Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker announced an amazing fundraising number on Monday. His campaign pulled in $13 million in the first three months of 2012. HuffPost's Amanda Terkel reports, "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) pulled in $13 million in the most recent three-month reporting period to fight off a Democratic attempt to recall him from office, an unprecedented sum of money for a gubernatorial race in the state. Walker's campaign announced on Monday that it has raised a total of $25 million since Jan. 1, 2011. It now has nearly $4.8 million on hand for recall and general election funds. ... The Wisconsin recall race is a top priority for both Democrats and Republicans, and the money is flowing in at a historic rate. As a comparison, Walker raised just $11 million for his gubernatorial run during the entire 2010 election cycle."
The presidential primaries in 2012 saw a massive explosion in spending by independent groups like super PACs. The majority of this spending went to negative and deceptive attacks. HuffPost reports, "Having made their debut in presidential primaries after two court rulings, most prominently the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, super PACs drove spending, particularly on attack ads, in the primary election like never before. Spending by independent groups like super PACs exploded by more than 300 percent from the 2008 primary season. In 2008, independent group spending in both the Republican and Democratic primaries totaled $26.11 million. That number reached $83.87 million in the 2012 primary, and that's with only the Republican nomination being contested. ... The largest growth in the spending by independent groups came in the form of attack ads and other negative expenditures. While spending in support of one candidate nearly doubled from $19.14 million in 2008 to $36.59 million in 2012, spending against other candidates by independent groups exploded by 680 percent, from only $6.97 million in 2008 to $47.28 million in 2012. That massive growth in negative spending and attack ads was tied directly to one super PAC: The pro-Mitt Romney Restore Our Future spent $39.34 million attacking opponents like Gingrich and Santorum. The group accounted for 83 percent of all negative spending by independent groups in the Republican primary and on negative attacks it outspent the super PACs supporting Gingrich and Santorum by an 8-to-1 margin."
HuffPost's Sam Stein reports on a new hybrid super PAC that plans to work to elect candidates opposed to super PACs, "Ilyse Hogue, a former top official at MoveOn and Media Matters, along with David Donnelly, the Executive Director of the Public Campaign Action Fund, will file paperwork with the FEC on Monday to formally create an entity called Friends of Democracy. A hybrid PAC and super PAC, Friends of Democracy will have the power to make contributions to federal candidates (with a $5,000 limit) and raise unlimited sums of money from individuals and corporations. But it will do it all with the aim of demonstrating the need for campaign finance reform."
Chapter 1,001 of this story: Mitt Romney has broken with established precedent and refuses to publicly disclose his campaign bundlers. This time NPR's Peter Overby gets to report on Romney's transparency intransigence.
The second most populous state would be a good place to raise money and Democrats are doing just that, raising a lot of money in Texas.
WaPo's Ezra Klein posted this article last week, but it's worth the read. Klein writes, "Although the effect of super-PACs on the presidential race will probably be limited, I worry when I read that casino mogul Sheldon Adelson plans to pump millions into a super PAC dedicated to influencing the outcome of congressional elections. That’s where an airdrop of a million dollars in negative ads in the waning weeks of a campaign can completely change the result."
According to media buying company Smart Media Group, the Obama campaign is purchasing air time for broadcast advertisements in Ohio and Iowa for the rest of this week and placing ads on Spanish language cable in Orlando, Tampa, Denver, Las Vegas and Miami.
AD WATCH
Help us populate our list of campaign videos. Send any notable TV, radio or web ads that you see to Fundrace. Send your submissions to paulblumenthal@huffingtonpost.com.
Committee: Barack Obama for President
Spot: "Forward"
Market: YouTube.
Buy: None. Just web video.
Committee: Mitt Romney for President
Candidate Opposed: Barack Obama
Spot: "Broken Promises: Spending"
Market: Unknown.
Buy: Undisclosed.
Committee: Barack Obama for President
Candidate Opposed: Mitt Romney
Spot: "Mitt Romney: Extreme On Women's Issues"
Market: YouTube.
Buy: None. Just web video.
Committee: National Republican Congressional Committee
Candidate Opposed: Ron Barber
Spot: "Ron Barber Rubber Stamp"
Market: Arizona's 8th District.
Buy: ~$295,000.
Committee: Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
Candidate Opposed: Jesse Kelly
Spot: "Is Jesse Kelly Listening To You?"
Market: Arizona's 8th District.
Buy: ~$169,000.
Committee: Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Candidate Opposed: Rick Berg
Spot: "Rick Berg's Washington Way"
Market: North Dakota.
Buy: Undisclosed.
Committee: Freedom PAC
Candidate Opposed: Bill Nelson
Spot: "Obama/Nelson Against Keystone Pipeline"
Market: Florida.
Buy: Undisclosed.
Committee: Heather Wilson for Senate
Spot: "Always"
Market: New Mexico.
Buy: Undisclosed.
Committee: Campaign for Primary Accountability
Candidate Supported: David McIntosh
Spot: "David McIntosh -- Rock Solid Conservative for Congress"
Market: Indiana's 5th District.
Buy: Undisclosed.
Committee: Tom Leppert for Senate
Spot: "Troy Aikman Radio Ad: Important"
Market: Texas. (Radio)
Buy: Undisclosed.
TRACKING INDEPENDENT SPENDING IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE:
These numbers represent spending by independent groups, like super PACs and non-profits, to support or oppose a particular candidate for the presidency in 2012. Fundrace will update this spending daily to help show which candidates are gaining from the proliferation of independent groups in this coming election.
Newt Gingrich (R), $13,017,772 to support, $18,885,161 to oppose.
Rick Santorum (R), $7,548,235 to support, $20,923,379 to oppose.
Mitt Romney (R), $3,317,306 to support, $8,676,753 to oppose.
Rick Perry (R), $4,167,697 to support, $1,404 to oppose.
Ron Paul (R), $3,748,218 to support, $214,158 to oppose.
Jon Huntsman (R), $2,453,204 to support, $0 to oppose.
Barack Obama (D), $298,856 to support, $1,071,699 to oppose.
Herman Cain (R), $501,717 to support, $954 to oppose.
Gary Johnson (R), $518 to support, $0 to oppose.
RECENT INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURES
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, $169,007 to oppose Jesse Kelly for Congress in Arizona's 8th District.
American Society of Anesthesiologists PAC, $43,604 to support John McGoff for Congress in Indiana's 5th District.
FreedomWorks for America, $50 to support Richard Mourdock for Senate in Indiana.
FreedomWorks for America, $16,923 to oppose Dick Lugar for Senate in Indiana.
National Republican Congressional Committee, $295,796 to oppose Ron Barber for Congress in Arizona's 8th District.
YG Network, $104,000 to support Dick Lugar for Senate in Indiana.
YG Network, $32,450 to support Luke Messer for Congress in Indiana's 6th District.
Conservative Renewal PAC, $114,000 to oppose Tom Leppert and Ted Cruz for Senate in Texas.
Senate Conservatives Fund, $9,258 to support Ted Cruz for Senate in Texas.
Club for Growth Action, $9,350 to oppose Dick Lugar for Senate in Indiana.
RECENT POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE REGISTRATIONS
NONE.
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