USA Today – Super PACs, candidates blur lines ahead of Nov. 6 – Presidential candidates and the super PACs accepting unlimited donations to help their campaigns cannot coordinate their activity, yet they are sharing consultants, donors and even advertising footage, raising new questions about the independence of outside groups. READ MORE
Huffington Post – Arizona anti-union bills fueled by Americans for Prosperity, Koch brothers support – In Arizona, Republican efforts to dismantle public unions took another step forward this week. On Tuesday, the state Senate passed a bill banning the practice of "release time," by which government employees are paid to do union work. The bill would affect a wide array of union workers, including firefighters, police officers, and construction workers, who may be called on by the government for assistance in the case of an emergency…Americans for Prosperity, the conservative group backed by billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, called on Arizona supporters to pressure lawmakers to pass the reforms, however, leading to Tuesday's quick vote on the release time ban. READ MORE
Bloomberg – Obama leads in primary spending without Democratic foe – During 2012’s primary campaign, one presidential candidate has bought more advertising, hired more people and spent more on a grassroots organization than any other White House hopeful. If money is ammunition in politics, President Barack Obama so far is outgunning all the Republicans vying to challenge him, building a national network of staff and volunteers even while he’s unopposed for the Democratic nomination. READ MORE
Washington Post – Mitt Romney, facing money challenges, aggressively seeks donations – Mitt Romney, eager to capitalize on his primary-election victories this week, is aggressively pushing for new donations to offset his presidential campaign’s heavy spending and is erecting battle stations in upcoming Super Tuesday states… Money has become an acute challenge for Romney, who was forced to devote significant resources to fending off Rick Santorum and his other GOP rivals in February. The former Massachusetts governor had less than $8 million on hand at the end of January and has almost certainly burned through most or all of that since then. His campaign spent at least $2.3 million in February just on advertising in Michigan and Ohio, according to a GOP strategist who tracks ad spending. READ MORE
Sunlight Foundation – Big super PAC donors: Same old guns, just more money – If there were any doubts about how much the political landscape has changed post-Citizens United, here's one leading indicator: An analysis by Sunlight's Reporting Group shows that the biggest donors to super PACs are giving more political donations earlier in the campaign than they have in the past. In the first 12 months of the 2012 election cycle, 37 individuals and 9 organizations each gave $500,000 or more to super PACs, for a total of $48 million. The same individuals and organizations gave a combined $64 million to a range of state and federal candidates during the previous four years. READ MORE