Washington Post - ‘Super PAC’ American Crossroads seeks permission to feature candidates in ads - American Crossroads, the largest of a new generation of political interest groups, is seeking to use a loophole in campaign laws to do something that has occupied a gray area of election law: produce advertisements featuring federal candidates and officeholders. That would be a step that Crossroads and other “super PACs” have not taken so far. But the conservative Crossroads says it is just following a precedent set by the Democratic Party, which has spent at least a half-million dollars in recent months on ads featuring Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) talking about his record. READ MORE
Huffington Post - Congress Passes Three Major Trade Deals, Ending Political Standoff - Congress -- if you listen to pundits and Washington politicians -- is completely broken. But when multinational corporate interests are at stake, suddenly the institution figures out how to get to work. On Wednesday, both chambers passed three sweeping trade agreements with bipartisan majorities, against the opposition of labor unions worried about job losses that would result. READ MORE
Huffington Post - House Republican Super PAC Ready To Raise Unlimited Funds To Retain GOP Majority - House Republicans will soon have another big money vehicle supporting them. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC that can raise and spend unlimited funds, will launch on Nov. 2 as the only independent group with the sole goal of retaining and expanding the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. Former Sen. Norm Coleman will chair the group, and Brian Walsh, president of the American Action Network, will serve as president of the PAC. The board of directors includes some major fundraising names in Republican Washington: former congressman and current lobbyist Vin Weber, former presidential adviser and current businessman Fred Malek, and former National Republican Congressional Committee chairman and current lobbyist Tom Reynolds. READ MORE
The Hill - Al Gore backs Occupy Wall Street protests - Former Vice President Al Gore threw his support behind the Occupy Wall Street protests Wednesday night, arguing that the country’s elected officials have failed the public on everything “from the economy to the climate crisis.” Gore, a vocal advocate of policies to address climate change, called the protests — which have spread around the country — a “true grassroots movement.” “From the economy to the climate crisis, our leaders have pursued solutions that are not solving our problems; instead they propose policies that accomplish little,” Gore wrote on his blog Wednesday night. READ MORE