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Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
Mediate: The media's shameful, inexcusable distortion of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision
"This is about what the ruling said and didn’t say, what it did and didn’t do. And about how so many in the media keep getting the ruling and its impact dead wrong."

WaPo: Scaled back ethics measure moves forward in House
STOCK Act update: "A scaled-back ethics bill headed toward likely passage in the House on Thursday despite complaints from senators that Republican leaders had jettisoned several key provisions that won overwhelming Senate support last week." More at NYT, WaPo, Politico, and the NYT editorial page is not happy with the watered down House version.

Huffington Post: How Congress can overrule Citizens United
From Bruce Ackerman and Ian Ayres: "While it's only natural for him to maintain parity, the president should also call upon Congress to pass a statute that forces the Supreme Court to reconsider its extreme position in Citizens United."

Common Cause: Federal campaign finance reform and corporate responsibility run hand in hand
Leo Hindery writes: "At the dawn of this election year, American democracy is emerging as a victim of collateral damage in a long war over the responsibilities corporations bear to their shareholders and the nation."

Congress/2012
Progressives United: The president is wrong
Russ Feingold on the super PAC decision: "The President is wrong to embrace the corrupt corporate politics of Citizens United through the use of Super PACs – organizations that raise unlimited amounts of money from corporations and the richest individuals, sometimes in total secrecy. It’s not just bad policy; it’s also dumb strategy."

SF Chronicle: President Obama's about-face on super PACs
Editorial: "His foes call the reversal a broken promise, while his supporters say it is born of necessity. In either case, the power of money and a disastrous legal ruling have soiled the presidential sweepstakes." Others at Star-Ledger, Waterdown Daily Times, Newsday.

New Yorker: Leader of the PACs
Jane Mayer's latest: "Barack Obama’s new embrace of Super PACs is a concession to the reality of running for President in 2012: it’s not enough to be an incumbent President, with one of the best networks of small donors in history. In this campaign, every candidate needs his own billionaires."

Forbes: Power for sale cheap
Daniel Fisher and Jon Bruner write: "Put simply: Political influence is currently a bargain."

Politico: Primer: How super PACs rake it in
From a new report by Demos and US PIRG: "Super PACs raised about $181 million in the last two years — with roughly half of it coming from fewer than 200 super-rich people." More on this report at American Prospect and Roll Call. Full report here.

Report: 48 percent of 2011 money to Obama campaign from small donors
New Campaign Finance Institute report: "Small donors accounted for almost half of the money President Obama raised in 2011, according to a campaign research organization." More on this report at Washington Post and ABC.

Bloomberg: Obama campaign chief Messina seeks to assure Wall Street donors
"Jim Messina, President Barack Obama’s campaign manager, assured a group of Democratic donors from the financial services industry that Obama won’t demonize Wall Street as he stresses populist appeals in his re-election campaign, according to two people at the meeting."

NYDN: Rep. Michael Grimm's campaign contributions draw criticism
"Rep. Michael Grimm’s support for a natural gas pipeline through Queens is fueling criticism that he’s a pol courting powerful private interests — not the Tea Party reformer he claims to be."

Center for Public Integrity: Five Democratic super PACs may seek joint operation
"Five Democratic "super" political action committees are reaching out to party mega-donors seeking $1 million to $10 million contributions, now that President Barack Obama has blessed the outside spending group working to get him re-elected."

WaPo: Big donors return to RNC
"The party raised nearly three times as much from rich donors in 2011 than during the entire midterm election cycle. The money from wealthy supporters has helped the RNC recover from its dire financial position of last year, when the party’s bank accounts were in their worst shape in more than three decades."

Politico: Tester calls for super PAC pact
Will the Warren-Brown compact spread? "Sen. Jon Tester is challenging his Republican opponent to accept a cease-fire on spending by super PACs and other third-party groups in what promises to be one of the Senate’s most contentious races."

Politico: Obama bundler's lobbying registration was a "clerical error"
Ha: "The Obama campaign struggled to explain the presence of a registered lobbyist on their bundler list Wednesday, blaming a clerical error for his status as a representative for an airline."

Bloomberg: Texas billionaire Simmons bankrolling multiple Republican causes
"Harold Simmons, a Texas billionaire, gave $8.5 million in the last six months of 2011 to support two Republican presidential contenders and a political action committee founded with help from Karl Rove, U.S. Federal Election Commission filings released yesterday show."

Reuters: The criminal probe of Sheldon Adelson's casino empire
"Some Republican candidates for president could find themselves similarly embarrassed if criminal investigations against casino mogul Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Sands for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act come to fruition before November." And HuffPost reports that Adelson makes $3.3 million an hour.

NYT: Foster Friess, a Santorum supporter with deep pockets
A look at Foster Friess, the man behind Santorum's super PAC. And the man who was literally behind Santorum the other night at his victory party. The LA Times on Santorum's fundraising.

Other
HuffPost: Florida minimum wage could be slashed for restaurant workers
Some in Florida are pushing to lower the minimum wage for restaurant workers. "According to the Sentinel article, one of the backers of the bill is Tampa-based OSI Restaurant Partners, owner of Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba's Italian Grill and Bonefish Grill chains. OSI Partners gave more than $120,000 to 32 Florida Republicans -- and $500 to one Democrat -- during the 2010 election cycle, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics."

Star Tribune: Group opposed to photo ID for voters criticizes business support for issue
"Banks and business organizations have bankrolled Republican legislators as part of an effort to require all voters to show photo ID at the polls, a group opposed to the photo ID requirement said Wednesday."

In These Times: Top 1% shower Walker with cash, but recall and "Walkergate" loom
"Walker has been running around the nation to gather cash from corporate and right-wing sources, raising an astonishing $12.2 million in his effort to fend off a statewide recall election demanded by 1.1 million residents."

Daily Mail: Bill would prohibit fundraising during legislative session
In West Virginia: "State Sen. Mike Green wants to prohibit his colleagues from raising campaign money during the 60-day legislative session."