Unpredictable variable enters presidential race

It looks like this election will be heavily influenced by Super PACs thanks to the Supreme Corporate Court who unleashed these groups to spend countless millions on subverting the whole election process!

And with no accountability!

 

Independent groups getting a head start on 2012 campaign

Turn Right USA is one of more than 100 super PACs created in the last year, the result of federal court rulings that overturned restrictions on political spending by corporations and unions.

An untold number of other organizations have formed as tax-exempt social welfare groups, which are supposed to devote only a portion of their activities to politics. (But their ignoring that and coughing up their coffers for political agendas).

The efforts by these independent groups — many of them so-called super PACS, which can raise unlimited amounts of money array of GOP-allied organizations that began operating in the 2010 cycle.

Crossroads GPS and its sister organization American Crossroads are expected to have an even bigger presence in 2012, pledging to spend $120 million altogether to advance Republican goals. Priorities USA — which, like Crossroads, has separate super PAC and nonprofit arms — has raised between $4 million and $5 million so far.

Early groundwork by conservative groups in summer 2009 helped trigger the Republican wave that hit the following fall. One such group, Americans for Prosperity, held more than 300 town halls and rallies decrying Obama's healthcare reform plan.

Restore Our Future PAC, a super PAC created in October to campaign on behalf of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, raised $12 million in the first half of the year, according to officials. Among its founders is Carl Forti, who was a top Romney campaign aide in 2008 and is currently political director for American Crossroads.

Another group, Americans for Rick Perry, was started by La Jolla-based GOP consultant Bob Schuman last month in the hopes of luring the Texas governor into the presidential race. The group raked in $400,000 in just three weeks, which Schuman said will go toward on-the-ground activities in Iowa.