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Karl Rove was instrumental in helping Republican groups raise millions in unlimited contributions last year. Democrats are scrambling to counter. In this photo, Rove speaks to the Virginia Chamber of Commerce last December. Steve Helber/The Associated Press Small donors vs. big money in 2012 By Alexis Simendinger March 15, 2011 New Dem group aims for […]

Six things you didn’t know about Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker By Corbin Hiar January 10, 2012 Americans for Prosperity, a nonprofit funded in part by the conservative billionaire Koch brothers, has launched a 30-second television advertisement in Wisconsin that asks, “Who decides Wisconsin’s future: Voters or government unions?” Charles G. and David H. Koch are […]

As outside spending to influence elections soared in 2010, the federal agency charged with enforcing election laws handed out some of the smallest penalties in its three-decade history. The Federal Election Commission levied less than $1 million in fines this year to election scofflaws, a far cry from the $6.7 million in civil penalties in […]

The story of this election is the role of outside money. Undisclosed donations have provided millions of dollars for independent expenditures — much of it in television advertising — being run by trade associations and political non-profit groups. But while the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision largely frees corporations to […]

Four Republican-allied groups are targeting between 50 and 60 House races in a new coordinated round of hard-hitting television ads. The groups collaborating to spend an estimated $50 million on House races in the last weeks before election day are American Crossroads and its affiliate, Crossroads GPS; the American Action Network; and the Commission on […]

The current political environment looks bleak for any congressional action soon on disclosure requirements to narrow the Citizens United ruling, efforts for more public financing of elections, and a fix for the out-of-date presidential public finance system. That was the general consensus among speakers at a conference held this week by non-profit group Common Cause […]

Another big name GOP veteran in Washington, lobbyist and operative Scott Reed, is jumping into the crowded field of independent groups raising tens of millions of dollars to help Republican congressional candidates win on Election Day. Reed told the Center that he’s raised about half of the $25 million he’s hoping to spend to influence […]

The American Future Fund, which aims to almost triple its issue advertisement spending for this year’s election, launched a hard-hitting television ad today using the proposed Islamic mosque in New York City to attack Iowa GOP candidate Ben Lange’s Democratic opponent. After spending about $8 million in 2008 on issue ads in several states, the […]

To jumpstart fundraising, the pro-Republican American Crossroads 527 group is reaching out to powerful politicos such as ex-Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas and aggressively using a new money-collecting entity that can give donors more privacy. Lackluster fundraising in April and May pulled in only a total of roughly $1.25 million, prompting American Crossroads to recently […]

Led by actors dressed as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross, two good-government groups today sought to draw attention to legislation that would grant public funding to candidates who promise to accept only small donations from supporters. Members of Public Campaign and of Common Cause assembled the actors dressed in colonial garb […]

New legislation to address a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing unlimited campaign advertising by corporations and labor unions includes an unexpected carrot to attract support from Republicans. A provision in the bill would change the law to allow political parties to spend unlimited amounts of their own funds in support of their party’s candidates and […]

Standing in a medical exam room, a neurosurgeon in a white lab coat stares solemnly into the camera and warns that President Obama’s health care plan “will hurt our seniors” and “end Medicare as we know it.” Two networks, NBC and ABC, declined to run the 30-second ad, but it has probably reached millions of […]