Daily Media Links 4/9: FEC Ruling Leaves Ad Uncertainty, 5 lessons for Congress, and more…

April 9, 2012   •  By Joe Trotter   •  
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Independent groups

Wall Street Journal: Super PAC Money Stalled Despite Obama Greenlight 
by Peter Nicholas and Carol Lee
After Bill Burton failed to win the job of White House press secretary last year, he took a position nobody else wanted—helping lead a super PAC to help re-elect the president.  

Reuters: INSIGHT-Key Democratic donors cool to pro-Obama Super PAC
by Alina Selyukh
Two months after U.S. President Barack Obama reluctantly embraced fundraising for big-money “Super PACs,” many major Democratic donors still have not given to such political groups because they are dismayed by how PACs are being used in the presidential campaign.

Politico: Netflix forms PAC
by Dave Levinthal
In yet another move to boost its Washington profile,  Netflix has formed a political action committee,  new federal records indicate. 

Boston Globe: Fund-raising game upended in 2012 race 
by Brian C. Mooney
As the general election for president unofficially begins, its funding will be marked by two firsts: For the first time in the post-Watergate era, neither candidate will use public funds, and the super PACs created as a result of a 2010 Supreme Court ruling will have their first chance to wield their unlimited contributions from wealthy individuals, corporations, and labor unions as the nation selects a president.  

NY Times: ‘Super PAC,’ Eyeing General Election, Aims Blitz at Obama
by Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny
American Crossroads, the biggest of the Republican “super PACs,” is planning to begin its first major anti-Obama advertising blitz of the year, a moment the Obama re-election campaign has been girding for and another sign that the general election is starting in earnest.

US News: Mort Zuckerman: No Easy Solutions for Big Money in Politics
by Mort Zuckerman
Big money is having a powerfully different effect on this year’s national election campaign. We’ve seen it in the extraordinary oscillations of the Republican primaries,  largely brought about by millions of dollars of television attack ads,  financed not by the opposing campaigns so much as by groups outside the parties that can say whatever they want without the candidates or the parties being called to account.

SCOTUS/Judiciary

UPI: Under the Supreme Court: High court agrees to consider corporate free speech post-Citizen United  
by Nicole Debevec
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider taking another bite of the corporate political free speech apple recently, accepting a petition asking justices to summarily overturn a Montana Supreme Court decision petitioners say flies in the face of Citizens United. 

The Atlantic: Why Obama Should Run Against the Supreme Court 
Recently, there has been considerable debate over whether President Obama should run against the Supreme Court as part of his reelection campaign. High-ranking Democratic Rep. James Clyburn has endorsed the idea, and Obama himself has seemed to test the waters with anticipatory criticism of a decision striking down his health-care law as unconstitutional.  

Disclosure


The Hill: White House abandons push for federal contractors to disclose political giving 
by Mike Lillis
The Obama administration has all but abandoned its push to require federal contractors to disclose their political donations.  

Tax financing


Slate: Fundraising Buys Moderation 
by Matthew Yglesias
I was told anecdotally by Arizona politicians that the state’s Clean Elections law helps empower more extreme candidates and now political scientists Seth Masket and Michael Miller have the research (PDF) which backs that conclusion up. Looking at Arizona and Maine they find that “clean” funded candidates “were more ideologically extreme relative to their districts and parties than traditionally-funded legislators were.”

Candidates and parties


Wall Street Journal: Both Parties Wooing Seniors 
by Janet Hook
President Barack Obama and Democrats are counting on regaining support from older voters who switched to the GOP in 2008 and 2010 by attacking Republican plans to revamp Medicare. But Mitt Romney is proving to be a formidable competitor in this battle.  

Politico: Primary season: 5 lessons for Congress
by Alex Isenstadt
Three members of Congress have already lost their reelection bids. House GOP leadership has further fractured. A mysterious super PAC is making incumbents in both parties sweat.   

Politico: Eric Cantor donation roils House GOP 
by Alex Isenstadt
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor went into damage control mode Friday following the revelation that he contributed $25,000 to a super PAC devoted to defeating incumbent House members — including numerous Republicans.   

FEC


Roll Call: FEC Ruling Leaves Ad Uncertainty  
by Eliza Newlin Carney
A court ruling rejecting Federal Election Commission disclosure requirements as too lax has left political players unsure how much they need to report about the financing of issue ads, making the agency a battleground in the dispute over secret money in 2012. 

Joe Trotter

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