Super Committee

Senators Push For More Transparency For Super Committee

Susan Crabtree | September 8, 2011, 12:46PM

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)

Republican Sens. Dean Heller (NV) and David Vitter (LA) are trying to shed some sunlight on all of the deficit super committee's activities -- including fundraising.

Even before the first super committee's Thursday morning meeting began, which was open to the public and aired on C-SPAN, Heller introduced legislation to make all of the panel's meetings, even the most informal, open to the public. Vitter introduced a companion bill that would require super committee members to disclose all campaign contributions within 48 hours of receiving them.

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2012

Michele Bachmann Gets Another Super PAC

Benjy Sarlin | August 17, 2011, 3:28PM

Michele Bachmann

It's getting hard to keep track of all the unlimited money groups forming to support various presidential candidates. Rick Perry already has multiple competing ones. Now Michele Bachmann is getting a second one.

The group, Citizens for a Working America, will be chaired by Ken Blackwell, who held office as Ohio's Secretary of State and ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor. Bachmann adviser Ed Brookover will also be on board, according to The Fix, who first broke the news.

CWA joins another recently formed pro-Bachmann group, Keep Conservatives United, that's already announced plans to take on Perry directly.

Bachmann is one of three candidates with Super PAC support. In addition to Perry's trio, Romney supporters have already raised over $12 million through Restore Our Future.

2012

Michele Bachmann Gets A Super PAC

Benjy Sarlin | August 11, 2011, 1:30PM

Michele Bachmann

Supporters of Michele Bachmann are launching an independent Super PAC to help elect her president, making her the third Republican candidate with the backing of an organization that can accept unlimited donations.

Founder Bob Harris told CNN on Thursday that the new organization Keep Conservatives United will run ads in Iowa playing up Bachmann's record in Congress while also lobbing attacks at Rick Perry, who is expected to enter the race soon.

"Bachmann has the guts to fight the Washington establishment and Rick Perry is just a spoiler," Harris told CNN. "I think his record is not what people think it is."

Super PACs are not allowed to coordinate with the candidates, but can accept unlimited donations, including from corporations. Mitt Romney supporters have raised over $12 million so far for the Super PAC Restore Our Future, which made headlines this month after one donor, former Bain Capital executive Ed Conard, contributed $1 million indirectly through a mysterious corporation that closed within months. Perry backers have already launched multiple competing Super PACs that are currently battling for his supporters' favor.

Campaign Finance

Watchdogs Demand Investigation Into 'Brazen' $1 Million Pro-Romney Donation

Benjy Sarlin | August 4, 2011, 3:08PM

Mitt Romney Holds Campaign Event In Front Of Valley Plaza Mall in Los Angeles, July 20, 2011

Watchdog groups are demanding that state and federal officials investigate a $1 million donation from a mysterious firm to an independent political group backing Mitt Romney's campaign in order to determine whether it violates federal campaign laws.

In a letter to Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, the Public Campaign Action Fund claims that the giant contribution to Super PAC "Restore Our Future" from the firm W Spann LLC is out of bounds. As first reported by NBC's Michale Isikoff, records show the firm was incorporated in the state in March and then dissolved in July with little apparent activity besides its donation and virtually no publicly available information on its owners.

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Campaign Finance

Mysterious Firm Gives $1 Million To Pro-Romney Group, Closes Shop

Benjy Sarlin | August 4, 2011, 9:54AM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney (MA)

A firm with no apparent purpose or even clear address donated $1 million to Restore Our Future, a Super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, before closing up shop.

The cash and its mysterious origins, first reported on by NBC's Michael Isikoff, raise significant questions about the limits of campaign money in the post-Citizens United era. Super PACs, which can accept unlimited corporate donations to run independent political ads, are required to disclose their donors. But the firm, W Spann LLC, which was formed in Delaware in March by a Boston lawyer and dissolved in July, is a private company and can thus conceal details of its backers and agenda.

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Reince Priebus

RNC Accuses President Obama ... Of Fundraising

Benjy Sarlin | August 3, 2011, 12:05PM

President Barack Obama

RNC chair Reince Priebus is raining on President Obama's 50th birthday fundraiser in Chicago, saying the president is too focused on campaigning.

"I suppose the White House thinks he should stick to the job he really likes, raising money from fat cat donors, while the rest of America struggles with trying to make ends meet," Priebus said in a call with reporters on Wednesday.

