Public Campaign Action Fund and Democracy Corps released new polling yesterday of 54 battleground districts. PCAF's David Donnelly: “The verdict is in: voters in the most competitive congressional districts have seen what an unfettered system of campaign spending looks like—and they don’t like it. Voters know big money corrupts our political system and they are thirsty for a plan from any candidate of any party to restore sanity.” Roll Call, Source2012, Politico.

NYT: "As the Obama administration has cracked down on corporate fraud, lawyers representing whistle-blowers have reaped multimillion-dollar rewards. Now, as they seek to sustain these historic payouts, they are serving as generous donors to the president’s re-election campaign."

Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
Washington Times: Politics stifles federal election agency
Based on Public Citizen analysis: "In the four years ending in 2007, the FEC held 2,600 votes on enforcement actions and deadlocked on 1 percent of them. But in the four years since that time, the agency has managed to bring only 760 suspected cases of wrongdoing to votes and has deadlocked on more than 13 percent."

NY Daily News: Quietly, Gov. Cuomo talked campaign finance reform at state capitol meeting
"Gov. Cuomo met quietly in his State Capitol office last Tuesday with several groups to discuss campaign finance reform."

Roll Call: Shining a light on political dark money
Nice column from Eliza Newlin Carney on dark money. "Still, there are several modest, practical steps that Congress could take to bring undisclosed campaign money into the open, and some even have bipartisan support."

Buzzfeed: Supreme Court denies appeal from anti-gay marriage group
"The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear an appeal brought by the National Organization for Marriage, keeping in place a lower court ruling that applies Maine's campaign finance laws to the group in its fight against allowing same-sex couples to marry in Maine"

Congress/2012
WSJ: Movie mogul's starring role in raising funds for Obama
Jeff Katzenberg's money has been helpful to Obama and, as the WSJ reports, "The relationship has also proven helpful to Mr. Katzenberg."

CNN: Romney campaign assures donors heading into final weeks
"Mitt Romney’s chief fund-raisers emailed campaign donors Monday assuring them that their contributions are being spent wisely - and aggressively – in the closing chapter of the presidential campaign."

Fox: Romney losing donors to GOP House, Senate races
I'm not sure I buy this--seems like maybe they've just maxed out: "The Romney campaign is experiencing what some officials believe could be the beginning of a mass exodus of big money donors diverting their cash away from the Republican presidential hopeful and toward Republican candidates for the House and Senate races more likely to win in November."

WaPo: Obama campaign claims 10 million donations
"The Obama campaign said Monday that it surpassed 10 million individual donations this year, the latest sign of an apparent surge in grassroots contributions for the president’s reelection campaign." More than he collected in all of 2008, the campaign says.

NaJo: Powell, Cantor's rival, strikes with another ad
Eric Cantor's opponent has a new ad. When a constitutent calls an actor who is supposed to be Cantor, he pulls a wad of cash out of his pocket instead of his cell phone. Goes on to say Big Oil, pharma, etc, is who Cantor works for. "Cantor clearly works for them, not us ...I will answer your calls, and it won't cost you a dime."

Washington Examiner: 9 in 10 super PAC dollars are Republican
"Election ad spending by superPACs, mostly Republican, has soared to unprecedented levels in key battleground states, some of which have seen an increase of over 200 percent since the 2008 presidential election, according to an authority on TV advertising."

Politico: Crossroads launches $16M ad buy
American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS is doing a huge one-week $16 million ad buy--$11 million on the presidential race and the rest on Senate races.

HuffPost: Karl Rove's New Crossroads GPS Ads Paint Democratic Candidates As Corrupt
And speaking of Crossroads: "The Bishop ad represents just one of several recent attempts by Crossroads GPS to paint Democratic candidates with the brush of corruption, an effort that strikes some observers as ironic." Ironic is one word.

The Nation: A recent history of GOP voter suppression in Florida
Ari Berman lays out Floriday's history of disenfranchising voters: "Republican voter suppression efforts in Florida have been far more destructive than simply handing in a few hundred fraudulent voter registration forms."

LA Times: House Democrat starts inquiry into GOP firm linked to bad voter forms
Oversight Ranking Member Elijah Cummings: "The top Democrat on a key House committee began an inquiry Monday into a GOP consulting firm under scrutiny for voter registration irregularities, seeking details about its relationship with the Republican National Committee."

Roll Call: Tracking lobbyists for other countries
Interesting: "One in every $8 spent lobbying Congress and federal agencies comes from foreign governments. "

Politico: Banks help GOP tie Dems to Wall Street
Fueled with millions in Wall Street money, the NRCC is going after Democrats for the Wall Street bailout.

Politico: Banks picking up donations to Scott Brown
"Wall Street never wanted to see Elizabeth Warren sworn into the Senate, and now it's flooding her opponent’s campaign coffers in the final stretch of one of the closest races in the country." Brown has received $3.3M from financial interests for his re-election.

Rocky Point Patch: House Speaker Boehner Coming to Smithtown for Altschuler Fundraiser
"Speaker of the House John Boehner will be coming to St. James to help raise money for Randy Altschuler as money continues to pour into the rematch between the Republican challenger and incumbent Democrat Tim Bishop."

NYT: California is latest stage for election battle over unions
"The battle to curb labor’s political clout has moved from Wisconsin to California, where wealthy conservatives are championing a ballot measure that would bar unions from donating to candidates. Labor leaders describe it as the starkest threat they have faced in a year of nationwide challenges to diminish their once-formidable power."

Miami Herald: Amid FBI probe, GOP prepares for Rivera indictment, loss and future successors
"Bracing for embattled U.S. Rep. David Rivera to be indicted or lose his election, Republicans have started lining up potential successors to regain the seat in 2014 if the congressman’s Democrat opponent defeats him in November."

CPI: Hospital PAC backs GOP House candidates
"The political action committee of the American Hospital Association reported spending $968,000 on ads supporting Republican incumbent representatives in Louisiana, Washington, New York and Pennsylvania, all of whom sit on committees that oversee health care issues. "

South Jersey Times: Gov. Christie going west for four-state GOP fundraising tour
"The Republican governor...will visit Washington State, North Dakota, Montana and Michigan during the four-day, nine-stop route. A fundraising event in Michigan for presidental candidate Mitt Romney is scheduled for Saturday."

TNR: Corporations Are People When They Donate to Campaigns—But Not When They Violate Human Rights?
Where will SCOTUS come down on a lawsuit involving torture, corporations, and foreign defendants? "That’s why, in the end, the Kiobel decision may have the effect of ensuring that corporations are treated like persons when they seek to influence elections but not when they aid and abet torture after all. "

Other/States
AZ Republic: County Attorney: AG Tom Horne broke law
"Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, the state's top law-enforcement official, deliberately broke campaign-finance laws during his 2010 bid for office by coordinating with an independent expenditure committee, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery concluded after a 14-month investigation."

WaPo: Americans for Prosperity puts big money on legislative races in Arkansas
AFP wants Republicans to take the Arkansas legislature and they are spending big money to do it.