Social welfare nonprofits, which can keep their donors secret, are a lot like Russian nesting dolls: Open one, and you’ll find a smaller version inside. That’s what courts in California discovered last year when they tried to figure out who...
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Photograph by Greg Johnston
Cayman Islands
Nonprofits: Cayman Islands of Political Money
Photograph by Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images
Former first lady Laura Bush speaks at the Global Women's Cancer Summit in Washington on Feb. 4, 2013.
Laura Bush Opts Out of Gay Marriage Ad Campaign
Laura Bush generally steered clear of controversial issues during her eight years as first lady, and that’s a posture she wants to continue. Although she has voiced support in the past for legalizing same-sex marriage, she didn’t authorize and doesn’t want to be...
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Photograph by Jin Lee/Bloomberg
Same-sex couples emerge from the Manhattan City Clerk's office with their marriage licenses in New York.
Gay Marriage TV Ad: Odd Bedfellows
Gay-marriage backers today began a $1 million national television and print advertising campaign that features big-name Republicans and Democrats exhibiting a rare bit of simpatico. President Barack Obama, former First Lady Laura Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney and former...
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Photograph by J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo
Congressmen walk down the steps of the House of Representatives at the Capitol as rank and file members adjourned for several days, in Washington, on Dec. 6, 2012.
Debt Group Airing Sunday Show Ads
More than a month after Election Day, the political TV ads keep coming. A group of business leaders urging Congress to avert a $600 billion mix of tax increases and program cuts set to begin in January is taking its...
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Photograph by David Guralnick/The Detroit News/AP Photo
Volunteer Nsombe Iamodou works the phone bank at the campaign headquarters of President Barack Obama in Detroit the day before the election, on Nov. 5, 2012.
Michigan: Obama Would Have Won Without Detroit
President Barack Obama’s bid for votes in Detroit could have gone bankrupt in the Nov. 6 election. He still would have beaten Republican Mitt Romney in Michigan. In fact, the president would have won Michigan excluding all of Wayne County,...
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Photograph by Frank Polich/Getty Images
Jim Messina, center, campaign manager for the re-election of President Barack Obama, talks with reporters during a tour of the re-election headquarters in Chicago.
Messina: Romney’s Chrysler Ad One of Campaign’s Biggest Missteps
President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, Jim Messina, said one of the campaign’s biggest missteps by Republican Mitt Romney’s campaign was a controversial ad suggesting that Chrysler Group LLC is moving Jeep productions to China. “They were spending the last...
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Photograph by Bill Clark/Roll Call/Getty Images
From left, Rep. Robert Wittman, Rep. Jeff Landry, Rep. Charles Boustany, and Rep. John Fleming arrive for the news conference on American Energy Initiative legislation to expand U.S. energy production.
Boustany, Landry Tout Support in Louisiana Ads Before Runoff
Two Louisiana Republican congressmen seeking the same district in a Dec. 8 runoff election are using testimonials in their latest television ads. Jeff Landry, a freshman, is up with a spot highlighting endorsements from four House colleagues. Landry “has the...
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A collage of nighttime network television commercials largely dominated by campaign ads. Photograph by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
2012 Campaign Negative as Seemed
After 1 million negative ads, it’s easy to conclude that the 2012 presidential campaign was negative. And it was, according to Americans surveyed in a Pew poll out today. The Pew Research Center found 68 percent of voters saying the...
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Barack Obama, as a presidential candidate, campaigning in New Hampshire, 2008. Photograph by Keith Bedford/Bloomberg
Obama’s New Hampshire Win: Cities
President Barack Obama carried New Hampshire for the second straight election on Nov. 6 partly by maintaining his big margins from four years ago in the state’s three biggest municipalities. Obama beat Republican challenger Mitt Romney by 55-44 percent in...
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Photograph by Obama campaign via AP Images
In this image taken from video is a TV ad by the Obama For America campaign in which President Barack Obama speaks to voters in Spanish. The ad titled "Buen Ejemplo," or "A Good Example" went on air in the U.S. on Oct. 9, 2012.
Final 2012 Ad Count: 1.2 Million
President Barack Obama’s re-election committee was responsible for more than four of every 10 of the 1.2 million presidential campaign ads for the general election, twice as many as those aired by Republican challenger Mitt Romney, a final count of...
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Contributors
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Al Hunt
is a columnist for Bloomberg View and host of the weekly show "Political Capital with Al Hunt" on Bloomberg TV. -
Mark Silva
is deputy managing editor for government news in Washington and editor of Political Capital. He has covered the White House and national politics. -
Emma Fidel
is political editor for Bloomberg.com in Washington. She previously covered financial regulation as a Bloomberg intern. -
Don Frederick
edits political and government coverage for Bloomberg News. He previously worked for more than a decade at the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau. -
Gregory Giroux
analyzes elections, financing of congressional and presidential elections, political advertising and demographics in Bloomberg's Washington Bureau. -
Julie Bykowicz
covers the influence of money and lobbying in Washington, and covered the state legislature and city crime for the Baltimore Sun for 10 years. -
Jonathan Salant
covers campaign finance and lobbying in Washington. He was president of the National Press Club and started in Washington in 1987. -
Richard Rubin
covers federal tax policy. He worked at Congressional Quarterly and The Charlotte Observer before joining Bloomberg News in 2010. -
Julie Hirschfeld Davis
is a senior political reporter for the Washington Bureau. She covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News and previously covered the White House for the Baltimore Sun. -
Lisa Lerer
covers the White House and covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News. She covered Congress, lobbying and the 2008 campaign for Politico. -
John McCormick
is a national political reporter looking forward to the 2016 presidential campaign, which will be the fifth he's covered. He's also reported for The Des Moines Register and Chicago Tribune. -
Julianna Goldman
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Hans Nichols
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Margaret Talev
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and covered the White House for McClatchy Newspapers. She has covered California and Florida politics. -
Cary O'Reilly
is Editor at Large at Bloomberg First Word and is Washington Daybook columnist for Bloomberg Government and Bloomberg News.