The messenger for the attack was a bit odd given that the RNC's primary duty is fundraising for Republican campaigns. In Priebus' case, he campaigned for the job specifically based on his ability to reel in big-money donors that had left during Michael Steele's tenure. "We will work to regain the confidence of our donor base and I will personally call our major donors to ask them to rejoin our efforts at the RNC," he wrote in a letter to committee members last year.

Priebus was asked by a reporter on Wednesday's call why Obama's fundraising crossed the line.

"I think it's another case of this president's rhetoric not matching his deeds," Priebus replied. "He's tried all week to try this spin that now the White House is pivoting to jobs, which they've tried many times before, and the first job Obama is interested in saving is his own."

Mitt Romney

Romney Collects $500K From Lobbyist-Bundlers

Susan Crabtree | July 15, 2011, 5:51PM

Former Gov. of Massachusetts Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney, the frontrunner in the GOP presidential primary, has released the names of his top money men -- six lobbyists who have helped him raise a combined half a million dollars or $517,450 to be exact.

The sum is only a fraction of the $18 million Romney raked in during the April-to-June fundraising period, which outgunned his closest Republican rival so far, Tim Pawlenty, by a 9-to-1 margin. The list of six names provides a little sunlight about his political allies.

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Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann Raises $4.2 Million, Scores Max Donation From Koch PAC

Benjy Sarlin | July 15, 2011, 5:06PM

Michele Bachmann's TV Ad "Waterloo"

Michele Bachman raised $4.2 million for her presidential bid over the last quarter, FEC filings show.

However, the numbers are partly carried over from her Congressional war chest: she transferred about $2 million. Bachmann, who is already on the air in Iowa, has been burning through her cash at a pretty quick rate as well, spending about $2.44 million. According to her campaign, she now has $3.6 million cash on hand.

Among the donors offering the maximum contribution: Koch Industries' Political Action Committee, who pledged $5,000 to her campaign. Koch PAC has also donated to Bachmann's own political action committee as well as her Congressional campaign.

Most contributions were small, however: according to the campaign, the average donor gave $48.00.

Fundraising

Rick Santorum Raises Under $600,000 For 2012 Bid

Benjy Sarlin | July 15, 2011, 11:12AM

Rick Santorum at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition's Spring Kickoff Event

Rick Santorum's quixotic quest for the presidency isn't going over well with donors. The ex-Senator's campaign raised under $600,000 raised for the quarter, lagging virtually the entire field.

As of June 30, the campaign managed to collect $582,000 in donations. But they've already used up $352,900, leaving him few resources to staff up, get on the airwaves, and organize supporters ahead of key events like Ames Straw Poll.

The campaign noted that Santorum only officially declared a few weeks before the deadline, and described the numbers as "solid."

"It is worth noting that Senator Santorum didn't hold his first official fundraiser until June 22, and between that day and June 30, he raised nearly half of the money he raised as an official presidential candidate," said Amanda Kornegay, finance director for Rick Santorum for President," spokesman Matt Beynon said in a statement.

Santorum, best known for his anti-gay and pro-life politics, drew some attention early on as a possible contender in socially conservative Iowa. Instead it's been Michele Bachmann hoarding the energy, jumping to an early lead the polls, and raising a solid $2 million in only a couple of weeks, with another $2 million transferred over from her Congressional campaign.

Debt ceiling

Democrats Fundraising Off Cantor's Leaked Obama Quote

Benjy Sarlin | July 14, 2011, 3:41PM

Senate Democrats are embracing Eric Cantor's account of a testy President Obama challenging the Majority Leader in a meeting, using the Republican's version of events in a fundraising e-mail.

According to Cantor, Obama ended their Wednesday debt ceiling negotiations with a stern warning before abruptly leaving. "He said to me, 'Eric, don't call my bluff. I'm going to the American people with this,'" Cantor told reporters on Wednesday. "I was somewhat taken aback."

The White House disputed his claim that Obama ditched the talks, which they said were already concluding, But the line that Cantor recounted to the press is catching on with Democrats. In a message titled "Bluff," DSCC executive director Guy Cecil asked supporters on Thursday to help back up Obama's challenge with some extra cash. The e-mail is below:

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Susan Bysiewicz

William Tong Reports Impressive Fundraising Haul In CT Senate Race

Michael R. Corjulo | July 7, 2011, 12:52PM

State Rep. William Tong (D-CT)

As second quarter campaign fundraising numbers pour in from around the country Connecticut State Representative and Senate candidate William Tong is making a huge splash with his impressive second quarter haul. Competing with Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, Tong drew in $550,000 before the June 30th deadline as reported by Politico.

