A new Koch brothers group raised $15 million in the third quarter of campaign 2014, the most of any committee that filed with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday.
Continue readingPolitical ad watch: 48 new commercials in one day
The deluge of ads gives us an insight in to where the smart money is spending. And reminds us the smart money believes that going negative works.
Continue readingThe Week on Politwoops: Deleted poll celebration, delayed sarcasm detection, a shared donation check and more
In this week's extra-packed roundup of deletions archived by Politwoops, we examine politicians who revoked polling proclamations, quiz results, a call for national party support and a demand to know where basketball jerseys are.
Continue readingCampaign Intelligence: It’s summertime . . . And the pols are trash-talking
The summer season is a busy one for the political air wars. A look at the latest findings on Political Ad Sleuth and Ad Hawk.
Continue readingShutdown spells big gains for nation’s gross political product
While federal workers and beneficiaries are taking an economic hit, the shutdown seems to be proving a financial bonanza for the nation's political consultant class. Both Republicans and Democrats are churning out ads focused on the shutdown. Guess what? Each blames the other for it.
Continue readingSenate incumbents already seeing an uptick in campaign cash
A little more than a year before the next round of congressional elections, at least 25 Senate incumbents and challengers have raised $1 million or more for their campaign war chests, second quarter reports now available at the Federal Election Commission show.
The filings are a testament to the power of incumbency: All but one of the 25 members of the million-dollar club are either incumbent senators or House members seeking a promotion to the upper chamber of Congress.
At the top of the heap are two early-bird candidates: Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who just won a special election to ...
Will Bloomberg’s wrath hurt senators who opposed gun bill?
Billionaire Mayor Mike Bloomberg is asking prominent Democratic donors in New York, a key source of funds for candidates across the country, to stop contributing to the four Democratic senators who voted to block a bill that would have strengthened background checks for gun buyers, the New York Times reported.
Continue readingWhy four Dems opposed extending background checks
Back in February, we at Sunlight made some predictions about the Democrats who would be most likely to defect on a gun vote, based on three factors: being up for a vote in 2014, having a high number of gun businesses in the state, and having a low Obama vote share. Here's what we wrote at the time about four Democrats we predicted would be most likely to oppose gun reform.
- Max Baucus: Montana has 120 gun businesses per 100,000 people, highest in the country (according to ATF statistics). Only 41.8% of Montana voters supported Obama in 2012. (Tester, who just won re-election faces similar pressures)
- Mark Begich: Alaska has 104 gun businesses per 100,000 people. Only 41.3% of Alaskans voted for Obama in 2012.
- Tim Johnson: South Dakota has 66 gun businesses per 100,000 people. Only 39.9% of South Dakotans supported Obama in 2012.
- Mark Pryor: Arkansas has 45 gun businesses per 100,00 people. Only 36.9% of Arkansans voted for Obama in 2012.
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