Badlands Journal

A shadowy group blast-texted a message critical of Republican Mitt Romney in the wee hours of morning Saturday. The attack was targeted to Colorado voters ahead of Tuesday's GOP caucuses. Michael Beckel http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php#beckel

When the New England Patriots and New England Giants meet on the national stage in Super Bowl XLVI this Sunday, it's expected to be an event far removed from politics -- just two tough and proven football squads, squaring off in the biggest sporting event of the year. Off the field, however, is another matter entirely. Evan Mackinder http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php

Republican Mitt Romney relied on the finance, insurance and real estate sector for roughly $2 out of every $11 he raised during the fourth quarter of 2011, according to a new analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics of campaign finance documents submitted Tuesday to the Federal Election Commission. Michael Beckel http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php#beckel

Facebook continued to show off its growing political muscle Tuesday night, as its nascent political action committee disclosed an impressive six-figure haul during its inaugural fundraising quarter. Evan Mackinder http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php

President Barack Obama has raised more money for his re-election bid from small-dollar donors than Republican Mitt Romney has collected from all his contributors, according to a new Center for Responsive Politics analysis. Michael Beckel http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php#beckel

Coming off a big win in the Florida primary race Tuesday night, Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney continues to gain steam at an impressive clip that threatens to leave his GOP rivals in the dust. Evan Mackinder http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php

Harold Simmons, long one of the GOP's most prolific donors, cemented his place on the speed-dial of fundraisers for conservative causes on Tuesday as several super PACs reported huge hauls from the Texas billionaire in their 2011 year-end campaign finance reports. Simmons and his holding company, Contran, gave $8.5 million to three super PACs, two of which support candidates for the GOP presidential nomination, in the last quarter of the year. Viveca Novak http://www.opensecrets.org

In this Internet Age, 81 senators have Twitter accounts for lightning-fast communication. Yet only a handful of them typically file their campaign finance reports electronically. Dan Hartranft http://www.opensecrets.org

Sixteen lobbyists raised nearly $2.2 million to aid the presidential campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in 2011, according to a Center for Responsive Politics review of documents filed with the Federal Election Commission. Michael Beckel http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php#beckel

Last year, 445 bundlers collectively raised at least $74.4 million for Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee. That represents $35 out of every $100 the two organizations have raised since April, when Obama launched his re-election bid. Michael Beckel http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php#beckel

The computers and Internet industry went into a spending frenzy during the SOPA/PIPA deliberations on Capitol Hill, in a united effort to kill what they deemed to be overreaching legislation that was intended to curb Internet piracy. This week's PolitiQuizz deals with one emerging tech titan. Dan Hartranft http://www.opensecrets.org

President Barack Obama's re-election campaign is refunding the donations of five registered federal lobbyists who gave to the committee last year, OpenSecrets Blog has learned. Some of these refunds were triggered after OpenSecrets Blog brought the contributions to the campaign's attention. The Obama campaign has pledged to refuse contributions from lobbyists, continuing a policy it set during the 2008 campaign. Michael Beckel http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php#beckel

SOPA and PIPA appear to have been very, very good for K Street. Companies that lobbied on the two bills spent at least $104.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, more than double the $49.3 million they laid out in the previous quarter, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics. Viveca Novak http://www.opensecrets.org

The nation’s economy may be slowly rebounding, but during 2011, the economic engine of K Street sputtered. Overall expenditures on lobbying were down for the first time in more than a decade, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics. Communications http://www.opensecrets.org/news

By Lloyd G. Carter

When Assembly Member Alyson Huber of El Dorado Hills failed to get an economic feasibility analysis bill on the controversial proposed peripheral canal out of committee recently, she was probably unaware that a similar challenge had been made to the finances of the State Water Project in 1960 by the late George “Elfie” Ballis, a legendary figure in Central California water and farmworker politics.

Huber’s bill (AB 550) would have required express approval of the Legislature for any “conveyance facility, an honest cost-benefit analysis of a peripheral canal or tunnel around the Delta” (which proponents claim would help the Delta) and prohibit any diminishing or negative impact on Delta water supplies, water rights, or water users. It failed to clear the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife on a 7-5 vote. But the vote was not along party lines. It was based on geography. North State legislators, including committee chairman Jared Huffman voted for it. The Southern California Committee members voted against it.  READ MORE »

Who's been funding the presidential super PACs since last June is largely a mystery, and will remain so until next week. But how the groups have been spending their money is a different story, thanks to legal requirements that expenditures over a certain threshhold be disclosed quickly. And the super PACs, just like the candidates they support or oppose, have shown deep differences in how they're allocating their money to get their messages across, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of the expenditures. Viveca Novak http://www.opensecrets.org

No candidate on the Republican side of the aisle has yet to join President Barack Obama in voluntarily disclosing information about all of their bundlers, people who often receive special treatment for the large amounts of money they are able to raise. Learn more about what we know -- and don't know -- about the 2012 presidential campaign bundlers in this new infographic. Michael Beckel http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php#beckel

This week's PolitiQuizz deals with Newt's better half, Callista Gingrich. Dan Hartranft http://www.opensecrets.org

Tonight President Barack Obama briefly criticized what he called the "corrosive influence of money in politics" during his State of the Union address. But his critique was more muted than the one he offered a year ago, when he openly criticized the Supreme Court justices seated before him. Michael Beckel http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php#beckel

The amount of outside spending for ads and other purposes in the current election cycle is nearly double what had been spent at the same point in 2008, according to calculations by the Center for Responsive Politics. As of Jan. 24, $44.6 million had been spent on independent expenditures, electioneering communications and communications from unions to members and corporations to shareholders. At the same point in 2008, the figure was $23.1 million, and in 2010 it was $21.1 million. Viveca Novak http://www.opensecrets.org