Is your state prepared to vote? Common Cause will tell you in their new report, "Counting Votes 2012: A State by State Look at Election Preparedness."

Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
WaPo: IRS may consider tightening rules for nonprofits that influence elections
"Campaign watchdog groups see a glimmer of hope in a new letter from the Internal Revenue Service, which suggests that the agency might consider changes to the rules governing tax exemptions for politically active groups. Some tax experts, however, aren’t so sure that any reforms are in the offing."

PCAF Tumblr: Sen. Whitehouse on disclosure
PCCC highlights a great exchange between Sen. Whitehouse and Cato's Ilya Shapiro on disclosure and how the Koch Brothers can surely handle some "impolite blogging."

Congress/2012
PCAF: Senate GOP to unveil legislation giving Big Oil "Christmas in July"
Senate Republicans will introduce an energy package today to benefit their big oil donors. Here are some numbers.

CFI: Romney's small donor pace picked up in June, but still has a long way to catch Obama's
Campaign Finance Institute is out with its latest analysis of presidential fundraising. "When we look at the cumulative numbers over the full course of the campaign...the Obama campaign has raised 39% of its money from donors who have given $200 or less in the aggregate. While this is down slightly from the 41% through May and 43% through April, it was still more than double Romney’s 15%." Time.

ABC News: Sheldon Adelson may stop by Jerusalem fundraiser
Fresh off his big check to Romney's super PAC: "Mitt Romney may have quite the high-profile guest at his Jerusalem fundraiser. A donor to Romney who helped plan the presumptive GOP nominee’s trip to Israel tells ABC News that Sheldon Adelson will be at his home in Israel and may stop by." NYT.

Bloomberg: Rove back big-time in $1 billion spending drive to oust Obama
"In a performance that rivals Rove’s nurturing of a famously inarticulate Texas governor into a two-term president, the strategist is re-engineering the practice of partisan money management in an effort to drum Barack Obama out of the White House. "

WSJ: Romney looks overseas to American expatriates
"When Republican Mitt Romney visits London for a pair of fundraisers Thursday and heads to another next week in Jerusalem, he will seek to tap a growing donor bloc that has so far favored President Barack Obama: the American expatriate."

iWatch: Lobbyists like pro-Obama super PAC
"Only a small number of businesses have given to the pro-President Barack Obama super PAC, Priorities USA Action, and ironically, most of the money raised has come from lobbying shops."

ABC News: Millionaire donors club: Where are the women?
Women are nearly non existant on super PAC donor rolls. "Of the 26 people that have given $100,000 or more to Priorities USA, the Super PAC supporting Obama, only four are women, or about 15 percent. The gender gap is even larger for the pro-Romney Super PAC Restore Our Future, where just 11 percent of six-figure donors are women..."

HuffPost: NBC olympics coverage should bar super PAC ads, group says
"A new coalition opposed to super PACs, unPAC.org, is calling on NBC to reject super PAC ads during the London Olympics." United Republica's Josh Silver: "It's really an effort to use the slow-motion car crash that is the 2012 election funding and super PAC spending and channel the anger of the electorate towards becoming part of the reform movement."

HuffPost: Romney registrered as lobbyist for Salt Lake City olympics
Heh: "Romney wasn't just the head of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Romney was also a registered lobbyist for the organization, Utah state records show."

The Hill: Unions offering reward for location Romney London fundraiser
"Two industrial unions are offering a bounty for anyone who can locate two private Mitt Romney fundraisers in London."

iWatch: Pro-Romney super PAC donor part of Olympic scandal
"New Jersey-based Jet Set Sports is among the sponsors of the U.S. Olympic team. It could also be described as a corporate sponsor of Republican Mitt Romney’s candidacy. It’s a sponsorship that comes with some unwelcome baggage for Romney. Jet Set’s founder was a major player in the scandal that surrounded the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic games..."

Mother Jones: Chart: One GOP super PAC has raised more money than every Democractic super PAC combined
"A single Republican super-PAC, the pro-Romney Restore Our Future, has raked in more money this election cycle ($82 million) than all Democratic-aligned super-PACs combined. That's one super-PAC beating hundreds of competitors."

Politico: Sarbanes's fundraising plan isn't catching on
But, he's trying to boost his small donor base and that's more than a lot of people can say" "From the safety of a staunchly Democratic district in Maryland, Rep. John Sarbanes is on a lonely crusade to change how congressional campaigns are run. His challenge: raise small-dollar contributions from at least 1,000 new donors. His reward?: getting to spend half a million dollars. So far, it's been a long slog."

Politico: Bloomberg to host fundraiser for Scott Brown
"New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is hosting a fundraiser for Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown at his Upper East Side townhouse on Aug. 15, according to this invitation a helpful source provided."

Greenwich Time: Murphy's closeness with super PAC boss draws fire
"The head of a new pro-Chris Murphy super PAC, which the law says must keep an arm's length from the Democrat, served as a groomsman for the congressman turned Senate frontrunner."

Politico: Anti-incumbent PAC winds down for now
Campaign for Primary Accountability is winding down: "Officials with the Campaign for Primary Accountability told POLITICO Wednesday that the group’s resources have dried up and it does not have the money needed to target entrenched members in upcoming races — such as Democratic Rep. John Conyers of Michigan or GOP Rep. John Mica of Florida."

Las Vegas Sun: Berkley, Heller increasingly rely on out-of-state donors
"Unlimited corporate campaign spending and billionaires with a desire to influence national politics have dominated the election narrative this year — thanks to a Supreme Court decision giving them carte blanche to do so."

Roll Call: National Retail Federation losing members
"The National Retail Federation, once retail’s primary voice in Washington, D.C., has lost several prominent members, including CVS Caremark Corp., Best Buy Co. Inc. and Dollar General Corp., Roll Call has learned."

WaPo: O'Malley launches federal PAC as national profile rises
"Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) this week set up a federal political action committee, a move likely to stoke talk about ambitions for national office in 2016."

The Onion: Report: 2012 election likely to be decided by 4 or 5 key swing corporations
Oh, The Onion: "With polls this week showing the race between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney tightening even further, a growing number of political experts have declared this year's election will almost certainly be decided by a small handful of swing corporations."

Other/States
Biz Journals: NC to Nike: Disclose political contributions
North Carolina State Treasurer calling for disclosure: "On behalf of the retirement fund for North Carolina workers, which owns nearly 600,000 Nike shares, Cowell's office has proposed that Nike post a semiannual report on its website that gives details about the company's political contributions."

Journal Sentinel: Recall race cost record $80.9 million, new tally shows
"The recall race for governor cost a record-busting $80.9 million, with Republican Gov. Scott Walker and his supporters enjoying a more than 2-to-1 advantage over his Democratic rivals, according to a new report."