Priorities USA Action, the super PAC supporting Obama, had not submitted its filings as of early Sunday evening. It has typically lagged in fundraising compared with Restore Our Future and other conservative outside groups. ...LA Times
Money from the right is also pouring into Congressional races where Democrats "appeared to be operating at a serious cash disadvantage,"* according to the New York Times.
Outside groups, including super PACs and advocacy organizations, have spent at least $7 million on House races and $12.4 million on Senate races since the beginning of April, the first wave in what is expected to be a flood of independent spending this year in the battle for control of Congress.
Some groups, like the Club for Growth and FreedomWorks for America, which push for lower taxes and reduced government spending, spent heavily in primary races between incumbent Republicans and challengers in Utah and Indiana. ...NYT
The Obama campaign has invested heavily on its online presence and its field organizers.
The Obama campaign, far more than Romney’s, has invested in its online presence. Obama spent more than $2.3 million last month on online advertising; Romney, just $150,000.
Payroll expenses revealed another disparity. Obama, who has invested heavily in field organizers in battleground states, spent $2.4 million on paying campaign staff, nearly five times what Romney spent on payroll. ...LA Times
*For about an hour, a cut-and-paste typo gave the Dems a cash "advantage." Unfortunately, it's really a disadvantage!
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Just around the corner is the climax of the recall effort against Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin. Money from the right has been pouring into the state to backstop citizens' efforts to remove their corrupt governor. The outcome should tell us a lot about whether rightwing interest groups' money will buy not just Wisconsin but the entire nation.
Walker, according to a report in The Hill, has a slight edge over his opponent. And the right is fighting hard to keep him in office.
... While both sides tout the robust campaign organizations they’ve built in the last two years and promise the get-out-the-vote efforts in the fall will be unprecedented, each admitted concern that if they lose the recall election their side may see some drop-off in enthusiasm for the fall elections.
Democrats have more to worry about — while the unions and liberal activists were more gung-ho about recalling Walker, some party strategists were concerned a loss could be demoralizing for their side and hurt them in the fall. Some privately urged against the recall.
“A Walker loss is probably more likely to fire up Republicans rather than dispirit them — there’s such a strong attachment to Scott Walker in the Republican Party here,” said University of Wisconsin Professor Charles Franklin, who conducted one of the polls showing Walker with a lead and Obama tied with Romney. “With a victory for him, I think there would be some dispirited Democrats... A victory would be incredible in terms of firing up Democrats, all this effort will fire them up. I just don’t know what would happen with a loss.” ...The Hill
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Responding to the successful grass-roots campaign for the governor's recall, Karl Rove's groups and corporate interests have put $25 million into keeping anti-union Scott Walker in business ...in big business! The Wall Street Journal's update last night has Walker ahead.
With little more than two weeks until Wisconsin's gubernatorial recall election, some Democratic and union officials quietly are expressing fears that they have picked a fight they won't win and that could leave lingering injuries.
Recent polling and a head start on fundraising by Gov. Scott Walker have some Democrats concerned that the Republican will survive the June 5 recall election.
The election has taken on significance beyond Wisconsin state politics: Organized labor sees the battle as a major stand against GOP efforts to scale back collective-bargaining rights for public-sector workers, as Mr. Walker did after taking office in 2011. Some Democrats now fear mobilizing Republicans to battle the recall could carry over to help the party—and Republican Mitt Romney—in November's presidential election.
The latest polls show Mr. Walker building a small lead over Democrat Tom Barrett, the mayor of Milwaukee, with few voters remaining undecided, adding to the Democrats' concerns. ...WSJ
