Be careful when contributing to Herman Cain's super PAC. Stephen Colbert pulls the curtain on campaign finance law. Congressional fundraisers will be a lot colder this year. This is the first HuffPost Fundrace for November 8, 2011. We'll be covering campaign money and advertisements here. Feel free to send us tips on campaign ad buys, fundraiser invitations, or anything else related to money in politics. You can reach HuffPost Fundrace at paulblumenthal@huffingtonpost.com.
SUPER SCAM -- People involved with the pro-Herman Cain super PAC, The 9-9-9 Fund, are connected to a group of operatives with a history of using fringe and upstart campaigns to divert donor money to a fundraising operation. The Washington Times' Luke Rosiak, "A collection of political professionals in a downtown Washington suite has perfected the art of aligning itself with Washington outsiders with poorly run campaigns and raising large amounts, which are then paid primarily to direct-mail and consulting firms they control. The donors, most commonly retirees, are often unaware of exactly to whom they are giving. ... The operation typically works something like this: Reliable conservatives receive a letter asking them for a donation to a generic-sounding political committee. The committee pays most of that money to direct-mail companies and donates some to little-known candidates, who appear to be so wowed with the money that they contract with the direct-mail firms responsible for the original letter. ... Letters are sent out soliciting money for the candidate, usually successfully, by playing off dislike for the incumbent being challenged. Most of that money is then paid to the direct-mail company, whose executives also control the political action committees. The candidates generally lose their elections and wind up in significant debt." [WashTimes]
IS ANYONE RUNNING IN IOWA? -- HuffPost's Sam Stein reports that the Republican presidential candidates have spent little money on the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa, "The Huffington Post crunched the federal election data on campaign disbursements to analyze just how much (and what percentage of) campaign money was being spent in the Hawkeye State -- whether on vendors, staffers, office space, campaign stops, or anything else. The numbers should reveal who is prioritizing Iowa as part of a larger campaign strategy, with the logic being that candidates will invest in a state they want to win or shower their money on sources whose votes they're hoping to secure. Instead, the data shows a GOP field that isn't yet much committed (at least financially) to the all-important caucus state." Rick Santorum spent the highest percentage of his campaign funds, one-quarter, in Iowa. Sadly, he gets slightly more support than Jon Huntsman.
The numbers (money spent in Iowa from January 1-September 30):
Michele Bachmann: $506,372
Rick Santorum: $273,940
Ron Paul: $182,211
Herman Cain: $176,000
Mitt Romney: $160,000
Newt Gingrich: $59,643
Rick Perry: $55,202
Jon Huntsman: $0
[HuffPost]
COLBERT PULLS KARL ROVE'S LEG -- On Monday night, Stephen Colbert hosted a send up of a recent Federal Election Commission (FEC) advisory opinion request by the Karl Rove-linked American Crossroads. Crossroads is asking the FEC to allow super PACs to feature candidates and lawmakers in their ads, despite the common perception that super PACs are independent groups. Colbert, with the help of his counsel Trevor Potter, penned comments on the Crossroads request for the official record at the FEC. Here's a snippet:
"Clearly, these ads featuring candidates on behalf of candidates would not be candidate ads. As American Crossroads put it, in their original Request,
"While these advertisements would be fully coordinated with incumbent Members of Congress facing re-election in 2012, they would presumably not qualify as 'coordinated communications,'."
Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow agrees that "fully coordinated" ads shouldn't be counted as "coordinated communications." The candidate would merely be appearing as a paid spokesperson, who, coincidentally, is closely aligned with the candidate that he or she also is.
For example, an ad in which the Kool Aid man decries our nation-wide childhood thirst problem would not necessarily be an ad for Kool Aid brand juice drink. That being said, would a tall glass of Kool-Aid solve that thirst problem? To quote one expert: "Oh, yeaaahhhh!" [Colbert Report]
Election law professor and owner of the Election Law Blog Rick Hasen writes, "[Colbert's] done more to educate the general public about the troublesome nature of super PACs than anyone else in the media or academia." [Election Law Blog]
HuffPost's Jason Linkins writes about another segment on The Colbert Report where Republican presidential candidate Buddy Roemer appeared in an advertisement made by Colbert's super PAC (video here), "Roemer's hopes to raise awareness of the dysfunctional way money undermines the democratic process has gotten a boost from comedian Stephen Colbert, who involved Roemer in his latest advertisement, satirizing the rise of super PACs. In the spot, Roemer notes that the rules governing super PACs forbid the PAC from "coordinating" with candidates, unless the coordination of the candidate is over an "issue" -- in this case, the issue being how much Buddy Roemer hates super PACs." [HuffPost]
Both the Republican and the Democratic Party qualified for public funds for their conventions in 2012. [FEC]
SUPER PAC IN CALIFORNIA REDISTRICTING MATCH -- The California redistricting plan thrust a number of current congressmen into new districts and now they have to fight it out. A new super PAC, Valley-Israel Alliance, stated on their recently filed statement of organization form that they plan to back Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) in his match-up against fellow Dem Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.). The group marked their form as supporting one candidate--Howard Berman--despite the requirement that super PACs at least pretend to support more than one candidate.
CONGRESSMEN TO LEARN A LOT ABOUT HOCKEY THIS YEAR -- People, in general, might not miss watching another sad season for the Washington Wizards. Congressmen will, however, need to find a new venue to host the high-dollar donors. According to the Sunlight Foundation's Party Time, "Going back to 2008, there have been at least 45 fundraisers at NBA games, all but four of which were held at the Verizon Center, home to the Washington Wizards, according to an analysis of Party Time records. Right now, perhaps because of the lockout, there are no upcoming NBA fundraisers on the schedule. ... Fundraising at NBA games, as with other sporting events, is a very good way for lawmakers to bring in thousands of dollars per supporter. The ticket prices on invitations ranged from $500 for an individual tickets to $5,000 for a PAC to be named a 'host.'" [PartyTime]
Help us populate our list of campaign videos. Send the TV ads, radio ads, and web ads that you see our way. Fundrace is also collecting the worst historical campaign ads to feature in future editions. Send your submissions to paulblumenthal@huffingtonpost.com.
CAMPAIGN VIDEOS
DNC TV ad features an Iraq War veteran backing one piece of the American Jobs Act. Will run in swing states: http://bit.ly/rq0o1d
Haley Barbour makes Carter-Obama link in slick American Crossroads web ad: "A second Obama term means making this malaise permanent": http://bit.ly/ruQqPi
Mitt Romney's "Let Detroit go bankrupt" line is top billing in a new DNC web ad: http://bit.ly/tAJIMD
NEW PAC FILINGS
A PROMISE TO OUR CHILDREN, Independent Expenditure-Only Committee (Super PAC), Treasurer: Kenneth R. Davis
TITLETOWN PAC, Leadership PAC for Rep. Reid Ribble, Treasurer: Paul Kilgore
NEW INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURES
American Crossroads, Paid: $27,889 to VSTHEBRAIN LLC for Web Production and $20,000 to XIGENT for Web Development. Candidate opposed: Barack Obama.