A round up of what we’re seeing in online disclosures: New Super PACs: There are three new committees — Planned... View Article
Continue reading‘Grassroots’ group grows mainly in offices of D.C. law and PR firms
A political committee called Citizens for Strength and Security Action Fund--usually abbreviated as CSS Action Fund--claims to be active across the country promoting the best solutions to America's problems, but the limited disclosures available about the group suggest that it's a creature of the beltway. The organization, which made its first noise in the 2010 mid-term elections by spending $640,000 supporting Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash in late September, shares a Washington, D.C. address with similar advocacy groups and lists political pros as its main players.*
CSS Action Fund lists a Southeast Washington, D.C., address ...
Continue readingDaily disclosures
A round up of what we’re seeing in online disclosures: American Crossroads reports ad buys against Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.... View Article
Continue readingCrossroads connections visualized
Crossroads Media has a slew of conservative leaning political organizations as their clients spending millions in the run up to mid-term elections on ad buys. The company has processed more than $10.6 million worth of ad placements this election cycle (not all that money ends up with Crossroads Media--the bulk goes to the television, radio, cable and other outlets that run the advertisements it places).
All but one of their clients – the Susan B. Anthony List -- are connected to two high profile Republican operatives, Karl Rove and Mary Cheney. Rove helps to raise money for American Crossroads, Crossroads GPS ...
Continue readingOutside groups spend $13 million in the last six days
In the past six days--Wednesday through today--outside groups have spent more than $13 million to influence the mid-term congressional elections, including broadcast ads, robo-calls, get out the vote campaigns and mailings.
Data in the Reporting Group's tool -- Follow the Unlimited Money -- shows that groups not aligned to any specific candidate have spent more than $122 million in this cycle with committees registering to receive unlimited contributions -- the Super PACs -- totaling $12 million.
The National Association of Realtors spent more than $2.4 million over the last four days, supporting both Democratic and Republican candidates across the country; Americans for ...
NRCC spends big, flexes power
The National Republican Congressional Committee reported spending more than $800,000 on one day, Friday Oct. 1, in opposition to 30 Democrats. The NRCC has spent almost $13.7 million in independent expenditures to oppose Democrats so far this election cycle, tops among all groups as of this writing.
Though Super PACs or independent expenditure-only committees--groups set up to take unlimited funds from any source in order to influence elections--have garnered a great deal of media attention of late, it's worth noting that the traditional players like the NRCC are still very powerful when it comes to influencing elections ...
Continue readingUnderstanding Elections and the Language that Defines Them
Each election cycle spawns new terms that the public and press have to make sense of, like soft money, express... View Article
Continue readingBeyond Super PACs: Political groups up electioneering spending as mid-terms approach
Outside organizations have so far reported spending more than $18 million to run issue ads mentioning candidates within 30 days of primaries and 60 days of the general election--a 31 percent increase over the last mid-term election cycle. Corporate trade associations, labor unions, environmental groups, proponents of traditional values and even a group that opposes big money in politics have run ads in the run up to November 2, reports from the Federal Election Commission show.
In the 2006 election cycle, the total organizations reported spending on electioneering communications in a comparable period was $13.7 million, according to ...
Super PACs: Track (and read all about) them on the Reporting Group site
The Washington Post weighs in on the growth of “Super Pacs,” organizations that can take unlimited funds from any source... View Article
Continue readingSunlight tools helps connect the dots between independent expenditures and ads
Just over a month away from the midterm elections political ads are mustering strength and each advertisement is only one small piece of a larger network of money, power and influence. The Sunlight Foundation has two new tools to help track this political influence: Follow the Unlimited Money, a user friendly way to track advertising and other kinds of electioneering, and Sunlight Campaign Ad Monitor that tracks the end result of some of the political spending powered by citizens reporting.
Using both these tools together, we've picked a few ads reported by citizens and looked up more details ...
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