* The Sunlight Foundation is performing an excellent public service by totaling up all the reported outside spending on federal campaigns this season. For instance, here are the totals for the US Senate contest…
Alexander Giannoulias:
* Independent expenditures in support: $19,014.00
* Independent expenditures in opposition: $3,647,156.10
Mark Kirk:
* Independent expenditures in support: $147,628.76
* Independent expenditures in opposition: $1,845,565.00
Total outside spending in race: $5,659,363.86
Karl Rove’s groups have spent over $3.3 million on this campaign so far, making him the biggest outside spender, with more on the way. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee came in second at just under $1.8 million. Go here for the full list.
* Illinois 10th Congressional District…
Robert Dold:
* Independent expenditures in support: $0
* Independent expenditures in opposition: $468,519.91
Dan Seals:
* Independent expenditures in support: $168.75
* Independent expenditures in opposition: $260,386.31
* Electioneering communications: $100,000.00
Total outside spending in race: $829,074.97
The US Chamber spent $100,000 on a TV ad. The DCCC has spent over $300K on Seals.
* Illinois 11th…
Deborah Halvorson:
* Independent expenditures in support: $139.00
* Independent expenditures in opposition: $310,295.16
* Electioneering communications: $300,000.00
Adam Kinzinger:
* Independent expenditures in support: $3,747.69
* Independent expenditures in opposition: $139.00
Total outside spending in race: $614,320.85
The US Chamber spent $300,000 on a TV ad there. American Future Fund and the NRCC were the other big spenders against Halvorson.
* Illinois 14th…
Bill Foster:
* Independent expenditures in support: $797,030.00
* Independent expenditures in opposition: $425,330.43
* Electioneering communications: $3,480.00
Randy Hultgren:
* Independent expenditures in support: $4,620.31
* Independent expenditures in opposition: $502,829.62
Total outside spending in race: $1,733,290.36
The National Association of Realtors has dropped $765K to help Congressman Foster, including $100K for Internet ads. America’s Families First Action Fund has spent almost $200K against the Republican Hultgren.
* Illinois 17th…
Phil Hare:
* Independent expenditures in support: $12,546.00
* Independent expenditures in opposition: $187,704.61
Bobby Schilling:
* Independent expenditures in support: $5,530.19
* Independent expenditures in opposition: $583,312.65
Total outside spending in race: $789,093.45
The DCCC has dropped $558K so far on media, while the NRCC has spent $188K on Schilling.
* Meanwhile, Sen. Dick Durbin has asked the IRS to investigate Rove’s non-profit group that’s dumping gigantic dollars into races throughout the country…
Durbin wants an investigation into Crossroads GPS, a conservative group that enjoys tax-exempt status. By law, the group’s activities aren’t supposed to be primarily political.
But Durbin says ads like this one, against Democratic senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias, sure do sound political.
AD: …Illinois can’t afford any more Alexi.
Durbin says his problem is that Crossroads isn’t required to disclose its donors because it’s a nonprofit.
DURBIN: If you want to be treated as a charity, you can’t be a political organization.
* Rove, for his part, is gearing up to jump into some congressional races…
The conservative group American Crossroads, which has been singled out for criticism by President Obama and other Democrats, said Wednesday that it has shattered its fundraising goals in the face of such attacks and will now expand its efforts into House races as a result.
American Crossroads and its nonprofit affiliate, Crossroads GPS, will join two other Republican-friendly groups in a “House surge strategy,” spending up to $50 million in competitive districts over the next three weeks, officials said. The Crossroads groups will also expand their spending in Senate races. […]
Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio said conservative outrage over the Democratic attacks helped the Crossroads group raise more than $13 million in the past week, shattering the group’s $52 million fundraising goal for the cycle. The two affiliates now expect to raise $65 million by Nov. 2. [Emphasis added.]
* The DCCC is trying to keep up…
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee dropped nearly $6.6 million in new independent expenditures this week, according to reports filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission, as the party faces an expanding landscape of vulnerable incumbents.
In the Mid-Atlantic region, the Midwest and the Southwest, the DCCC spent to help incumbents who increasingly appear to be in jeopardy. The committee has now spent just less than $19 million toward the $52 million strategists expect to dole out before Election Day.
* As is organized labor…
But labor groups are trailing their big Republican counterparts in terms of overall ad spending: the SEIU has spent a total of $6.3 million on ad buys and the American Federation for State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has spent $7.1 million so far. By comparison, the Chamber has spent $20 million, and American Crossroads has dropped $13.5 million—and that’s only what’s been reported so far, before the blizzard of spending that accompanies the final weeks of any election.