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2012

Mitt Romney Pulls in $18.25 Million, Easily Leads GOP Field

Benjy Sarlin | July 6, 2011, 8:55AM

Mitt Romney

Easily moving to the front of the GOP pack, Mitt Romney raised $18.25 million over the last quarter for his presidential campaign.

While Romney, whose team now has $12.6 million cash left on hand, is in a strong position, the latest numbers were somewhat below expectations. At this point in 2007, Romney had collected $23 million despite being less established as a top tier candidate. But he's essentially competing against himself at this point: none of his rivals are expected to even crack the $10 million barrier.

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2012

Mitt Romney Leads Fundraising Pack, But With Modest Haul

Benjy Sarlin | June 30, 2011, 10:09AM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney

Quarterly fundraising totals are due today and Mitt Romney is the first to put out some confirmed numbers: $15 to $20 million, according to a campaign source.

The quarterly cash gives him a total of between $25 and $35 million raised overall. While Romney's haul is expected to easily outpace the rest of the field, the numbers fall short of the huge figures some fundraisers had touted to the press in recent months and are roughly in line with his quarterly performance in 2008, when he was less established as a frontrunner. In March, one fundraiser raised the bar as high as $50 million by the early summer filing deadline in an interview with the WSJ. Expectations were further boosted after he raised over $10 million at one Vegas event.

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2012 elections

In 2012 Money Race, Democrats Say Game On!

Susan Crabtree | April 29, 2011, 12:22PM

President Barack Obama

Democrats, still smarting from the 2010 midterm defeats, are determined not to sit on the fundraising sidelines and be caught flat-flooted again. Leading Democratic strategists are building a new arsenal for control of the White House and Congress in 2012, employing the same unlimited, secret donor activities that President Barack Obama and many Democrat have vociferously opposed.

Two new groups, Priorities USA and Priorities USA Action, have launched to counter deep-pocketed GOP groups and are planning to raise $100 million to keep Obama in the White House and elect more Democrats to Congress, according to a report in Politico.

The twin Priorities committees will mimic the example of Karl Rove's American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, the two groups that drew widespread criticism from Obama and Democrats during the 2010 cycle for taking full advantage of the Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United that allowed unlimited, undisclosed corporate and union donations to outside groups. One will disclose its donors while the other will not.

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Fundraising

Democratic Committee Narrowly Outraises GOP In Senate Fundraising

Benjy Sarlin | April 20, 2011, 12:41PM

Senate Democrats eked out a slightly better fundraising quarter than their counterparts on the other side of the aisle, announcing today a $11.6 million haul for their campaign committee versus $11.2 million for the GOP.

Democrats touted the numbers, which included $5.6 million raised in March, as evidence their new strategy of tying Republicans to Rep. Paul Ryan's budget was exciting donors. "The Republican move to end Medicare and give more tax breaks to the very rich has fueled support from our base," Guy Cecil, executive director of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, said in a statement.

Republicans raised $5 million in March, which they noted was their highest one-month total in a non-election year. Rob Jesmer, the National Republican Senatorial Committee's executive director, noted in a statement that "we're still up against a Senate Democrat majority and the Fundraiser-In-Chief in the White House" but said they were on track to meet their goals.

The DSCC used the cash to pay off $3.75 million in debt, leaving them on the hook for another $4.89 million with $5.5 million cash on hand. The NRSC has $2.75 million in debt and $1.48 million cash on hand.

Barack Obama

The White House's Cool Response To Hot Mike

Susan Crabtree | April 15, 2011, 5:29PM

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

The White House is brushing off a slightly embarrassing moment for President Obama, who was caught on tape, having a private chat with donors that was never intended for the prying ears of the press.

"It was a miscommunication -- nothing more than that," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at a Friday briefing. "But we've -- it's not a problem, not an issue."

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Pres '12

Gingrich: Obama Will 'Extort Contributions'

Eric Kleefeld | April 4, 2011, 6:08PM

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA)

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is considering a run for president, has some strong words in reaction to President Obama's re-election campaign announcement, and Obama's widely-reported goal of raising $1 billion: That it constitutes extortion.

CNN reports:

"Here's a president who 18 months before the election is going to use his office to extort contributions on a scale we've never seen before," Gingrich said in New Hampshire where he addressed the Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College in Manchester. "He's in effect trying to create a Chicago style machine for the whole country with a billion dollars."

And The Hill reports:

"With their announced goal of raising a billion dollars in order to drown out their opposition, one thing is certain: it begins and ends with political extortion," Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler said in a statement reacting to Obama's announcement.

