Conservatives outspent liberals 2-1 in elections

[andym]

Source: USA Today

WASHINGTON — Tuesday's midterm elections — and the record-shattering amounts outside groups spent to oust Democratic incumbents — are just a warm-up to the 2012 presidential race, analysts and experts say.

Conservative groups outspent liberal groups by a more than 2-to-1 ratio heading into an Election Day that brought the biggest Republican sweep in the House of Representatives in decades and sliced into the Democratic majority in the Senate.

"The Democrats brought a bat, and the Republicans brought a grenade," said Dave Levinthal of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign money. "If you think spending is out of control by outside groups, it likely will blow your mind in the presidential election."
.....
Conservative spending has topped $187 million this year, up from $19.6 million in 2006, the last midterm election, the center's data show. The leader of one of the leading GOP organizations said on Wednesday that it plans to play a big role in 2012.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2010-11-04-money04_ST_N.htm?csp=34news

---

Just as one might suspect..... Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission played a big role for the GOP.

Lots of the money apparently came from Wall Street Hedge Funds and private equity moguls (see post #5)

[Blue_Tires]

1. Chamber of Commerce bought as many races as they could...

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

24. Problem was their ads were so generic.

What may play well in one part of the country doesn't play so well in another.

[canoeist52]

2. ...Guess they're not so conservative, eh?

[elleng]

3. HUGE role, and only thing that might save us would be palin/x ticket.

[Exultant Democracy]

4. Well we know that we won't be seeing any electoral reform in the next 2 years from the house.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

18. Unless it happens in the next 2 months.

:rofl:

[andym]

5. "Spending blitz by outside groups helped secure big GOP wins"

Hedge fund moguls helped bankroll groups' attack ads, sources tell NBC News

Source: MSNBC

"A tightly coordinated effort by outside Republican groups, spearheaded by Karl Rove and fueled by tens of millions of dollars in contributions from Wall Street hedge fund moguls and other wealthy donors, helped secure big GOP midterm victories Tuesday, according to campaign spending figures and Republican fundraising insiders.

Leading the GOP spending pack was a pair of groups — American Crossroads and its affiliate, Crossroads GPS — both of which were co-founded by two former aides in the George W. Bush White House: Rove, and Ed Gillespie.

Together, the groups — which are not formally part of the Republican Party — spent more than $38 million on attack ads and campaign mailings against Democrats, according to figures compiled by the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan group that tracks campaign spending in congressional races.

A substantial portion of Crossroads GPS’ money came from a small circle of extremely wealthy Wall Street hedge fund and private equity moguls, according to GOP fundraising sources who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity. These donors have been bitterly opposed to a proposal by congressional Democrats — and endorsed by the Obama administration — to increase the tax rates on compensation that hedge funds pay their partners, the sources said."

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39995283/ns/politics-decision_2010
---------------------------------------

more details on the first story above...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

6. I have to admit, I didn't give as much as I did in 2008...

...partly because I simply can't afford to; but mostly because I'm sickened by the obscene amount of money that is spent on political campaigns.

[Kolesar]

8. I tried canvassing, but found that I could not speak for our candidates

The Ohio script was rather screwy. They wanted my to talk about four of the candidates for statewide office while standing on somebody's porch.

[tabbycat31]

27. 4 candidates is too much.

I was recently a field organizer for a campaign and we had our volunteers (canvassers and phone bankers) talk about 2-3 candidates, focused mainly on Senate and Congress (we won one we lost one).

There was no governor on the ticket this year so it was only federal offices. Most of the state legislative districts were so gerrymandered that the incumbent was a shoo in. There was a state senate race that we lost but he did not buy into our campaign so we did not talk about him.

[SKKY]

7. How much did we spend in the GE to win over McCain/Palin???

All I'm saying is, it happens. I'm not concerned who spends more than who.

[Democat]

9. Where is that Disclose Act that Democrats were going to pass?

Democratic leadership is pathetic.

[No Elephants]

10. If money were all, Whitman and McMahon would have won.

Yes, you have to spend to get your name and positions known and to respond to attacks. And you can do some of that gratis, if you are a serious candidate and/or good at manipulating media. Yes, you have to spend, but more money does not always mean election.

Clearly, 2006 and 2008 were anti-incumbent years (aka voting for change). I would posit, so was 2010.

IMO, if we say 2006 and 2008 were anti-incumbent years, but 2010 was only about money, we are kidding ourselves. Again.

[XemaSab]

11. Whitman managed to smear her homely mug

all over the internets and the TV.

If she'd spent less, she might have done better. :P

[enki23]

13. money *IS*all, for candidates who don't get large automatic media exposure

.

[Omaha Steve]

12. WSJ: Unions spent more than $200 million to back Democrats on Tuesday

And yet there are many Dems here that hate unions?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703509004575592963249367510.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

14. This doesn't add up

The OP states that conservatives spent 187 million (or something close), and your WSJ link states the unions spent 200 million. I can't believe unions outspent Karl Rove's machine.

Dems hate unions? I've been in a few unions, and yeah, had some disagreements with the union leadership, but generally the unions help us (workers) to get a fair deal from the folks with the capital. And in many industries, the non-union salaried folks have "trickle-down" benefits that were won by union action.

:hi:

[andym]

17. wsj is using different numbers-- basically including the entire unoin's budget

not just the FEC numbers which more directly impact the election.

Apparently, it is nearly impossible to directly numbers because of accounting methods,
which can be used to hide or overemphasize what each organization actually did...

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/the-complexities-of-campaign-spending-and-in-adding-it-all-up/

[StarburstClock]

15. "Smeg" Whitman wasted $141 million of her own money: what an obscene waste

Imagine what that sum could do in another country for hungry people, education, health, infrastructure, etc...

[Jim__]

16. Corporations outspent citizens. - n/t

[Roland99]

19. the dual-cocked election: CoC and Koch

[perimedik]

20. money wasted

there will always be a flucuation of money from one side to the other.
each party needs to be accountable for their votes and actions regardless of how much money is spent on campaigns.
Promises need to be kept and AMERICA needs to be put first.

[struggle4progress]

21. There's only one way to beat them: raw people power. And I don't mean only during elections --

unless we can organize for lobbying and public opinion work, we're going to continue to get smashed

[0rganism]

22. "$187 million this year, up from $19.6 million in 2006"

Order of magnitude increase in a midterm election.

Looks like the death-blow for democracy in the USA.

[CatholicEdHead]

28. Plus all the "soft" support

e.g. endless right wing talk, the astroturf tea party movement, etc...

[Thor_MN]

23. Ban campaign commercials, make the networks show one PSA per commercial break

Rotated equally for each candidate.

[sally cat]

25. It's time for campaign finance reform.

[Creative]

26. Not in the House races that mattered...

"Overall, Democratic candidates in the 63 races that flipped to the GOP had $206.4 million behind them, a tally that includes candidate fundraising and spending by parties and interests. That compares to only $171.7 million for their GOP rivals."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/03/AR2010110308465.html