The unions are having a change of heart on reform, now that they find themselves getting swamped…
The AFL-CIO originally supported the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, as the ruling lifted spending restrictions for both corporations and labor unions, and was wary about supporting campaign finance legislation that would require greater donor disclosure.
But having watched the ascendancy of outside GOP goliaths like American Crossroads, labor’s holdouts seemed to have changed their tune: AFL-CIO Richard Trumka said this week that he would unabashedly support greater disclosure requirements.
* All that Rove cash doesn’t seem to be working too well against Alexi Giannoulias, however. FiveThirtyEight gave Republican Mark Kirk a 56 percent chance of winning the US Senate race last week. It now gives Giannoulias a 53 percent shot, but the site’s model has this contest extremely close…
* Related…
* Hultgren explains budget role, unpopular votes
* Schilling ad blames Hare for job losses
* Flip-flop website: The flip-flop website also points to a TV interview in which Schilling called a bill that in part funds the salaries of hundreds of teachers in the 17th Congressional District “one of the more appropriate spending bills that we can have.” The site contrasts that statement with Schilling’s later opposition to the same bill, reported on a GOP website.
* From Pizza Parlor to Power Player - Republican Bobby Schilling Is an Unlikely Candidate for Congress
* Gaulrapp vs. Manzullo Debate
* First lady campaigns for ‘handsome young man’ Giannoulias
* Michelle Obama: Giannoulias ‘will be a phenomenal senator’: At her second event of the night, Obama stood on the stage with Democratic Representatives Debbie Halvorson and Bill Foster and Dan Seals, who is hoping to replace Rep. Mark Kirk in the North Shore’s 10th district. Her husband needs all their votes, she said.
- Louis G. Atsaves - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 6:36 am:
Typo somewhere in the Kinzinger numbers? They don’t seem to add up.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 6:50 am:
I love the name “Crossroads” for Rove’s groups. My guess is it reflects the deal he made that is the secret to his success.
- bored now - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 6:51 am:
michelle is right, alexi “will be a phenomenal senator.”
- The CARDINAL - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 7:59 am:
HOW WOULD THE FIRST LADY KNOW WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A PHENOMENAL SENATOR?
- Bill - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 8:26 am:
She was married to one.
- todd - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 8:50 am:
Durbin is trying to be a bully again. He should know that there are many not for profit standings in the IRS code. Unions are NFP, most organizations are 501(c)(4) like the NRA are not for profit. that doesn’t make them 501(c)(3) charitable organizations where you can deduct it from your taxes. Look at how many fundraising requests have the tag line at the bottom of not deductible for tax purposes on them.
He’s dissengenious and looks like he’s lying about the issue.
- Amalia - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 8:50 am:
“handsome young man….” jeez michelle.
- dave - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 9:21 am:
**He’s dissengenious and looks like he’s lying about the issue. **
Wrong… Crossroads GPS’sstatus gives them the ability to raise money from undisclosed donors. They are a 501(c)4, which means that they cannot be primarily engaged in political campaigns. There is absolutely no question that they ARE primarily engaged in political campaigns.
- dave - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 9:23 am:
By the way… here is a good summary of the Crossroads/IRS issue:
http://tinyurl.com/2wblgf8
- BIG R.PH. - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 9:29 am:
Funny, when Soros bought the Presidency for the Obummer through Moveon.org you didn’t hear any whining from Durbin.
- shore - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 9:43 am:
Things learned-
someone spent 2 bucks on proofreading for alexi, the dccc is outspending the nrcc on the dold race and the nrcc did a survey on the seals race and didnt release it. hmm.
- dave - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 9:48 am:
Funny, when Soros bought the Presidency for the Obummer through Moveon.org you didn’t hear any whining from Durbin.
MoveOn.org’s political spending for Obama was out of their PAC, which was required to disclose their donors.
Good try though.
- Wumpus - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 9:52 am:
Bill, even in your insanity you cannto give Obama credit for being a great senator. He was senator for 1 year or so, before he announced his run fro President.
- ZC - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 9:59 am:
Ditto Dave: a 501c4 can engage in political activities and campaign events so long as this is not their primary intent. An example would be the NRA, which is manifestly active in campaigns and elections, but also has a distinct non-campaigning presence.
Crossroads GPS -looks- like a violation of federal election law. As best we can establish, it has no purpose other than to provide an anonymous place for wealthy donors to park money, to help the GOP take back Congress.
