Updated 1:00 pm EST Visitors to the National Republican Congressional Committee’s website are told how the party “most heavily” relies on small donors while its Democratic counterpart’s “primary sources of funding” include labor unions, trial lawyers and Democratic House members....
Read more »House Republican Fundraising Claims Don’t Match Statistics
Photograph by Win McNamee/Getty Images
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus at the National Press Club on March 18, 2013 in Washington.
RNC Suffers Super-PAC Envy
The Republican National Committee is jealous of super-political action committees. That bit of envy is tucked away on page 64 of the RNC’s 97-page “autopsy” of how to right itself after failing to win the White House and a Senate...
Read more »
Photograph by Scott Eells/Bloomberg
People gather to watch election coverage in Times Square in New York, on Nov. 6, 2012.
2012 Election Total: $6.3 Billion
The final price tag on the 2012 elections: $6.3 billion. That’s according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which intially pegged the cost at $6 billion. It’s still less than the $7 billion that Federal Election Commission Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub...
Read more »
Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
The Russell Senate Office Building in Washington.
Price of Admission to Congress (Cheap Seats) More than $1 Million
Want to be a member of Congress? First, raise more than $1 million. Or 10 times more to join the Senate. That’s the price of admission, as calculated by the watchdog group Maplight.org. The average House winner in 2012 raised $1.7 million, or $2,315...
Read more »
Photograph by Getty Images
President Barack Obama on the golf course in Palm City, Florida.
Obama’s Florida Golf Weekend — Limbaugh’s Sweater Weather
More fun facts on the Floridian in Palm City, Florida, where President Barack Obama is having his guys’ golf getaway this President’s Day weekend. Jim Crane, the avid golfer who owns the club and also the Houston Astros baseball team,...
Read more »
Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
The Google Inc. logo in Washington.
Price of Persuasion Down Year to Year
The price of persuasion went down in 2012, the second consecutive year of declining spending on lobbying, according to figures released today by the Center for Responsive Politics. Total spending to try to influence Congress, the White House and federal...
Read more »
Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Worker Kevin Foste installs a U.S. Chamber of Commerce sign at the Union Station Metro stop in Washington.
U.S. Chamber Doubled Lobby Spending
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its affiliate pushing for limits on lawsuits doubled its lobbying spending to $135.5 million in 2012, newly released figures show. The chamber and its Institute for Legal Reform reported spending $65.8 million in 2011....
Read more »
Photograph by Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Washington.
Political Disclosure on SEC Agenda
A coalition of groups pressing for disclosure of corporate political contributions said today that it is heartened by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision to include plans for a proposed rule on its agenda. “We congratulate the SEC for listening...
Read more »
Photograph by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images
Participants in the Occupy Wall Street protest, masked as President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney, take part in a rally to mark the one year anniversary of the movement in New York, Sept. 17, 2012.
Romney’s Wall Street Romp — Obama’s Courthouse Stomp
Wall Street outdid the legal profession in raising money for Republican Mitt Romney, making him the first major-party presidential nominee in at least two decades who didn’t rely on lawyers as his biggest source of funding. The BGOV Barometer shows...
Read more »
Photograph by David Zalubowski/AP Photo
Fox News commentator Karl Rove during a Republican Party election night gathering in Denver on Nov. 6, 2012.
Crossroads No Non-Profit, IRS Told
Two groups that favor stronger campaign finance laws renewed their complaints against Crossroads GPS, founded with the help of Karl Rove, as they asked the Internal Revenue Service to deny nonprofit status to the organization that spent $71 million to...
Read more »
Contributors
-
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.
