One legacy of the 2012 presidential race: the super-political action committees it spawned. Weeks after the Nov. 6 election, those groups still had more than $5.4 million left to spend, Federal Election Commission reports due yesterday show. Each candidate —...
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Photograph by Win McNamee/Getty Images
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain holds up a cupcake decorated with his 9-9-9 economic plan before a speech at the National Press Club in this file photo.
Super-PACs Still Super With $5.4 Mln — Though `9-9-9′ Down to Last $100
Photograph by Piotr Powietrzynski/Getty Images
2012 Elections Cost Will Hit $7 Billion, FEC Chair Weintraub Says
The 2012 elections will be more expensive than originally thought, according to new Federal Election Commission Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub. Her estimate: $7 billion. That’s higher than the $6 billion estimate from the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group...
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Photograph by Charles Dharapak/AP Photo
Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton briefs reporters at the White House in Washington, on June 21, 2010.
Obama Re-Election Behind Him, Burton Joins Consulting Firm
Former White House aide Bill Burton is joining the Global Strategy Group as executive vice president in its Washington office. Burton is co-founder and senior strategist for Priorities USA Action, a super-political action committee that helped re-elect the president. Burton has “a...
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Photograph by Jason Rearick/The News-Times via AP Photo
Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, center, holds hands with her husband, Mark Kelly, while exiting Town Hall at Fairfield Hills Campus in Newtown, Conn. after meeting with Newtown officials on Jan. 4, 2013. Giffords also met with families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre.
Giffords Gun-Control Packs Texan Cash: Trial Lawyers in for $1 Million
Steve and Amber Mostyn, wealthy Texas trial attorneys, said today that they are giving $1 million to help start the gun-control advocacy group formed by former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly. Steve Mostyn, one of...
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Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
A man walks through the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center with balloons where Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is scheduled to speak on Nov. 6, 2012.
Bloomberg by the Numbers: $97.7 Million
That’s how much outside groups spent in the final week of the Nov. 6 election campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The big late spenders included American Crossroads ($23 million), a super-political action committee founded with help from...
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Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama following a presidential debate at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado, on Oct. 3, 2012.
Bloomberg by the Numbers: $2.23 Bln
That’s how much President Barack Obama, Republican Mitt Romney and five groups active in the presidential election raised from Jan. 1, 2011 through Nov. 26, 2012. Obama and two Democratic groups together raised $1.10 billion, compared with $1.13 billion raised...
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Photograph by Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
The debate between presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney is seen on a television in a Korean restaurant on Oct. 22, 2012 in Chatsworth area of Los Angeles.
Bloomberg by the Numbers: 1,014,484
That’s how many times television ads from President Barack Obama, Republican nominee Mitt Romney and other groups involved in the Nov. 6 election have aired during the general election campaign, according to Kantar Media’s CMAG. The totals include spots that...
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Photograph by Patrick Fallon/Bloomberg
Shopping carts at a new Wal-Mart store.
Wrong Walton, Priorities USA Action Declares
Priorities USA Action, the super-PAC supporting President Barack Obama, incorrectly told the Federal Election Commission that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Chairman Samuel Robson Walton, better known as Rob, was a $300,000 donor to the group last month. In an amended FEC...
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Photograph by Kabik/Starlitepics/Picturegroup via AP Images
President Barack Obama in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Priorities Sets New Priority: Nevada
Priorities USA Action, a super-political action committee backing President Barack Obama, is shifting and increasing its television advertising buy to include the swing state of Nevada, its co-founder Bill Burton said this morning. The super-PAC’s new focus on Nevada, which...
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Photograph by Akos Stiller/Bloomberg
George Soros, founder of Soros Fund Management LLC, in Budapest, Hungary.
Soros: $1 M for Obama-Backing Super-PAC
Investor George Soros, a long-time donor to Democratic candidates and causes, has agreed to contribute $1 million to the super-political action committee run by former aides to President Barack Obama. Two officials of Priorities USA Action confirmed the donation. Priorities USA...
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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.
