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* The race between Democrat Cheri Bustos and Republican Bobby Schilling generated some major spending in the campaign’s final three weeks…
An eye-popping $4 million was pumped into Illinois’ 17th District congressional race in its final 20 days, according to an analysis of finance reports, bringing the total cost of the campaign to $13.9 million, by far a record for the Quad-City area. […]
In reports that covered the last three weeks of the campaign, Bustos and Schilling spent more than $1.2 million between them. But that paled in comparison to the $2.8 million that their political parties and outside groups poured into the race’s final days.
The bulk of the late outside spending came from the political arms of the House’s two parties, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and National Republican Congressional Committee, as well as the Karl Rove-founded Crossroads GPS advocacy group. The DCCC spent nearly $928,000 in the last three weeks, while the NRCC spent about $718,000. Crossroads spent $518,000.
Bustos, meanwhile, outspent Schilling in the last three weeks, the reports said. She spent $673,823, while Schilling doled out $559,336.
Discuss.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Dec 10, 12 @ 9:36 am
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I was surprised by the final vote count. Yes, the map had been drawn for Bustos. However, Schilling has this odd charm that got him out of a couple jams (denying Amtrak funds and voting for the Ryan budget to name a couple.) Forever the pestimist, I thought he may pull it out. But to spend all that money and lose by 18,000 votes is not a good showing at all.
To Super PACs in general. I hope this next Congress can come together on campaign finance reform. The worst decision made by the Robert’s court has been Citizens United. Corporations are not people. Having a handful of millionaires bankrolling a candidate is not wise, when we are looking to root out corruption. Publicly financed elections may never happen, but we need a better system in place. On the plus side, it is nice to see the money coming from CrossRoads didn’t really work. Rove scored only one victory and spent about a billion dollars.
Comment by I wonder... Monday, Dec 10, 12 @ 10:07 am
Only 13 House GOP incumbents across the country were defeated last month. Four were in Illinois. One GOP seat was held by a whisker.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Dec 10, 12 @ 10:50 am
Dave Wasserman from the cook political report posted the congressional results along with the presidential results and I think if you have time they’re worth more than a few looks and a lot of discussion. What struck me about them was that the walsh and dold races turned out be much closer than the biggert and plummer races which the media had portrayed as closer than the 2 northern illinois races. There’s a lot of good stuff and the kid worked hard to put it together.
Comment by shore Monday, Dec 10, 12 @ 11:12 am
Republican supporters spent a boatload of dollars on TV and radio ads. Voters under 30 rarely watch network TV and almost never listen to radio stations.
Democrats spend money on organizing voter registration drives and “get out the vote on Election Day” efforts.
Small wonder the Democrats did better in recent elections. And that major Republican donors are furious with Karl Rove and with Dick Armey.
Comment by Capitol View Monday, Dec 10, 12 @ 1:14 pm