Some politicians were investing money this year with an eye to 2016. The ROIs of potential presidential contenders.
Continue readingRun Ben Run?
While Dr. Ben Carson delivers remarks at the National Press Club, an unaffiliated super PAC is working furiously to bolster the neurosurgeon as a 2016 presidential candidate.
Continue readingFEC says Allen West “scam PACs” did not break campaign finance law
Former Rep. Allen West, a GOP fundraising powerhouse from Florida, charged political consultants with using his name to raise money.
Continue readingLobby-a-palooza! New year brings new turn of the revolving door
It's a happy and potentially lucrative New Year for many former Capitol Hill denizens, as the turn of the calendar also brings a turn of Washington's revolving door.
Continue readingPolitwoops U.S. Turns One!
The Sunlight Foundation's Politwoops U.S. adaptation of the original Politwoops.nl turns one-year-old today and it has certainly made an impression.
Continue readingHow ex-Det. Guy Bowers became the biggest campaign donor of all
One of the most prolific donors to political candidates running for federal office has no idea that’s his status.
Guy Bowers, a 66-year-old ex-detective who says he owes his fortune to an inheritance and some savvy investing, is not your typical corporate executive often associated with fattening politicians’ campaign accounts.
Yet Bowers was such an enthusiastic donor that he tops a list of perhaps hundreds who appear to have broken a campaign finance law that caps the total amount of money individuals can give federal political candidates and committees in the course of a two-year election cycle. For 2011 ...
Which candidates spent the most per voter in 2012?
As we look back on the 2012 election as the most expensive in history, we will see that there were some very, very expensive races. Overall, there were 40 House and Senate races in which at least $20 was spent per eligible voter, and two races (the North Dakota and the Montana Senate races), where at least $50 was spent per eligible voter. The cocktail party tidbits are that in the Montana Senate race, campaigns and outside groups combined spent $64.41 per eligible voter; In the North Dakota Senate race, $56.17 per eligible voter. In the House, the most expensive district was FL-18, home to the controversial and losing Allen West (R). That district received $58.96 per eligible voter.
Continue readingMan behind Allen West super PAC remains secretive
It remains unclear why Richard H. Roberts, a New Jersey physician, contributed $1 million to help one member of Congress in south Florida, freshman Republican Allen West, win reelection.
Reached at his home last week, the main funder of a super PAC that has become the largest outside spender against West's Democratic opponent, construction executive Patrick Murphy, in one of the most closely-watched House races in the country, said he has retired from the pharmaceutical firm that he identified himself as heading in campaign finance forms. But he would say little else.
"I generally don't talk to press ...
Continue readingWho let the dog out? Frosh Republican Allen West’s tweet sics would-be pooch adoptees on the Marines
A tweet from Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., calling for volunteers to adopt IED-sniffing dogs has contributed to a situation that Marines might describe as a 'snafu.'
On West's Facebook page, a post stated that the Marine Corps has 400 decommissioned dogs in need of 'forever homes.' West (or a staffer) promoted the page on Twitter and deleted it two hours later. The deletion was captured by Sunlight Foundation's Politwoops, a site that records and posts deleted tweets from politicians. The Facebook post has since been removed.
Information about the dogs was based on a military listserv email sent ...
Continue readingNew anti-Obama super PAC backed by pro-Israel Republican activists
A new Miami-based super PAC has surfaced with billboards opposing President Barack Obama in south Florida and plans to plant more in at least two other battleground states before Election Day. Backed by mostly Republican, pro-Israel activists, American Principles super PAC has spent about $220,000 so far and plans to spend $500,000 this election.
It's one of a number of pop up super PACs that are emerging just before the November election, barraging voters with advertisements before having to reveal any information about financial backers. American Principles will release its first list of donors by Oct. 20 ...
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