We released new polling yesterday with Democracy Corps on Citizens United and money and politics. Check it out! More at Campaigns and Elections.

Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
Times-Union: Cuomo gets national union praise
CWA, SEIU, and UAW sent a letter to Gov. Cuomo (D-N.Y.) yesterday praising his plan to pass public financing. The letter states they have "a commitment to the idea that all workers deserve a voice and that in a democracy, wealth should not determine political powers. The status quo systems of elections in New York, with their sky-high donation limits and lack of public matching funds, undermine these principles.” Press release is here.

Asbury Park Press: Menendez: Corporations must disclose political acts
"Sen. Robert Menendez on Thursday urged the Obama administration to require publicly traded companies to disclose their political activities to shareholders."

Protesters to demonstrate outside US courthouses
"Protesters plan to 'occupy' courthouses in more than 100 cities across the U.S. on Friday to protest a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that removed most limits on corporate and labor spending in federal elections." More at Politico.

AFL-CIO: Citizens United: Firther tilted playing field to 1%
The AFL has a statement out on the anniversary of Citizens United. AFL President Richard Trumka says the decision "further tilted the playing field in favor of the 1 percent and against the 99 percent whose voices are being drowned out by excessive corporate spending and influence."

WaPo: 'Citizens United': A Supreme Court decision that is widely misunderstood
Boston College law professor Kent Greenfield writes of Citizens United reactions, "Unfortunately, the most prevalent critique of the decision — Corporations are not people! — is simplistic and dangerous."

The Nation: After Citizens United: The attack of the super PACs
"We’ve known for some time that the pattern, extent and impact of political advertising would be transformed and supercharged by the Supreme Court’s January 2010 Citizens United ruling. But the changes, even at this early stage of the 2012 campaign, have proven to be more dramatic and unsettling than all but the most fretful analysts had imagined."

Constitutional amendment to create public financing introduced by Kucinich
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) joins the constitutional amendment bandwagon!

Congress/2012
LA Times: Perry backs Gingrich, but his donors may prefer Romney
On Perry's decision to drop out: "While many of Perry's evangelical Christian donors in Texas could find Gingrich appealing, fundraisers from the establishment wing of the GOP are more likely to gravitate to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney." More at Roll Call on this.

Huffington Post: President Obama's SOPA stance could cost campaign money, says Hollywood lobbyist Chris Dodd
Former Sen. and current MPAA president Chris Dodd went on Fox to threaten withholding Hollywood money to Obama over SOPA stance. Public Campaign's Adam Smith: "shining example of what's wrong with our political system, where you have this one industry trying to force the hand of policymakers with this threat that is basically blackmail."

Politico: Chris Dodd's debut with Hollywood a flop
Interesting quote from a content-industry lobbyist over SOPA: "The MPAA is used to lining up their army against their opposing army and whoever has the most and best lobbyists and best arguments usually wins. We all were unprepared to fight counter insurgency and we got chewed up."

Roll Call: SOPA fight pits big porn against little porn
"The Web blackout mounted this week by Internet companies to protest anti-piracy legislation appears to have derailed the measures and won the day for an unusual constituency: online pornographers."

AP: Campaign ad spending surges past $12 million in SC
"The crush of campaign ad spending in South Carolina has swollen to more than $12 million so far, with candidates and independent groups paying top dollar to elbow for room in the state's crucial advertising marketplace."

NPR: Billionaire Foster Friess discusses campaign finance
Santorum supporter billionaire Foster Friess talks campaign finance. You won't be surprised at what he has to say.

ThinkProgress: GOP hopefuls refusing to disclose top bundlers
"While the Barack Obama presidential campaign continues to release quarterly lists of who is bundling contributions for his campaign, iWatch News reports that unlike the president and past candidates of both parties, GOP White House hopefuls are still not disclosing their campaign bundlers."

Alternet: Thanks to Citizens United, multinational mega lobbyist firm salivates over $4 billion in campaign cash
Lee Fang's latest looks at the influence of the massive WPP group.

Boston Globe: "Greedy bastards" by Dylan Ratigan
A review of Ratigan's new book, "Greedy Bastards"

Politico: Lobbying for just a nod, a mention
On the lobbyist influence in the State of the Union: "It’s an annual tradition: Trade groups, unions and advocacy organizations scramble to sell their cause in hopes of scoring one of the specific references sprinkled throughout the speech each year. And this time around, the White House appears to be paying closer attention than usual to what its friends want to hear."

Politico: Elizabeth Warren nets $1 million in a single day
"Elizabeth Warren raised more than $1 million in a single-day fundraising “money bomb” Thursday."

Salon: The Obillionaire candidate
Tom Schaller writes, "This year, Barack Obama may become America’s first billion-dollar candidate. Funds he raises for either his own reelection campaign or for the Democratic National Committee, or that 'unaffiliated' friends raise for his super PAC, could eclipse the mythical, 10-figure threshold. Can he do it and, more to the point, will he even need all that much cash?"

iWatch; SC governor got $62,500 from Romney-affiliated PACs
"South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a key supporter of Mitt Romney, received $62,500 in campaign contributions since 2008 from state and federal political committees set up by supporters of Mitt Romney"

NYT: For Obama, a day at Disney world and a night of fund-raisers
Obama was doing official business in Florida yesterday and then was in New York raising money last night.

Iowa gives Santorum lead but says winner is unclear
So, Santorum won the Iowa caucuses? Common Cause's Bob Edgar: "Given the millions of dollars the candidates invest in Iowa and the importance the state has assumed in choosing nominees, Republican and Democratic leaders alike owe it to Iowans and the nation to run a transparent process and provide a careful, accurate count."

WaPo: Mitt Romney to '99 percent protester: "America's right and you're wrong."
Hmm: "Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R) got into a heated back-and-forth at a campaign event Thursday with a man who asked him what he would do to support America’s bottom '99 percent' of income earners."

Gingrich tax returns show $3.1 million income, 32% rate
"Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich reported an adjusted gross income of $3.1 million for 2010, according to tax returns for that year that the Republican presidential candidate released tonight."

WaPo: Sheldon Adelson and Newt Gingrich: One gained clout from friendship, the other funding
A look at Newt's billionaire backer: "The way casino magnate Sheldon Adelson remembers it, he and his wife, Miriam, met then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1995 in the majestic Capitol Rotunda as they made their way through the building while lobbying for a bill to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem."

NY Post: Not funny!
Not everyone thinks Colbert's super PAC stunts are funny, including NBC's Chuck Todd.