus on her rehabiliation, has attracted the most outside money ...
Continue readingLibertarian think tank: Get behind DISCLOSE (or something like it)
A bill requiring super PACs and other outside political groups to include the names of top donors on their ads will hit the Senate floor next month, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said Friday. Meanwhile, an unlikely source warned the Republicans who are expected to filibuster it that they are standing in the way of the inevitable.
Whitehouse's comments came in his home state at a conference of liberal bloggers, where he was on a panel about the effects of Citizens United, a 2010 Supreme Court case that opened the door for unlimited campaign spending by corporations and unions ...
Continue readingFEC says that using “Obamacare” counts as election ad
When is an advertisement an election ad?
The FEC considered that question Thursday at a hearing, and despite a lot of partisan disagreement, came up with one definitive answer: An ad that uses the term "Obamacare," an initially derogatory term for describing President Obama's 2010 health care law that Democrats have since tried to reclaim, qualifies.
At issue is how to categorize thinly veiled attack ads that don't directly call for the election or defeat of a named candidate. It's a question of intense interest to groups planning to run political ads this summer and fall but ...
Continue readingAmericans for Prosperity campaigns without leaving a paper trail in Wisconsin
Much has been written about what Tuesday's Wisconsin recall race says about the influence of big money on politics, but the real story may be the influence of the money we don't know about.
Less than three hours after Democrat Tom Barrett conceded the $63 million-and-counting contest to Gov. Scott Walker, Americans for Prosperity, the big spending conservative group, sent an email to supporters hailing Walker's win and including a video highlight reel about "how AFP educated Wisconsin residents about Governor Walker's budget reforms."
The video shows footage of the customized AFP bus that rolled through ...
Continue readingGuess who’s giving to lawmaker trying to repeal tax on medical devices?
The Minnesota congressman leading the charge to repeal a medical device excise tax that is meant to generate a big chunk of funding for the health care reform law has taken the most campaign money--more than $64,000--from medical device manufacturers this election cycle.
Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., has attracted 240 cosponsors, including 11 Democrats, for his bill to repeal the 2.3 percent excise tax, which the House is scheduled to consider this week. Paulsen hails from a state where the medical device industry is a substantial employer. Companies such as Medtronic, St. Jude Medical, and Starkey Laboratories ...
Continue readingHouse Subcommittee blocks funds for online political ad disclosure
Today a House subcommittee voted to defund a Federal Communications Commission initiative announced in April that would provide online access to spending for political ads on some local television stations. In the current election cycle, outside spending has already reached record levels, more than doubling what was spent as of the same date in 2008.
The provision, inserted into the financial services appropriations bill, would add to the uncertainty around the FCC's political ad disclosure rule, which is in limbo. The National Association of Broadcasters, a group that represents the major broadcast media companies, sued the FCC to try ...
Continue readingRealtors take out big mortgage on California House race
Tuesday's contest in California's 31st Congressional District morphed into the biggest outside money spending spree of any House primary so far, thanks a massive influx of funds by the National Association of Realtors on behalf of Rep. Gary Miller.
Late unofficial returns from the California Secretary of State's office show that Miller, a seven-term Republican running in a new district, topped a six-person field with nearly 27 percent of the votes cast, winning a slot on November's ballot. Because of a new California primary system that sends the top two finishers in a free-for-all primary to ...
Continue readingSuper PACs loom large in today’s primaries in California, New Mexico, Montana
As voters go to the polls in six states today, super PACs and other outside groups are playing an outsize role in some of the high profile contests, as incumbent members of Congress square off against other incumbents due to redistricting, special interests duke it out in one district, and Democrats try to avoid being beaten out by an indepedent for the fall ballot. Here's a rundown of some of the spending:
Sherman v. Berman
Thanks to redistricting, one of the most high profile contests pits two House Democrats against each other in California's San Fernando Valley, where ...
Continue readingInsiders Discuss Fact Checking and the Presidental Election
Policy Intern Hunter Main With campaign ads heating up along with the presidential race, how will journalists balance their obligations... View Article
Continue readingIn running for Congress, plumber showcases his company
Is congressional candidate Markwayne Mullin touting himself to voters or to customers? That was the question before the Federal Election Commission earlier this week, where the Oklahoma businessman is seeking permission to have TV ads for his plumbing company not treated like campaign communications. But some of Mullin's neighbors say his plumbing business figures so heavily in his campaign ads that it's impossible to distinguish the two.
In comments to the FEC, some have even questioned Mullin's motives for becoming a candidate in the June 26 Republican primary for the seat occupied by retiring Rep. Dan Boren ...
Continue reading
59063
