Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
Outside groups may open door to lifting spending caps
What we're watching: "The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision has stirred favorable rumblings about a campaign finance proposal once favored only by GOP lawmakers: Unlimited donations and full transparency."

Legal fees eat into campaign coffers
"The campaigns of current and former lawmakers paid tens of thousands of dollars last quarter to defend Members involved in ethics inquiries, hire investigative firms and settle lawsuits brought by staffers, according to a Roll Call examination of Federal Election Commission filings."

Jeff Merkley, Senate Democrats say U.S. constitution must be changed to control campaign spending
"Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and six other Democrats charged Tuesday that modern political campaigns - and democracy itself - are threatened by a pair of 'awful' Supreme Court decisions that can only be fixed by changing the U.S. Constitution itself."

Congress/2012
Supercommittee's secrecy disappoints Republican House freshmen
"A number of Republican House freshmen who came to Washington promising to slash government spending are increasingly worried that the congressional supercommittee, to which that task has now fallen, is operating too much in secret and that the lack of transparency could doom the enterprise."

To cut deficit, cut sweetheart drug deals
There's a reason pharmaceutical companies topped lobbying in the 3rd quarter: "pay for delay" pharmaceutical patent settlements. "These are sweetheart deals in which a brand-name drugmaker pays a rival to keep its lower-cost generic alternative off the market."

Cain raises more than $400k in one day; supporters call allegations "high-tech" lynching
No words: "Herman Cain's campaign says it raised more than $400,000 on Monday, a 'clear vote of confidence from his supporters,' after the story broke alleging he had been accused of sexual harassment while head of the National Restaurant Association."

Progressives hit Romney's Wall Street ties
"Democratic allies MoveOn and Americans United for Change are scheduled to gather outside Mitt Romney's NYC fundraiser tomorrow morning to highlight his ties to Wall Street."

Conservative group going up with ads attacking Obama over Solyndra
Americans for Prosperity, funded by oil tycoons the Koch Brothers, is going up with ads attacking Obama over Solyndra and green technology. Shocking!

Obama to make decision on controversial oil pipeline
And Obama takes leadership of the Keystone XL pipeline--saying he'll make the final decision.

Super PAC begins ads for Perry campaign
Gov. Rick Perry's (R-Texas) super PAC, run by his former chief of staff, is up with new positive ads in Iowa and South Carolina.
- And the Obama super PAC is up with an online campaign targeting Romney: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/02/pro-obama-outside-group-targets-romney-in-digital-campaign/

Donors to Bush absent for Perry
"Fewer than one in 10 of the top fundraisers who helped George W. Bush shatter records for presidential campaign money in 2000 and 2004 have donated to Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s 2012 presidential campaign, a Houston Chronicle analysis of Federal Election Commission data has found."

Obama Occupies Wall Street: Wall Street (and other interests) Occupy White House
Latest from Americans United to Rebuild Democracy: "But at the White House, you can't get a drink at the water cooler without bumping into someone who has made truckloads of money dealing in derivatives, or something else equally intangible but highly lucrative."

Bill sponsors get big campaign donations from corporations that want tax holiday
"Almost 70 members of Congress co-sponsoring legislation for a massive tax holiday have received almost a million dollars in campaign contributions from the corporations that would benefit most."

Web sales tax fight heats up
The next tax fight for Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)? Could be web sales tax.

Hating incumbency and incumbents too
People hate everybody--even their own members, according to a NYT/CBS poll.

Chamber of Congress raises its political game
The U.S. Chamber, a trade group of some of the country's largest corporations, is beefing up its political game.

Despite ethics rules, Congress' travel junkets creep back up
"Four years after Congress imposed  restrictions on travel funded by outside groups, federal lawmakers are frequent fliers again, taking 415 privately funded  trips between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 — a nearly 75% jump in the number of trips they took during the same period in 2010, records show."

Other
Cash on the scales
The Toledo Blade editorializes on the Brennan Center/Justice at Stake/NIMSP report on judicial spending. "Lady Justice is often depicted blindfolded, to signify that outside influence does not tip the scales she holds to weigh the truth. Unfortunately, the scales are routinely tipped by special interests that pour money into judicial elections to get a desired result."

Jack Abramoff takes shots at enemies and protects friends in new book
"Jack Abramoff doesn't name names in his new book. He does, however, take a few shots at people he felt did him wrong." My favorite detail in this review: "Despite evidence that Republican activist and power broker Grover Norquist solicited and funneled funds from Abramoff's Indian gaming clients, Abramoff insists in the book that Norquist simply got money because the tribes admired his stand against taxation."

Sen. Bill Nelson Wants investigation of election law changes
"U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is asking that Congress investigate whether restrictive new voting laws in more than a dozen states — including Florida — are part of an "orchestrated effort to disenfranchise voters," according to a letter released Tuesday." Good!