What Happens in Vegas: Sheldon Adelson Spent More Than We Thought

There were many moments of schadenfreude on the night of Election 2012, and there have been many since. But this goes beyond my slightly guilty pleasure at the misfortune and sadness of conservatives. The Citizens United decision was a very scary unknown before the election started. There was real fear that all of that money--much of it from unknown sources--was effectively going to buy a president, and all of the rest of our government. It was an amazing surprise when most of that tidal wave of money crashed harmlessly down shore.

Ain't he something? Image from source.

Of course, in my state of Nevada, we did get a little bit wet. Even though President Obama carried the state, Shelley Berkley lost her Senate run, and both Joe Heck and Dean Heller won their respective races. But overall, the megamillions spent on the election didn't pay off particularly well for those who fronted the money. I'm shocked that Karl Rove isn't persona non grata in Right Wing World. You'd almost expect him to be eeping-slay with the ishes-fay, if you catch my drift.

But let's get back to schadenfreude, shall we? One of the biggest spenders behind the Rove-style groups was Las Vegas' own troll gremlin golem squillionaire, Sheldon Adelson. The Venetian owner plunked down wads of cash to keep Newt Gingrich afloat (well past his prime), and then backed Romney, even though he'd previously payed to tear Mitt down. All of that money is flushed away now, but it turns out there was a lot more going down the drain than we previously knew.

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Sheldon Adelson Spent Far More On Campaign Than Previously Known

Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson vowed to spend as much as $100 million to defeat President Barack Obama and help the GOP take control of Congress. According to two GOP fundraisers with close ties to the Las Vegas billionaire, he made good on that promise -- and then some. Adelson ultimately upped the ante, spending closer to a previously unreported $150 million, the fundraisers said. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Sherrod Brown Clashes with Challenger in Ohio

Image from source, Cleveland.com

In an earlier post, I commented on the super PAC activities blanketing our airwaves with attack ads, and specifically one of the contests in Ohio. I grew up in Columbus, and still have family there. What I'm hearing is that well-liked Senator Sherrod Brown is just getting buried in ads from groups like Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS, even though his challenger is kind of twerpy and allegedly quite the liar.

Fortunately, Brown is not new to politics, and he's not going down without a fight. But will a fight be enough? Can Brown beat a 5-to-1 ad blitz? If the other side has a lousy product to sell, will all the advertising in the world be able to sell it anyway? Given Ohio's recent political behavior--some good, some really frightening--I guess it could go either way.

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Josh Mandel, Sherrod Brown spar at meeting for Plain Dealer endorsement

In their first Northeast Ohio face-off, U.S. Senate candidates Sherrod Brown and Josh Mandel ripped into each other, questioning each other's truthfulness during an endorsement interview Friday at The Plain Dealer offices. . .

Read more at: Cleveland.com

SCOTUS Kills 100-year-old Montana Campaign Finance Law

Ladies and gentlemen, The Supremes!

I really don't get it. I thought that with the proliferation of gazillions of dollars in the wake of the Citizens United case, that the Supreme Court would begin to see the error of their ways. Instead, they've just reaffirmed it. Maybe not enough time has yet passed. Maybe it's a pride thing. Oddly, the original case wasn't even asking the question that SCOTUS ultimately answered: can corporations give unlimited money to political campaigns? Yes! Because every American believes that there just haven't been enough political ads!

My only hope is, that we as Americans get so burned out on the blizzard of ads, that we all get itchy for a constitutional amendment. Without a change in the court, it's the only way.

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Supreme Court rejects Montana campaign finance limits

The Supreme Court on Monday struck down Montana’s attempt to limit campaign contributions, citing the Citizens United ruling that opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate campaign spending. The 5-4 ruling was made on partisan lines, with the conservative majority voting to summarily dismiss the Montana case without oral arguments. . .


Read more: Politico

Who is Rick Santorum's Secret Billionaire?

Everybody knows that Mitt Romney is a multi- (multi-, multi-) millionaire, and is supported by same. He's been the GOP establishment's choice for some time, and doesn't need a single billionaire benefactor. But, Newt Gingrich wouldn't still be in the race without my state's favorite billionaire, Sheldon Adelson. He has single-handedly kept Newtie-patootie afloat, and that is allowed in post-Citizens United America. So, who if anyone will be the billionaire to come to Rick (don't Google me) Santorum's aid, now that he's cleaned up in three contests? Not surprisingly, there is somebody! Watch the guy in the green tie. His name is Foster Friess, and he's Frothy Mix's new best friend.

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Stephen Colbert's SuperPAC's First Anti-Romney Attack Ad

Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow (the public name of the Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super PAC) has released its first attack ad against Mitt Romney, since Stephen Colbert launched his presidential bid.  As expect, it is both funny, and completely on point. If corporations are people--as Mittens himself said--what is the logical conclusion, if Romney effectively killed several of them? I only wish Colbert was serious. This is a very meta campaign, by a candidate that has been skewering SuperPACs, and the ridiculousness of the Citizens United ruling. It just adds one more layer of truthiness.

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Chris Matthews: Romney Victory Would be Dollars Over Democracy

I only ever catch Hardball with Chris Matthews when I'm at the gym at the right time. But Monday's episode was worth the time for Matthews' "Let Me Finish. . ." segment. In this post-Citizens United world, money is king more than ever in politics. And the way the money is being spent is less than transparent. Romney's SuperPAC is supposedly not connected to him. But everyone knows it is. Those sorts of technicalities will hopefully be addressed, if the Citizens United ruling itself can't be undone.

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Stephen Colbert's Super Pac!

I got dragged into a few political squabbles with my (conservative) parents while back in Ohio last week. I tried to avoid it, but sometimes it just happens. But as is the case with many "lifelong" conservatives, my parents' political knowledge often tends to be shallow and selective. For instance, neither was familiar with the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, that essentially affirmed that corporations are "people," and their money "free speech."

 So, my folks might be a bit mystified by Stephen Colbert (of Comedy Central's Colbert Report), and his new "Super PAC." Super PACs are newly possible organizations, who can take unlimited amounts of money from corporations, and they don't have to disclose who they are. So, essentially, a Super PAC (like Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS) could theoretically take millions of dollars from a multi-national corporation, and funnel it into a strategic political race, dwarfing the opposition's spending. It is not inconceivable that foreign interests could effectively "buy" a candidate this way.


So, Colbert established his own Super PAC. Its goals are not clear, though they are surely to lampoon this outrageous circumstance we find ourselves in. Colbert has made two ads that are running in Iowa now. In both cases, he's urging Iowa Straw Poll voters to write in "Rick Parry" (rather than Perry), for unknown reasons. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. But in the meantime, the videos are pretty amusing.