Free Republic

Four years ago, candidate Barack Obama reshaped the presidential campaign by raising more money from donors who gave less than $200 than any candidate in history. But analysts say the 2012 campaign will be dominated by wealthy corporations, unions and individuals who can anonymously spend as much as they want in favor of a candidate - thanks to how the Supreme Court decided the Citizens United case two years ago today. The decision gave birth to a new type of political action committee, the super PAC. As thousands of Occupy Wall Street demonstrators in San Francisco and elsewhere protested the...

One of the biggest headlines of the Republican primary race so far – and the point Stephen Colbert is trying to make with his satirical campaign – is the story of SuperPACs. ....................................................... On the campaign trail, we asked McCain about the ads from the SuperPAC that supports Romney. He told us these SuperPACs will “destroy the political process,” and predicted “scandal” because of them.

Newt Gingrich has called on the Super-PAC funding a series of ads critical of Mitt Romney's job creation record at Bain Capital to fix inaccuracies in the ads or remove them from the air. “I am calling for the Winning Our Future Super-PAC supporting me to either edit its “King of Bain” advertisement and movie to remove its inaccuracies, or to pull it off the air and off the internet entirely," Gingrich said in a statement released Friday. “Furthermore, I am once again calling on Governor Romney to issue a similar call for the Super-PAC supporting him to edit or...

Nearly all negative spending by super PACs in the presidential campaign over the past week has gone toward opposing Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who trailed badly in polls leading up to today’s New Hampshire primary, according to a WSJ analysis of expenditures reported to the Federal Election Commission. In total, anti-Gingrich super PAC Restore Our Future disclosed $89,962 in expenditures opposing Mr. Gingrich’s candidacy since the Jan. 3 caucuses in Iowa, where he came in fourth. That’s 96% of all negative spending in the past week by super PACs, the newest and most controversial form of political action...

Des Moines, Iowa -- Mitt Romney won the Iowa caucus with the help of an ominous new trend in politics called the "Tony Soprano strategy": Let your unnamed friends pummel your enemies while you keep your hands clean. The Iowa race was a national showcase for the power of a relatively new type of political action committee, known as super PACs, independent groups that are allowed unlimited donations from corporations and individuals. Such groups are going to continue to reshape the Republican race this year because federal election rules don't require them to reveal their donors until Jan. 31 -...

A political action committee which had planned to support Michele Bachmann's presidential campaign has very quietly defected to Mitt Romney — and it's spending big on his behalf. Citizens for a Working America, the so-called Super PAC which aired TV ads against a Democratic congressional candidate last year, had indicated earlier this year that it was backing the Minnesota congresswoman in the GOP nominating contest. But the group instead made a $475,000 Iowa ad buy on Christmas Eve in support of Romney, according to Federal Election Commission data published today. The so-called independent expenditure was listed as supporting Romney's candidacy,...

"The Republican meets with business contacts and conservative Christian groups, seeking ground troops and donations for his surging presidential bid." Newt Gingrich and his circle of supporters have launched a new plan to provide his reenergized presidential bid with two things it desperately needs: money and organization. The effort relies in part on the network of donors and business contacts that Gingrich has cultivated since leaving the House in 1999, and on his unlikely alliance with Christian conservatives. It also hinges on new campaign finance rules that allow donations of unlimited size to independent groups backing candidates. The campaign has...

Mr. Cain raised more than $5 million through September. Information on the financial activity since that time won’t be disclosed until January, but the campaign said it raised $9 million over a few weeks alone. The funds allowed Mr. Cain and associates to dine and travel in style, using $350,000 on private chartered air in a few weeks, spending thousands at hotels such as the Ritz-Carlton and the Four Seasons, and eating largely steak dinners, records show. One of the campaign’s top recipients was T.H.E New Voice, a company set up to sell Mr. Cain’s books and motivational talks, which...

A super PAC supporting former House Speaker Newt Gingrich launched during the CNBC presidential debate Wednesday night, “to support Newt Gingrich’s comeback run for president.” The super PAC, called Solutions 2012, was formed to support Gingrich’s campaign by providing the resources and manpower that the campaign currently lacks. After most of his campaign staff quit this summer, Gingrich has been running a pared down campaign, both in terms of people and resources. His campaign brought in only $800,000 in the third quarter, and he had only $353,416 in the bank at the end of that quarter.

