Clips
-
Nov26
Clips Round-up for 11/26/12
Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
LA Times: States crack down on campaigning nonprofits
“The pressure in states with stringent campaign finance rules contrasts sharply with the federal level, where nonprofits that spent hundreds of millions of dollars to influence races this year have not been required to disclose their donors.” -
Nov20
Clips Round-up for 11/20/12
Yesterday, Public Campaign released “Un-Shared Sacrifice,” chronicling the influence spending of the 95 corporations in the “Fix the Debt” coalition. The last four years have seen almost $1 billion in lobbying, PAC contributions, and campaign giving from the CEOs of these companies--and 22 of them have spent more on lobbying the federal government than they did in corporate income taxes to Uncle Sam.
Nov19Clips Round-up for 11/19/12
Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
WaPo: Trevor Potter: How the FEC can stop the tidal wave of secret political cashNov15Clips Round-up for 11/15/12
Quick personnel note: tomorrow will be my last day at the office until January. Public Campaign offers a generous sabbatical after a certain term of employment and mine begins Monday. Our fantastic Research Associate Kurt Walters will handle clips while I'm away--so feel free to send any stories to him at kwalters@publicampaign.org (and make sure to check your spam filters next week!).
Nov13Clips Round-up for 11/13/12
Crucial point in Nick Confessore's analysis of 2012 outside spending in the New York Times: "In virtually every respect, the growth of unlimited fund-raising and the move of outside groups to the mainstream of politics have magnified the already outsize role of money in political campaigns.
Nov09Clips Round-up for 11/9/12
Friends of Democracy super PAC had a good cycle: "Friends of Democracy, formed to support candidates who favor limits on big money in politics, says that at least six of the eight candidates it supported won their races.
Nov08Clips Round-up for 11/8/12
While the conventional wisdom seems to be gelling around "look, super PACs don't matter," the reality for voters and for candidates is much different. When facing an avalanche of outside spending, candidates had to spend even more time raising money, less time with their constituents, and small donors voices were drowned out. Voters despise the non-stop negative ads from billionaire-backed super PACs. Candidates fear them and are forced to depend on deep-pocketed donors to keep up. These are not insignificant impacts.
Nov05Clips Round-up for 11/5/12
AP story on donors and diversity: "Americans living in predominantly wealthy, white neighborhoods account for nearly all the sizable campaign contributions in this year's presidential election, according to an Associated Press analysis, even as the presidential candidates have aggressively courted Hispanics."
- Clips
Nov01Clips Round-up for 11/1/12
Um, it's November. Also, here's a picture of Bo Obama next to a pirate version of himself.
Oct29Clips Round-up for 10/29/12
Stat of the day from Paul Blumenthal at HuffPo: "Sixty-seven percent of all super PAC donations have come from just 209 donors, or groups of related donors, giving $500,000 or more."
Stat #2 of the day from USA Today: "Five individuals and couples have cont