TPM has e-mailed Tyler for an explanation of how Obama's reported lofty fundraising goals would constitute extortion. We have not received an immediate reply as of this writing.

RNC

Priebus: RNC's True Finances Even Worse Than Our FEC Report Says

Eric Kleefeld | February 1, 2011, 1:06PM

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus

Newly-elected Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is putting all the bad news right out there. With the RNC releasing a year-end federal report showing over $21 million in debt, he simultaneously put out a statement saying that fully-adjusted numbers would ultimately show that it's even worse -- that is, he has an even bigger hole to dig out of.

"While the year-end FEC report reveals the Republican National Committee is $21 million in debt, I believe it is best to get out all the facts as we know them associated with our financial position," Priebus said in a statement. "To date, the committee has approximately $23 million in debt: $15 million in loans, and $8 million owed to vendors."

Priebus also implicitly put the blame on his predecessor as chairman, Michael Steele, who he defeated this past January. In the statement, Priebus says that prior fundraising operations were very inefficient:

"The RNC transition team is committed to improving the committee's financial situation in two areas: lowering costs of raising small donations and restoring the trust of major donors in the Republican Party. The RNC did raise nearly $105 million in 2010 mainly through low-dollar solicitations online and in the mail, but the costs to raise it were simply too high at approximately 64 cents for every dollar raised. Even more troubling, our major donor programs are at 10-year lows.

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RNC

Priebus Assembling RNC Finance Operation -- And Replacing Steele Aides

Eric Kleefeld | January 21, 2011, 1:33PM

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus

Newly-elected Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is already busy at work, on such issues as fundraising and party organization -- and turning the page from predecessor Michael Steele, who he defeated for re-election last week.

"I have no goal to become ... some cable TV rock star," Priebus told USA Today. "I'm the guy from Wisconsin. I'm somebody who is willing to work like a dog."

And, it seems, part of working like a dog means getting rid of the people who worked for Michael Steele.

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Fundraising

Square's New App Could Prove A Boon To Campaigns, Non-Profits

December 9, 2010, 2:44PM

Square's application and device works on iPads, iPhones and iTouches.

by Adrianne Jeffries

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is making the unusual leap from software to hardware with his new startup Square -- a device that enables anyone to accept credit and debit card payments with a smartphone. His company has been touting its value to small businesses since February, but the device also has the potential to revolutionize fundraising for non-profits, advocacy groups and political campaigns.

Square replaces the credit card processing systems used by most organizations that process credit-card transactions: often-expensive card readers, complicated transaction fees and onerous contracts from banks and processing companies. Instead, Square offers a free device that plugs into the headphone jack on an iPhone or Android phone and a straightforward fee system: $.15 plus a 2.75% to 3.5% transaction fee. That's often ends up being cheaper than the bundle of verification fees, transaction fees, statement fees, set-up cost and monthly minimums that come with the traditional swipers.

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RNC

RNC Reveals $4 Million More In Debt

Eric Kleefeld | December 9, 2010, 11:21AM

RNC Chair Michael Steele

In a possible further blow to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele's hopes for re-election, the RNC has revealed to the Federal Election Commission in amended filings that its debts are $4 million higher than had previously been reported.

ABC News reports:

In a letter to the FEC Wednesday, RNC official Boyd Rutherford said the unreported money woes "were discovered during a self-initiated internal review process, which was undertaken in connection with the arrival of a new Chief of Staff and Finance Director."

The additional debt numbers only add to earlier reports that the RNC was not fully disclosing its unmet financial obligations. In July, ABC News and others reported that the RNC had failed to report more than $7 million in debt to the FEC in what some alleged was an attempt to make the party appear to be in better shape than it was.

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Sharron Angle

Sharron Angle Boasts Of Raising Millions From Out Of State Donors (VIDEO)

Brian Beutler | November 3, 2010, 9:50AM

Sharron Angle

Most politicians try to distance themselves from money filtering into their races from out-of-state, or out-of-district. But in her concession speech last night, Sharron Angle actually boasted that a big chunk of her $14 million haul last quarter came from donors whom she wouldn't even have been representing.

"We were able to inspire not only Nevadans, but a country," Angle said. "Think of this. In the last quarter, we raised $14.3 million. Eighty percent of that came from out of our state. That means that America was wanting, was desperate, to help us."

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2010 elections

Michele Bachmann Hauls In $5.4 Million In Third Quarter Alone

Ryan J. Reilly | October 13, 2010, 9:32AM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

Polarization pays. Tea Party-backed Minnesota GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann raised $5.4 in the third quarter, ABC News reports. That number comes on the heels of fellow Tea Partier and Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle's announcement she brought in $14 million in that quarter.

