Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

The money bombers: Which outside spenders have the most for the homestretch?

Heading into the final stages of the 2012 campaign, the super PAC in position to have the biggest impact, by far and away, is American Crossroads, Sunlight's Follow the Unlimited Money tracker shows.

Ryan attracts hundreds of D.C.-area donors at hotel fundraiser

With Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaign’s finances in some trouble, a fundraiser at an upscale Washington hotel Thursday featuring his runningmate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., attracted about 200 donors, according to an estimate from one who paid $1,000 to attend.

Obama's fundraising paves way for advertising dominance

When it comes to saturating the airwaves and cable outlets with political advertisements, no entity has spent more in the 2012 presidential elections than the campaign of President Barack Obama. Through July, his campaign spent more than $111 million broadcasting its message--more than twice the $48 million spent by his GOP rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Both campaigns will disclose their itemized contributions and expenditures for August with the Federal Election Commission today.

Introducing Econocheck

When Mitt Romney claims, as he did in a private talk at a fundraiser for well-heeled donors, that 47 percent of Americans do not pay income taxes, where can one check his math? When President Barack Obama tells David Letterman and his audience that he doesn't know how much the national debt is, what's the best place to get the latest number? When a member of Congress claims federal spending has been cut to the bone, what's the best place to check that claim?

Four years after Lehman Brothers collapse, financial industry still works its political will

Like the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that touched off World War I, the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the largest underwriter of bonds backed by subprime loans when it declared bankruptcy on Sept. 15, 2008, was an event whose repercussions extended far beyond its executives, investors and creditors. It touched off a financial crisis that's affected employment and earnings of the middle class.

House passage of Cravaack land swap bill boosts freshman's profile, fundraising

The Minnesota Education Investment and Employment Act would order the federal government to take 86,000 acres of state land inside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), part of the federally protected Superior National Forest, and give Minnesota a similar amount of federal-owned land just outside the wilderness--and its limits on develepment.

Resolution of Chicago teacher strike would be relief for Obama

If striking Chicago teachers agree to the new contract framework hammered out with school board officials, perhaps no one will be happier than President Barack Obama, who calls the windy city home.

Obama's fundraising machine leaves Romney in the dust

So can we finally stop hearing the erroneous claim that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is winning the fundraising battle against President Barack Obama, the all-time champion when it comes to vacuuming up campaign cash? In August, the GOP nominee had his best month of fundraising--and fell about $2 million short of Obama's haul.

Conflict of interest? Congressional freshmen policies and portfolios entwined

An analysis of financial disclosures filed by House freshmen revealed that some wealthy members are introducing legislation and speaking in favor of industries in which they maintain holdings. It's the latest dispatch in Sunlight's series on the House freshmen.

Obama sends secret love to geeks

You would expect to see Obama branding in every aspect of the Obama Victory Fund website. But the web developers at President Obama's campaign have taken it a step further, creating the Obama “O” campaign insignia in the source code of the website -- the sort of thing only dedicated hackers and data nerds could love -- or, for that matter, bother to suss out.

Sex and taxes: What the Romney returns and the Edwards precedent say about political slush funds

The cloak and dagger tale circulating on the Internet about a group of hackers who claim to have purloined old tax returns of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and say they will release them to whomever is first to pay their ransom suggests why a federal court case that absolved former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards of campaign finance crimes was wrongly decided.

Kennedy heir's bid for Congress attracts campaign contributing veterans

Texas-sized lobbyist bundler shuns Democrats' super PACs

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Democratic super PACs and other outside political groups will be deprived of the party's most generous 2010 bankroller this election: Donor and bundler extraordinaire Ben Barnes is repudiating the outfits that don't provide full financial disclosure.

A look at the Democratic super PAC targets

Two of the guests at an exclusive brunch Wednesday where Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel attempted to steer donors toward Priorities USA, the super PAC supporting President Barack Obama's reelection campaign, are seasoned campaign bankrollers -- one of them with a past that leans Republican.