'U.S. Chamber of Commerce played a central strategic role in a coordinated effort to elect Repubs'

[kpete]

Attack ads funded by the right-wing U.S. Chamber of Commerce “dramatically expanded” the 2010 House field for Republicans, a new study found. “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce played a central strategic role in a coordinated effort to elect Republicans in this fall’s elections,” the report from union-backed U.S. Chamber Watch concludes.

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Chamber Watch: Business Group ‘Central’ to GOP Gains

* By Matthew Murray
* Roll Call Staff
* 6:00 a.m.

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According to an advanced copy of the report provided exclusively to Roll Call, the chamber spent $32 million on the 2010 midterm elections, 93 percent on GOP candidates. The business group also worked “alongside 30 conservative groups, including American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS” — two groups run by former Bush administration adviser Karl Rove — an alliance that the report says “reflects (the chamber’s) overall mission to elect a Republican Congress.”

“It worked almost exclusively to elect Republicans in the powerful Senate, giving one lone endorsement to a Democrat, West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, on whom it made no expenditures. On the House side, the chamber created an appearance of bipartisanship by spending on behalf of eleven Democrats,” the 11-page report states. “But the chamber’s support for Democratic members was razor-thin, and sometimes, the chamber withheld support altogether, even where Democratic members worked hard to earn the chamber’s approval. On average, the Chamber spent 22 percent as much on Democratic candidates as it did on Republican House candidates it supported.”

more:
http://www.rollcall.com/news/-200473-1.html

[FBaggins]

1. Hardly a surprise. n/t

[ProSense]

2. Yeah, Think Progress did a good job tracking this. n/t

[otohara]

3. Anti-American Lobbying Firm

should be their real name.