Swift Boat funder targeting under-the-radar races
Due to our loophole-ridden system of campaign financing, a few deep-pocket donors can change the entire dynamic of elections, especially in small races. Bloomberg reports today on Texas tycoon Bob Perry, whose cash deeply impacted the 2004 presidential race, and is now targeting less-noticed House contests in 2006:
Bob Perry, the Houston homebuilder who led the drive to discredit Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's war record in 2004, has replaced George Soros as the biggest donor in U.S. politics.In addition to financing the decisive Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacks, among Perry's other accomplishments are emerging as the largest political donor in Texas, bolstering the Republican Party and helping launch the career of George W. Bush.Perry, 74, has given at least $9.2 million to groups backing Republican House and Senate candidates, Federal Election Commission records show. In 2004, Soros, 76, was the top contributor, giving at least $27 million in an effort to defeat President George W. Bush.
Perry is targeting congressional races in states such as Georgia, Oregon, Iowa and West Virginia that may have slipped off the radar of national party leaders. "You're dealing with a much more rifle-shot operation" than in 2004, said Kent Cooper, co- founder of Washington-based PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks campaign spending. "Play the long shot and your payoff is much bigger." [...]
One group, the Sacramento-based Economic Freedom Fund, received $5 million from Perry -- almost its entire budget -- and spent at least $829,811 since Sept. 1 on TV commercials attacking Georgia Democratic representatives Jim Marshall and John Barrow. That's more than either party has spent on those races. [...]
The group is also airing ads against Democratic representatives Leonard Boswell in Iowa, Darlene Hooley in Oregon and Alan Mollohan in West Virginia.
1 Comments:
Great to see this on a blog, especially after Hugh Hewitt's book, "Blog" basically argues that thanks to bloggers, the "truth" was revealed about Kerry by Perry and others....J.Scradie
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