Posted on 09/07/2010 8:38:39 AM PDT by Syncro
Outside organizations have shelled out twice as much on ads and other electioneering activities to affect Congressional races so far during the 2010 election cycle as they did two years ago.
Unions, political parties and advocacy groups have spent more than $34.2 million on independent expenditures so far during this election, compared with less than $16.2 million at this time in the 2008 election, according to a CQ MoneyLine study of Federal Election Commission reports.
“It’s staggering amounts of money,” said David Vance, spokesman for the Campaign Legal Center. “People have made big promises to spend, but so far they are keeping pace with those big promises.”
Through the third week of August, these organizations doled out more than $18 million on independent expenditures for and against Senate candidates, which is 10 times more than the amount spent on Senate races during the same period two years ago.
The race that attracted the most money was the May 18 Democratic Senate primary in Arkansas, in which incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln defeated Lt. Gov. Bill Halter. More than 82 percent of the nearly $9.5 million spent on independent expenditures favored Halter. But he only received 48 percent of the vote, giving Lincoln the victory.
Independent expenditure spending does not always determine the winner of a Congressional race, but this spending can supplement a campaign enough to tip the scales in some races.
The whole article can be read at This Link.Outside funding helped tea party favorite Joe Miller unseat Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski . Even though Miller was outspent 7-to-1 by Murkowski’s campaign, outside groups spent 94 percent of their $565,000 to help him pull out a narrow victory for the Republican Senate nomination.
“When we get involved, we could make a difference between winning and loosing,” said Sal Russo, chief strategist for the Tea Party Express, which was the source of nearly all of Miller’s outside money.
This election cycle, the Tea Party Express, through its Our Country Deserves Better political action committee, has come out of nowhere to become the fourth-largest source of independent expenditures with $2.7 million.
“Whether it is Sharron Angle in Nevada, Joe Miller or getting Bart Stupak to quit in Michigan,” Russo said, “I think those are all places where we have made the difference.”
Other Senate contests leading in independent expenditures so far during the 2010 election cycle include:
• Massachusetts, where more than two-thirds of the $2.7 million spent favored Democrat Martha Coakley, but she lost to Republican Scott P. Brown in January;
• Nevada, where virtually all of the $1.7 million spent has supported Republican candidate Sharron Angle or gone against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid ;
• Missouri, where 90 percent of the $1 million spent favored Democrat Robin Carnahan, who is running against Rep. Roy Blunt during the fall.
That’s where their confidence comes from, money. They figure they can buy their way into slim majorities in Nov.
Some of the organizations spending the most on independent expenditures so far during the 2010 election cycle are the Service Employees International Union, with more than $6.4 million, and the AFL-CIO, with nearly $3.7 million.
the Citizens United case freed up both unions AND corporations to spend whatever they like to get out their message. This article covers only the union side. I think we are going to see a lot of people out there who fear the end of capitalism putting out even more messages for our side.
I do think though that the Dems are going to bend over and slam Card Check down our throats in a lame duck. I am sure this is the price that the unions demanded for their support.
Unfortunately it’s almost impossible to win an elected office these days without (usually) a large amount of money.
Obama just gave (or is trying to give) 50 Billion more to the unions to insure he has sufficiently bought their votes.
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