Wow, check out this story in the Miami Herald on the possibility that David Rivera ran a shadow campaign in the Democratic primary in his race. This is a sentence you never want to see in a story about a member of Congress (emphasis added): "Among the revelations: The mailers were often paid in envelopes stuffed with crisp hundred-dollar bills."

And, with new FEC filings, PCAF has updated Pinterest boards. Thirty-seven billionaires have now donated to Restore Our Future and six to Priorities USA Action.

A company called "The Renco Group" donated $1 million to Romney's super PAC in July. Who are they? Well, they own a company that was named by the DOJ as a top polluter in the US and another that gets big government contracts.

Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
The Nation: Does Ryan rhyme with "suppression"
"Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen, a partisan Republican closely aligned with Governor Scott Waker and US Senate candidate Tommy Thompson, has asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to reinstate a rigid voter ID law before the November election."

TPM: Voting rights advocates gear up for huge 2012 battle
Good read on the election protection folks: "Welcome to the headquarters of Election Protection, a program run by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and a multitude of civil rights organizations that seeks to combat the wave of restrictive voting laws that have swept state legislatures in the past few years."

Congress/2012
NPR: Both sides can claim some money advantage in presidential race
"New reports from the presidential campaigns show that Republican Mitt Romney last month widened his cash advantage over President Obama. But the numbers reported to the Federal Election Commission paint a more complex picture of the race and the vast amounts of money fueling the campaign."

HuffPost: Mitt Romney to donors: I would explain my energy plan, but donors are here
At a fundraiser, sitting next to Exxon's CEO and oil billionaire Harold Hamm, "Mitt Romney started to lay out his energy plan at a Tuesday event, but because there were reporters in the room, he decided against doing so." More from AFP on his $7M Texas haul.

LA Times: Paul Ryan runs well-oiled fundraising machine
LA Times looks at Paul Ryan's fundraising machine, that has included "winning over CEOs and K Street lobbyists to build a fundraising machine that has boosted his standing on Capitol Hill and helped make him one of the GOP's most influential figures." PCAF's David Donnelly: "Ryan is known as a serious policy guy, but in reality his budget is a wish list for wealthy interests. He put forth a policy agenda that matches up with the funding constituencies of the Republican Party."

Huffington Post: Veep Pick Paul Ryan Lobbied On Behalf Of Companies Who Gave Him Campaign Cash
"And in at least two instances involving the Department of Transportation, Ryan has pushed the interests of companies whose members have given him campaign donations, according to records obtained by The Huffington Post."

WaPo: Democrats won't disclose donors to Charlotte convention until after the event
"Democratic Party officials say they will not release the names of donors to next month’s political convention before the event, despite an earlier pledge that they would regularly disclose the contributors." On the other side, "The host committee for the Republican convention in Tampa did not pledge to disclose donors and does not mention its individual contributors, but it does display on its Web site logos from 26 corporate sponsors, including Google and Wal-Mart."

Politico: Mitt Romney plans big DC fundraiser in September
"Mitt Romney is headed back inside the Beltway to shake the money tree for a big donor event in late September." Event chairs are asked to raise $1 million, hosts $500,000, and co-hosts $250,000. Unless those people are lobbyists, we won't know who these big fundraisers are because the Romney campaign continues to hide their bundlers.

MyFoxNy: Michael Jordan to host Obama NYC fundraiser Wednesday
"NBA legend Michael Jordan and a handful of current and past basketball stars will be in New York City to help raise money for President Barack Obama's re-election campaign Wednesday evening."

AP: Romney raising cash from traditionally Dem cities
"Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who is out-fundraising President Barack Obama by impressive margins, is attracting thousands of donors this summer from traditionally Democratic areas of the United States, collecting millions of dollars in even progressive communities from New York to Los Angeles..."

Boston Globe: Mitt Romney enters campaign’s final months with big edge in donations over President Obama
"Mitt Romney is heading into the final three months of the campaign with far more cash at his disposal than a sitting president known for his fund-raising prowess, a scenario that presents the Republican’s Boston-based campaign with a series of strategic and tactical opportunities that could provide a crucial difference as he enters the final stretch of a race expected to be razor-close."

CBS News: Obama, DNC spending exceeded receipts in July
"Facing strong fundraising from his Republican challenger, President Barack Obama and Democrats have spent more than they brought in last month as the president expanded his campaign operations and purchased millions of dollars in television advertising to compete with rival Mitt Romney."

Sunlight Foundation: Super PAC's fundraising losing momentum, reports show
"he big guns of political ad spending took in $30 million during July, reports filed this week with the Federal Election Commission show. That's $25 million less than the previous month."

KochFacts: Statement from David H. Koch
David Koch would like you to know, contrary to what Roger Stone said, he had nothing to do with the selection of Paul Ryan as VP.

NYT: Skinny-dipping in Israel casts unwanted spotlight on Congressional travel
"But for lawmakers, the attention surrounding last summer’s trip — thanks to reports of a skinny-dipping Kansas lawmaker who was part of the delegation — has cast an unwanted spotlight once again on the practice of private groups paying for foreign travel, a source of frequent criticism in the past."

WaPo: Nudist lobby says Yoder's dip gives them a boost
Of course, everybody has an angle: "The nudist lobby says Yoder’s antics have brought attention to skinny-dipping and may help their cause of promoting nude recreation."

The New Republic: Shel Adelson and the Jew card
Marc Tracy takes on the argument that any criticism of Sheldon Adelson is somehow anti-Semitic: "But you do not need to be an anti-Semite to worry about the impact Adelson could buy himself—particularly given that his company is being investigated by U.S. and Chinese authorities for allegedly illicit business dealings."

HuffPost: Sheldon Adelson, wife gives $500,000 to super PAC supporting Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
"Billionaire casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Mariam, have given half a million dollars to a super PAC supporting a popular rabbi running for Congress in northern New Jersey."

Bloomberg: TV stations charge "super gouge" ad rates for super PACs
"Come September and October, when Romney and President Barack Obama, House and Senate candidates and dozens of outside political groups will be demanding ad space, super-PACs can expect stations to begin charging what Democratic media consultant Peter Fenn calls 'super-gouge rates' of as much as four times what candidates pay."

Other/Staff
Dickinson Press: Corruption in the Public Service Commission? Industry donations made to commissioners widespread
In North Dakota: "NextEra Energy needed approval for a wind farm. BNI Coal was facing penalties for environmental rules. The Arthur Companies needed a license for a grain elevator. All of them went before the North Dakota Public Service Commission to state their cases. And all of them, whether via political action committees or campaign contributions from executives, have given the commissioners money."

WRAL: Despite laws, NC legislators still asking lobbyists for money
"Political fundraising requests continue to flood the in-boxes of North Carolina lobbyists, despite state campaign finance laws that make such donations illegal."