The biggest primary election spenders threw millions of dollars at opponents who went on to win.
Continue readingElectioneering: Now is the time to not see it
In the final months before the midterm elections, reporting requirements on nonprofits' "issue advertising" will ramp up.
Continue readingLast chance training on Aug. 13 to help you follow the money in 2014 elections
Sunlight and the Asian American Journalists Association is offering one of the last chances to get hands-on, in-person training on a whole host of new and improved money-in-politics tracking tools before the 2014 elections.
Continue readingClean energy group didn’t report NC ‘electioneering’ ad
A nonprofit clean energy group that ran electioneering ads urging voters to "thank Senator Hagan" 23 days before the North Caroline senator faced a primary election failed to report its spending to the Federal Election Commission.
Continue readingMoney talks: Introducing Real-Time’s new competitive primaries page
As the primary season gets underway, Sunlight's Real-Time FEC tracker rolls out a new tool to target the contests that are the most competitive. One headline: Democratic Senate challengers are MIA.
Continue readingTraining for reporters covering election 2014: Turn dark money and hard dollars into good stories
Three investigative newsrooms well versed in covering campaign finance — including Sunlight — are teaming up to offer training that helps reporters make sense of all this data ahead of the 2014 elections.
Continue readingCan Crist the Democrat raise as much money as Crist the Republican?
Charlie Crist has a knack with political donors. In between campaigns, he even got a job with one of his largest political benefactors. But as the formidable fundraiser -- who raked in more than $33 million over the course of his political career -- launches his challenge to Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott this week, the question is whether he'll be able to manage an encore performance in a different role.
Elected Florida's 44th governor in 2006, Crist is running to reclaim his old job with a new resume: A one-time Republican who turned independent in 2010, he's now ...
Continue readingNew super PACs drawing big bucks
Among super PACs organized this year, 13 of them have raised at least $50,000 already. Altogether, the 13 newcomers have raised $16.5 million just months after forming. That's more than a quarter of the $59 million that all super PACs have brought in so far this cycle.
Continue readingGoogle under fire for Inhofe lunch
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.
Thursday’s scheduled lunchtime fundraiser at Google’s Washington headquarters for Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., posted in Sunlight's Political Party Time, has raised a ruckus on the Internet. Lefty news outlets and environmentalists are slamming the tech giant for playing host to one of the Senate's most outspoken deniers of man-made climate change. Credo, the mobile phone company with a liberal agenda, has launched a petition asking Google not to support Inhofe.
The tech giant has cast itself as a leader in the promotion of 'green' business practices and who trumpets its highly efficient ...
Continue readingGOP dominates list of top House fundraisers in 2013
On the heels of the most expensive campaign in the nation's history, members of the House and the candidates who want to replace them are already raking in cash for the 2014 mid-terms. In the first three months of 2013, they collected a total of $68 million, records just submitted to the Federal Election Commission show.
Most of the biggest fundraisers are party leaders, topped by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., a senior member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, came in third. But Aaron Schock, a three-term Illinois ...