All this week, the Cain campaign and his supporters have linked his travails to Clarence Thomas’ experience at the Senate confirmation hearings twenty years ago; now a Cain super-PAC is making it official with their new web-only spot, “High-Tech Lynching.” The name comes directly from now-Justice Thomas’ rebuttal to sexual harassment allegations that popped up out of nowhere when Anita Hill testified in the Senate. Conservative outrage has not dimmed from that Howard Metzenbaum-sponsored spectacle, and the super-PAC clearly wants to channel it to his defense now: CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO There are a couple of differences between...

A collection of former high-ranking Republicans will launch a group that will raise and spend unlimited amounts of money in a bid to retain the party’s majority in the House, they announced Thursday. The formation of the Congressional Leadership Fund solidifies the movement of the new type of loosely regulated committee from outside operators to establishment tools. A former director of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), Brian O. Walsh, will head the group, which will be chaired by former Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota. It will be organized as an independent expenditure committee, or “super-PAC,” meaning it may run...

The new super PAC backing Rick Perry has drawn up plans to spend $55 million as part of an ambitious campaign strategy aimed at blowing away the Texas governor's rivals in early primary states and securing him the Republican nomination by next spring, according to internal committee documents obtained by NBC News. The documents underscore the central role that such super PACs — or super political action committees unconstrained by any limits on how much they can collect from wealthy donors and corporations — will play in the 2012 presidential election. They also show that the strategists behind the new...

Rick Perry's campaign just responded to the attack ad that a pro-Michele Bachmann super PAC unveiled last night, which it is airing in South Carolina, and which hits him on his spending record as Texas governor: “Gov. Perry is a proven fiscal conservative, having cut taxes, signed six balanced budgets, and led Texas to become America’s top job-creating state,” said Ray Sullivan, RickPerry.org’s communications director. “Congresswoman Bachmann’s front-group ad is patently and provably false. Unlike Washington, the Texas budget is balanced, does not run deficits and limits spending, even as Texas added jobs and population in big numbers.”

[Madison, Wisc…] The controversial MegaPAC We Are Wisconsin failed to disclose more than a hundred thousand dollars in late expenditures on time, as required by state law, the MacIver News Service has learned. In their most recent filing with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, We Are Wisconsin listed $105,255.62 worth of disbursements which should have been disclosed 24 hours after they were made, which in some cases was several weeks ago. The ‘Special Report of Late Independent Expenditure’ report filed with the GAB by We Are Wisconsin includes 21 disbursements for printing and postage for mailers in several recent state...

WASHINGTON -- The AFL-CIO hopes to boost its clout by launching a new political action committee that could raise unlimited amounts of money, part of the federation's goal of building a year-round political organizing structure. Forming a so-called "super labor PAC" would allow the labor federation to raise money from sympathetic donors both inside and outside union membership and mobilize support beyond its traditional base, instead of ramping up political activities each election cycle. The move would also help steer more of labor's money to state legislative battles, where unions have been battling efforts to curb union rights in states...

Report: PAC for Mitt Romney lands dubious $1M(SuperPAC shifts $, then folds) ... Romney’s campaign could face sharp questions after an independent political committee supporting him accepted a whopping $1 million from a company that vanished into thin air.... The mysterious company, W Spann LLC, was created by a lawyer at the Boston firm Ropes & Gray and then folded shortly after the donation was made, The PAC raised $12.2 million during the first six months of 2011 W Spann LLC was incorporated in Delaware in March and made a $1 million contribution to Restore Our Future on April 28...

After being trounced in 2010, Democrats, special interest groups, and liberal billionaires have begun assembling assets to rebound in 2012. The "House Majority PAC", a Democrat Super PAC, reported this week to have raised $800,000 in the two months from its inception to June 13, including the time leading up to May’s NY-26 special election where Democrat Kathy Hochul defeated Republican Jane Corwin. House Majority PAC attack ads in the final weeks prior to the election have been speculated to have had a key role in Hochul’s victory. Politico has reported that $325,000 of the $800,000 amassed by the House...

Dear Fellow American: Over the last couple of years, America has been bruised and battered. Our $13.5 trillion federal deficit has pushed our nation to the verge of bankruptcy. Obamacare has threatened our right to live a long and healthy life. And the end of the Bush tax cuts, combined with drastic federal and state tax hikes, have put your wealth and retirement savings at risk. Barack Obama's liberal agenda and "Big Government" initiatives are directly attacking the freedom, safety, and prosperity of every American. But now is not the time to give up. Now is the time to stand...