The new money would push Bachmann's fundraising haul for the 2010 election cycle to almost $10 million, said ABC. That's more than double the $3.5 million she raised in all of the 2008 campaign altogether. It is especially large for a candidate for the House of Representatives, and reflects her status in the Tea Party movement.

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NV-SEN

Angle Explains How She's Raised Millions Through Conservative Media Interviews

Eric Kleefeld | September 22, 2010, 2:15PM

US Senate candidate Sharron Angle (R-NV)

Nevada Republican Senate nominee Sharron Angle has previously explained her preference for doing interviews with conservative media outlets, on the grounds that those places will allow her to ask their viewers for campaign donations. But now, in a newly revealed private recording, she has gone even further -- and itemized the takes she's gotten from this very strategy.

As Jon Ralston reports, audio from an Angle house party event shows the candidate talking about how lucrative appearances on Fox News and talk radio have been. "When I get a friendly press outlet -- not so much the guy that's interviewing me -- it's their audience that I'm trying to reach," Angle says. "So, if I can get on Rush Limbaugh, and I can say, 'Harry Reid needs $25 million. I need a million people to send twenty five dollars to SharronAngle.com.' The day I was able to say that [even], he made $236,000 dollars. That's why it's so important."

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Fundraising

DNC Outraises RNC By $3M In August

Marc Kilstein | September 21, 2010, 3:58PM

RNC Chairman Michael Steele

With elections approaching, the national Democrats can perhaps find some comfort in being ahead of Republicans in at least one aspect of the campaign -- fundraising.

The Democratic National Committee out-raised its GOP counterpart, the Republican National Committee, by approximately $3 million in the month of August. The DNC raised $10.9 million last month, whereas Republicans raised $7.9 million. This gives the DNC around $13.4 million in cash on hand; the RNC has about $4.7 million cash on hand. It should be noted, however, that the DNC has $8.4 million in debt, versus the RNC's debt of $1.2 million.

As we reported yesterday, last month the DCCC out-raised the NRCC on the House side of the campaign, and the DSCC outdid the NRSC in fundraising for Senate races.

2010 elections

National Dem Committees Raising More Money Than GOP

Eric Kleefeld | September 20, 2010, 6:57PM

Clockwise: Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

The national Democratic Congressional campaign arms are headed into the home stretch of the campaign bringing in more money than their GOP counterparts -- numbers that could potentially make the difference in key races.

On the House side, the DCCC out-raised the NRCC in August, by a margin of $8.32 million for the Dems to $6.64 million for House Republicans. The DCCC remains way ahead in cash on hand, with $39 million to the NRCC's $25.6 million.

For the Senate, the DSCC edged the NRSC in August, with $7.42 million for the Dems to $6.05 million for the GOP. However, the NRSC has slightly more money on hand, with $24.5 million against the DSCC's $22.92 million.

DE-SEN

O'Donnell's Fundraising Skyrockets

Eric Kleefeld | September 17, 2010, 11:06AM

Delaware Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Christine O'Donnell's website

Christine O'Donnell's national profile since her stunning win in the Delaware Republican Senate primary has generated a lot more than just laughter and bad poll numbers: Perhaps even more importantly, it's also brought in a lot of money from the conservative faithful.

O'Donnell's website shows that her campaign has quickly blown through post-primary fundraising goals, and has now set a target of $1.5 million. As of this writing, they are at $1,400,074.01.

[TPM SLIDESHOW: Christine O'Donnell: Anti-Masturbation Crusader. Witchcraft Dabbler. Republican Senate Nominee.]

The TPM Poll Average gives Democratic nominee Chris Coons a lead of 52.2%-38.8%. But to be sure, O'Donnell's fundraising certainly does give her the means to reach out to voters and try to catch up.

Fundraising

Obama Sends $4.5 Million To Dem Committees

Eric Kleefeld | September 9, 2010, 12:00PM

President Barack Obama

President Obama has spread some more campaign wealth around the Democratic Party -- using $4.5 million that was left over from his mega-successful 2008 campaign operation to infuse the party's national campaign arms.

Politico reports that the money has come from funds that had been set aside for legal expenses to shut down the campaign: "As soon as it was determined that these funds were no longer needed for the shutdown of the campaign, the president directed that $1.5 million be transferred to each of the following committees: DCCC, DSCC and DNC. Obama for America earlier in the cycle had transferred $8 million, which was split between the DCCC and the DSCC."