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Next Act for Super PACs and Dark Money Nonprofits: Lobbying to Block Compromise on the "Fiscal Cliff"

After some early success helping far-right candidates in the Republican primaries, Super PACs and dark money nonprofits failed to eke out many victories on election night 2012. But these groups are seeking to make up for lost ground by influencing policy through lobbying, issue advocacy, and the threat of attack ads against Republican legislators who compromise, particularly on negotiations over the "fiscal cliff."

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Join the Rolling Jubilee: “You Are Not a Loan”

-- Harriet Rowan and Mary Bottari

Americans always feel charitable around the holiday season, giving some $300 billion to a diverse array of charities in 2011 alone. Now there is new way Americans can help their neighbors in need, by purchasing and forgiving their debt.

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Walker, other GOP Governors Reject State-Run Healthcare Exchanges under Tea Party Pressure

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has refused to implement a state-run health care exchange, defaulting to a federally-run exchange in protest of the federal health care law known as "Obamacare." Tea Party groups had pressured Walker to reject the exchanges.

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This Is What Plutocracy Looks Like: Romney Suggests Obama Bribed Voters

Failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney was caught on tape in another candid moment with big dollar donors. In an attempt to explain his stunning loss, Romney alleges that President Obama bribed the electorate with "gifts":

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Winners and Losers in the "Big Secret Bucks" Spending War

The Sunlight Foundation has crunched the numbers and calculated the "return on investment" that big-spending Super PACs and "dark money" groups achieved in the 2012 cycle. It reflects how much of the money spent by each group went to support candidates who won (or to oppose candidates who lost) in the general election campaign.

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WI Legislators Receive $24K in Campaign Contributions After Pushing ALEC Predatory Lending Bill

Wisconsin's effort to open the state to predatory lenders using American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) legislation has paid dividends for the ALEC legislators behind it.

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Hide the Kids, the Elderly, the Sick & the Poor! Paul Ryan is Headed for the Cliff

After an electoral shellacking and exit polls that show the vast majority of Americans are on Barack Obama's side when it comes to the major issues of the day, Paul Ryan is headed back to Congress convinced that he espouses "very popular ideas" and calling the 2012 results "a very close election."

With this mind-set Ryan is prepping to turn the "fiscal cliff" austerity debate to the advantage of the Social Security bashers and Medicare slashers.

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After the $6 Billion Election, Calls for Subpoenas and Amendments

Now that the most expensive election in history is over, an increasing number of Americans are demanding action to reduce the influence of money and corporations in our political system -- and reformers are offering solutions.

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61 Super PAC Donors Gave as Much Money as 1.4 Million Small Donors to Campaigns

Just sixty-one individuals gave $285.2 million to Super PACs in the 2012 elections, contributing the same amount as 1,425,500 small grassroots donors to the major party presidential candidates, according to a new report from Demos and U.S. PIRG.

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WI Republican Insists Romney Would Have Won if Voter ID Law Was in Place, But Admits "Not Dealing With the Real Reality"

Wisconsin State Senator Alberta Darling said that Mitt Romney could have won the state if Wisconsin's voter ID law had been in place for the November 6 election, despite zero evidence of voter fraud -- but also admitted she and other Republicans may not be "dealing with the real reality."

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