Numbers that should disturb fans of democracy (with apologies to Churchill)

By Richard K. Barry

Mother Jones published a story recently about a study by the liberal think tank Demos and the non-partisan U.S. Public Interest Research Group detailing just how few deep-pocketed individuals are donating to Super PACs.

Among their findings is this gem, followed by a lovely little pie chart.

Forty-seven individuals have given $1 million or more to super-PACs in the 2012 cycle. That's a group small enough to fit on a Greyhound bus (not that they'd consider coach), and they've ponied up well over half of the $230 million pocketed by super-PACs.

The Supreme Court may have decided that money is speech, but that doesn't change the fact that never in the course of human events have so few given so much to influence so many. Shouldn't that frighten us? 

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

The inevitable stench of third-party money

By Richard K. Barry 

Thank you. Thank you soooooo much.

Certain themes in the presidential election campaign are going to come up again and again. Third-party money is one of them. Since the Citizens United Supreme Court case, it's basically okay for outside groups to plow as much money into campaigns as they can.

It's obvious at this point that conservatives / Republicans are going to be a lot better at this than liberals / Democrats. But these are the rules. Democrats are going to have to try to keep up, but it will be hard.

We hear now that American Crossroads, Karl Rove's super PAC, will be spending $25 million on an ad campaign this month to match what the Obama campaign has already announced.

As The Washington Post notes, the Crossroads ad buy "confirms the major role [the organization] will play in the general election," which is to step in and do what the Romney campaign can't do from time to time. In this case it will step in as Romney's campaign attempts to recover from the costly nomination race. Campaigns and super PACs aren't supposed to coordinate their efforts, but how can they not?

Conservatives like to imply that spending money in campaigns, maybe massive amounts of it, is just another way of exercising freedom. But, with this much money floating around, something has to start smelling sooner or later. Probably sooner.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

American Crossroads - buying votes across America

By Richard K. Barry


In another news item to warm your heart, Crossroads GPS is, according to the National Journal, about to launch a $1.2 million ad campaign against five Democratic Senate candidates on Tuesday.

The Wiki entry on this, describes the group as follows:

Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies (Crossroads GPS) is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation that works in conjunction with American Crossroads. As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, Crossroads GPS's primary purpose is the advancement of social welfare including public policy advocacy, although it is permitted to engage in political spending as well. Crossroads GPS is required to report what it spends, but it is not required to publicly disclose any donor information.

You need a lawyer just to make sense of any of it.

All you really need to know is that Karl Rove is an adviser to the group and this:

Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court's January 2010 Citizen's United decision, groups like American Crossroads can legally advocate for or against political candidates without restrictions on the amount of money they can raise from individuals and corporations.

About the campaign, the National Journal story states:

The ads are targeted against Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., former Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, and former North Dakota Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp.

Including this buy, the group's non-profit arm has spent $8.3 million on issue ads against Senate Democratic candidates so far this cycle, dating back to the summer of 2011. This is the sixth multi-state Senate buy that Crossroads GPS has launched; they've also hit individual senators, like McCaskill, in separate spots over the last year.

And the best news is that:

Both American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS are cash-flush heading into the 2012 elections, and are preparing to spend significant money in key battleground states, having raised over $100 million so far this election cycle.

No great surprise, but the ads will attack these Democrats on their record of "spending and taxes." Can't wait to see what kinds of lies Rove and his cronies will roll out.


(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)