This has nothing to do with unions or the definitions of a 501c3 group or tax deductible contributions. It’s whether you can set up a 501c4 solely to win elections, for the purpose of keeping all your donors anonymous.
The only thing I can think of in defense of Rove, is that after _Citizens United_ and the FEC’s pattern of enforcement, the rules may be so swiss-cheesed that the de jure position really is, anything goes. But if the FEC doesn’t give a stiff post-election fine to Crossroads GPS over this, it’s Katy Bar the Door for 2012.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 10:06 am:
Soros came up with the $750 million Obama raised? Big hitter.
Actually, Move.on org had a little less than $5 million in independent expenditures for Obama, according to opensecrets.org. Lobbyists, lawyers, teachers, securities professional and business interests gave a lot.
I’m sure Soros would love to take the credit, though.
- The Captain - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 10:09 am:
They’re spending millions of corporate special interest money against Alexi and he’s still up in the polls. That guy is a fighter.
- Anon:10-14 - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 10:14 am:
Hey where is the link on the Shock-Newt funder?
Oh we forgot PJS media put a black out on it cause he sold under 150 tickets
Never mind.
- QRBNST - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 10:15 am:
There’s a slight flaw with the Sunlight Foundation’s detailing of outside spending and it is the “Electioneering Communications” category.
EC does not detail whether the electioneering was in opposition or support of the identified candidate, which I think is an important distinction when trying to gauge the weight of outside spending.
- Ghost - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 10:18 am:
This is an example of why contribution limits to campaigns are a bad idea.
Outside grps are not limited, so you could handicapp and individual canidate ability to defend themselves in an election from an outside partisan grp.
- The truth - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 10:20 am:
Hey Rich… What does fivethirtyeight say about Quinn-Brady?
- Ghost - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 10:23 am:
I must admit I wasway off base with how I though the kirk/alexi race would go. I though Kirk would have a 15-20 point lead at worst.
But I also think the mob banker, and bankrupt bank angle is dead on arrival and Kirk needs to focus on other avenues of attack. Brite Start canbe traced/tied to his actual job in office, he needs to do more like that.
- Jechislo - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 10:42 am:
FiveThirtyEight has projected the chances of Brady winning at 79.6% to 20.4%. It projects Brady winning by a 4.5% margin. Brady is going to be our next Governor - hallelujah.
- Bill - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 10:44 am:
Wump,
You have no idea what can happen in my insanity.
Besides it only took Barack a few days in office before it was obvious that that he was the best of the 100. That is why he’s President today.
- The truth - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 10:53 am:
If Chicago turns out heavy then Quinn will win.
- Tukas - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 10:55 am:
Phenomenal = Already pocketed and soon to be the ‘czar’ of something.
- Jechislo - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 11:02 am:
And, the latest Rasmussen survey has Brady at 46%, Quinn at 40%, Cohen at 4%, Whitney at 2% with 5% preferring some other candidate - 3% are undecided. I don’t think Chicago is that excited about either Quinn or Giannoulias. Brady is going to win his race.
- Liandro - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 11:17 am:
So the unions mostly supported it until they realized it might not give them an advantage, whereupon they turned against it? Very principled, lol. The me-first principle, of course.
This spending doesn’t affect my vote, and money gets into elections one way or another every cycle. That’s the thing about challenging an incumbent…you’re generally going to get outspent. The answer (such as it is) is an engaged electorate…and we can’t legislate our way into that. Don’t get me wrong, I recognize money has out-sized influence, but I blame that on the citizens. That’s one of the reasons I like the Tea Party people–even on the issues I disagree with them on, they’re fighting for principles. They’re might just end this election cycle having thrown out more sitting Repubs then the Dem’s will…
- Team Sleep - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 11:46 am:
This is not a middle of the road issue. Either outside money should be allowed or it shouldn’t be allowed. It’s not that hard. The GOP whined in 2006 and 2008 when outside groups worked for Dems, and now the Dems are whining about outside groups working on behalf of the GOP. Neither side can have it both ways. This is another reason why politics is really starting to sour on me - especially at the D.C. level. D.C. has more crybabies and screaming banshees than any other place on the planet.
- DoubleDown - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 12:16 pm:
The truth - Thursday, Oct 14, 10 @ 10:53 am:
“If Chicago turns out heavy then Quinn will win.”
Did I read correctly here someone stated Chicago is only now 20% of the total vote total in Illinois