Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

1. Super PAC's fundraising losing momentum, latest reports show

   By Anupama Narayanswamy Aug 21, 2012 4:12 p.m.

   Closing in on the upcoming party conventions, super PACs appear to have lost some of their steam in attracting the big bucks. The big guns of political ad spending took in $30 million during July,reports filed this week with the Federal Election Commission show. That's $25 million less than the previous month,. In all, super PACs have raised $343 million since Jan.1, 2011, the beginning of this campaign cycle. The top donors include names now familiar as repeat super PAC underwriters, along with a few newbies. Among the eight donors who write seven-figure checks last month are three corporate donors and one left leaning nonprofit.

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2. Congressional rookies following the ways of Washington

   By Anupama Narayanswamy Aug 14, 2012 11:26 a.m.

   In 2010, voters were so determined to upset the Washington establishment that they elected a House of Representatives in which 20 percent of the faces were new. It was a political revolution. But nearly two years later, the 89 rookies elected in November, 2010—80 Republicans and nine Democrats—don’t look all that different from their more veteran colleagues.

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3. House freshmen: Campaign finance raw data

   By Anupama Narayanswamy Aug 14, 2012 11:26 a.m.

   For the data nerds out there, we've put together spreadsheets of the campaign finance analysis of the freshmen class used for this story. It includes data reported to the Federal Election Commission as of the second quarter of 2012. Click below to see a table.

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4. Congressional ad campaigns poised for big fall blitz

   By Anupama Narayanswamy Jul 2, 2012 12:07 p.m.

   While super PACs, seven-figure checks and the heated Republican presidential nomination fight that Mitt Romney eventually won dominated the news the first half of this election year, congressional campaigns quietly have been pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the political economy -- and the real avalanche of congressional campaign expenditures and campaign ads is yet to begin.

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5. Big donors to Democratic super PACs visited White House

   By Anupama Narayanswamy May 31, 2012 11:36 a.m.

   Though President Barack Obama called super PACs a "threat to democracy" before embracing them last February in his own reelection effort, he and members of his inner circle had no trouble meeting with the kind of people who contribute to them. At least 16 individuals who gave money to some of the major outside spending groups had meetings with White House officials--including Obama himself. 

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6. Super PACs spent almost $1 million in Tuesday's primaries

   By Anupama Narayanswamy May 23, 2012 3:16 p.m.
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7. Super donors provide bulk of money to super PACs

   By Anupama Narayanswamy May 22, 2012 12:07 p.m.

   Super PACs have broken the $200 million mark in donations and $100 million in spending, with much of the money coming from a few donors with deep pockets whose largesse has changed the dynamics of political campaigning.

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8. Super PAC profile: Twenty-something Ron Paul supporters found Liberty for All

   By Anupama Narayanswamy May 14, 2012 5:12 p.m.

   A new super PAC funded almost entirely by a 21-year-old Ron Paul supporter and run by a 24-year-old political consultant is putting big bucks behind a tea party candidate running in a Kentucky congressional race.

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9. Presidential campaign donors moving to super PACs

   By Anupama Narayanswamy Apr 26, 2012 12:01 p.m.

   A few weeks after some individual donors hit their campaign contribution limits to President Obama’s reelection campaign, they made donations to the super PAC supporting him, extending their financial support to the shadow campaign that's backing his bid for another four years in the White House.

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10. The X-factors? Lesser-known super PACs could have big impact in fall congressional races

    By Anupama Narayanswamy Apr 19, 2012 10:07 a.m.

    While the super PACs supporting presidential candidates have been in the spotlight in the early months of the campaign season, a number of lesser-known -- but potentially as influential -- super PACs are emerging. Filings that came in over the weekend at the Federal Election Commission featured a number of heretofore unsung super PACs, many formed for the purpose of influencing a specific House or Senate election.

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11. Super PACs, other groups, fuel four-fold spending increase in 2012 presidential race

    By Anupama Narayanswamy Mar 27, 2012 11:41 a.m.

    Outside groups, including super PACs and nonprofit organizations, have spent almost four times more on the 2012 presidential campaign than comparable organizations spent at the same point in the 2008 cycle, an analysis of Federal Election Commission filings show.

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12. Big Super PAC donors: Same old guns, just more money

    By Anupama Narayanswamy Mar 1, 2012 10:09 a.m.

    If there were any doubts about how much the political landscape has changed post-Citizens United, here's one leading indicator: An analysis by Sunlight's Reporting Group shows that the biggest donors to super PACs are giving more political donations earlier in the campaign than they have in the past.

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13. Super PACs have spent most on Florida ad buys, so far

    By Anupama Narayanswamy Jan 30, 2012 5:08 p.m.

    While the polls have constantly fluctuated in the last week before Tuesday's GOP presidential primary in Florida, one number has seen a steady rise: the campaign money being pumped into the Sunshine State. Helping to boost the total: The two super PACs supporting frontrunners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have spent more than $15 million in the state. That number makes 38 percent of all presidential super PAC spending that Sunlight is tracking.

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14. No restriction on how Pro-Perry super PAC can spend funds

    By Anupama Narayanswamy Jan 19, 2012 7:07 p.m.

    Texas Gov. Rick Perry's decision to drop his bid for the GOP presidential nomination Thursday raises a tantalizing question: What will happen to the big-spending super PAC that dropped close to $4 million backing his campaign?

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Investigations by Sunlight Foundation reporter Anupama Narayanswamy