Salon.com > American Crossroads

How much did Sheldon Adelson spend on the 2012 election?

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Exactly how much, you ask?

We don't really know, and it's likely we never will. Many of the groups that spent the most on the election aren't required to report their donors. But thanks to recent campaign finance filings, we can get a better idea.

We dug through Federal Election Commission and Internal Revenue Service records and found that Adelson and his wife, Miriam, spent at least $98 million this election cycle. The money went to at least 34 different candidates and groups, with contributions ranging from $2,000 for a Florida congressional candidate to $30 million for Restore Our Future, the super PAC that supported Mitt Romney.

Adelson also gave $20 million to Winning Our Future, a super PAC backing Newt Gingrich; $23 million to American Crossroads, a conservative super PAC; and $5 million each to the Congressional Leadership Fund and the YG Action Fund, both of which supported Republican candidates for Congress.

Karl Rove’s shameless dark money lie

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 13:00:00 +0000

In a confidential 2010 filing, Crossroads GPS — the dark money group that spent more than $70 million from anonymous donors on the 2012 election — told the Internal Revenue Service that its efforts would focus on public education, research and shaping legislation and policy.

The group's application for recognition as a social welfare nonprofit acknowledged that it would spend money to influence elections, but said "any such activity will be limited in amount, and will not constitute the organization's primary purpose."

Big Money lost the battle, but the war goes on

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 16:20:00 +0000

“Never before has so much political money been spent to achieve so little,” the Washington Post’s Dan Eggen and T.W. Farnam wrote in their big A1 story yesterday. “Spending by outside groups, it turns out, was the dog that barked but did not bite.” You can find a similar narrative in the New York Times, Politico, the Wall Street Journal and pretty much everywhere else.

And indeed, Tuesday was a terrible no good awful night for most of the biggest super PACs and other assorted "outside" groups, as most of them are Republican-aligned and Republicans lost big. Hundreds of millions of dollars down the drain and with nothing to show for it.

Karl Rove unleashes the swiftboats

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:25:00 +0000

Karl Rove is partying like it’s 2004 — resorting to a theme he used in George W. Bush’s reelection campaign and reinventing it in a massive ad campaign being run by his superPAC, American Crossroads, that casts Barack Obama and the Democrats as soft on terror and evokes the fear that gripped the nation in the wake of 9/11.

The ad, “Act of Terror,” which started airing on October 18, is being heralded by some on the right as a stinging rebuke to President Obama’s foreign policy because it insinuates that Obama intentionally misled the American people in the wake of the assassination of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Libya in September.

It is based on one of the most dramatic moments of the second Obama-Romney debate in which Mitt Romney suggests that Obama purposefully put forth a false narrative to bolster the impression that he has been successful in fighting terror. It is artfully edited to omit the fact that moderator Candy Crowley stopped Romney in midstream during the debate and confirmed that President Obama did in fact use the phrase “act of terror” in a speech on September 12, the day after the tragedy.

Super PAC spending is about to explode

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Things have taken a turn for the worse for Democrats in recent days -- just as the campaign enters what could be described as the super PAC death zone. Even though we’ve already seen at least $517 million spent by outside groups, almost all of it on attack ads, during this election cycle so far -- more than every other cycle since 1990 at similar points combined -- the wave of outside money about to crash down on the race between now and election day could add up to double what’s already been spent.

For 10 of the past 11 election cycles, about half of the total outside money spent during the entire campaign came during the month preceding the election, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. In 2010, the first election following the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, 56 percent of the total spent during that cycle came in the last 30 days alone. The only exception was 2008, when a still considerable 40 percent of the total was spent in October and early November. If that past is precedent, the next month could see another $400–570 million spent, easily pushing outside spending over the $1 billion threshold.

American Crossroads ads will target Obama on Libya

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 22:13:00 +0000

A new video released by the Karl Rove-linked super PAC American Crossroads is part of a strategy by conservatives to make the president look weak on defense in the run-up to the first debate.

The video shows images of the attacks on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and says that Obama spent that day campaigning in Las Vegas. The ad goes on to show various lightweight Obama interview appearances on shows like "The View" and "Late Night With David Letterman." "President Obama needs to learn, being president isn't just about being on TV and protecting your job. It's about leadership," the video says.

Conservatives pour new money into 6 Senate races

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 20:15:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — A conservative super PAC affiliated with Republican strategist Karl Rove has jumped back into the Indiana Senate race with a nearly $1 million ad buy highlighting Democratic nominee Joe Donnelly's support for President Barack Obama's policies.

The Indiana buy is part of more than $6.4 million worth of air time that Crossroads GPS and American Crossroads bought this week against Democrats in six competitive Senate contests, according to Federal Election Commission records. The money was also dedicated to Senate races in Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Nevada and Wisconsin.

Indiana, while appearing firmly in GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's camp, is emerging as a battleground state for control of the Senate. Groups supporting Democrats also have poured about $1.5 million into the race in the past six weeks, hoping to take away the seat held for 36 years by Republican Richard Lugar.

State Treasurer Richard Mourdock defeated Lugar in the Republican primary in May and was an early favorite to keep the seat in GOP hands.

Crossroads GPS makes the case that Donnelly, now a House member, cast critical votes in support of Obama's $833 billion economic stimulus and expansion of government-supported health insurance coverage. It's the first time the group has been on the state's airwaves in more than three months.