Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

Presidential campaign 2016 off and running

A group based in his home state is airing ads against Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell in Iowa and New Hampshire to preempt a potential 2016 presidential campaign by the term-limited Republican.

Bloomberg spending in Chicago congressional race

Immigration lobby begins to flex muscle

This week, while much of Washington's attention is focused on the debates over gun control and Chuck Hagel's nomination as defense secretary, the pieces are beginning to move into place for another legislative battle that could make the other two look like a lobbying Little League (sorry, NRA).

A look at online ads in the 2012 election

Super PACs, trade associations and other nonprofit groups that made campaign expenditures spent roughly $46.1 million on web ads. Though the Obama campaign considerably outspent Romney's campaign on web advertising, outside Republican outside spenders ponied up nearly five times more on online advertising than liberal outside groups, according to independent expenditure filings with the FEC.

Tallying the Adelsons' $92 million

The Adelson’s have given a mind-blowing $92.28 million dollars to outside spending groups this election. The Casino mogul and his physician wife were the impetus behind Newt Gingrich’s primary campaign. After Gingrich left the race, donations to “Winning our Future” became donations to “Restore our Future” the pro-Romney group that the Adelson’s would give the most to, $30 in all.

Adelsons' $10 million checks revealed among last-minute campaign donations

Eye-popping checks from the Adelsons were among the more startling findings as campaign committees revealed their last-minute election donors.

Follow the money from big Dem donors to super PACs to races

After election, dozens of super PACs shut down

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Tobacco fueled ads helped tobacco foe Waxman win reelection

In a case of particularly odd political bedfellows, in late September the tobacco manufacturer the Liggett Group and several company executives, including the CEO, contributed more than $33,000 to a pop-up super PAC that would go on to help the candidacy of just one candidate: Rep. Henry Waxman, arguably tobacco's biggest foe in Congress.

What we learned: 10 lessons from the campaign brought to you by Citizens United

For the candidates, it's all over except for the voting, but for those of us who follow money in politics, it will take months to close the books on what will be the most expensive election in history. Meanwhile, here are a few lessons we learned in the brave new world of unlimited political money:

Outside spenders dump $210 million into last full week of the campaign

In the last full week before the election, outside spending groups have bombarded voters with a record $210 million in ads, direct mail, and other political expenditures, and, as in weeks past, the vast majority of the funds went to support Republican candidates. Since Sept. 7 -- when the FEC began requiring all groups to disclose independent expenditures, regardless of the content -- the rate of outside spending has ballooned, reaching a new high this week. A Sunlight analysis of Federal Election Commission records shows that organizations dropped $132.6 million to back Republicans in the period between Oct. 26 and Nov. 1, while just $76.4 went to help Democrats. That compares to $26 million for the second week of September.

Mystery PAC drops $1.7 million before revealing Adelson connection

A super PAC that deliberately disguised its connection to Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson emerged from the shadows to drop nearly $1.7 million in a single day this week to oppose President Barack Obama's reelection, one of a series of money bombs in a week where outside spending threatens to top $200 million.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg's superstorm of 11th hour political donations

With New York City struggling to recover from Hurricane Sandy, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is set to begin airing political ads for his favorite candidates around the country through his newly-created super PAC.

Week's outside spending favors Republicans 2:1

Less than two weeks before the election, outside spending took another big leap last week, jumping to $180 million since last Friday favoring Republicans nearly two-to-one.