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Tag Archive: Mitch McConnell

McConnell fires back in early campaign air wars

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On the defensive and trying to wade off a Tea Party challenge, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has hit the airwaves with ads 20 months before Election Day.

His campaign is dropping at least $21,000 to run its first ads of the 2014 campaign, in the Louisville TV market over the next week during the Today Show, the nightly news, Dancing with the Stars and Americas Funniest Home videos, new ad buys disclosed on Political Ad Sleuth show. The Associated Press quoted a McConnell's spokesman as saying the total ad buy will run into six figures. (Only ...

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Planned Parenthood targets Mitch McConnell

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Planned Parenthood has become the latest big-spending political group to try to erode the political base of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., more than a year before his next election.

A new ad that surfaced this morning in Ad Hawk, Sunlight's searchable database of political advertising, paints the five-term Republican as opposing the interests of women. Because the ad does not explicitly call for a vote for or against McConnell, Planned Parenthood's expenditure does not have to be reported to the Federal Election Commission, but a contract on file in Political Ad Sleuth, Sunlight's database for ...

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Rebuttal to McConnell’s War of Misinformation on DISCLOSE Act

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A war is being waged against the DISCLOSE Act. Its Commander in Chief is Senator Mitch McConnell, his secret weapon is misinformation and his goal is to protect unlimited dark money contributions to the political process. It’s time for a counter-attack. Mitch McConnell Last week, McConnell outlined his plan of attack in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute. Wrapping himself in a narrow and self-serving interpretation of the First Amendment, McConnell casts liberals as the enemies of free speech and he and his foot soldiers (the Chamber of Commerce) as the true protectors of our constitutional rights. But take apart his arguments and it is easy to spot his true intentions—not to protect the free speech rights of all citizens, but to protect the ability of wealthy donors to anonymously influence our democratic process. The Sunlight Foundation refutes the worst inaccuracies being lobbed against reasonable efforts to disclose the dark money that is infiltrating our elections. This Orwellian tactic is timed to defang public support for the DISCLOSE Act, which the Senate is likely to consider in July.

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Kentucky Derby: Owners put money on politicians, not ponies

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Horse race at Churchill Downs


The real money in the Kentucky Derby isn't in the purse or the pari-mutuel, but in the politics. Horse-focused PACs like the American Horse Council, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and horse breeders and owners have contributed more than $8.7 million to political candidates and parties since 1989 and spent $2.2 million more lobbying. And some of the top donors to these organizations are mega-donors in their own right, having contributed millions more to politicians, parties, PACs and super PACs.

Far from the finish line, the industry jockeys for tax breaks and other special treatment for big ...

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