Home › Blogs › Ironman's blog ›

"Change you can believe in"?

Submitted by Ironman on Sat, 03/14/2009 - 09:25
in

NOT

THE INFLUENCE GAME: New record for number of PACs

WASHINGTON – More groups than ever are contributing money to presidential and congressional candidates as their strongest growth in a generation reflects the fervor over last year's White House election and a desire for access and clout on Capitol Hill.

The Federal Election Commission says that on Jan. 1 there were 4,611 political action committees, which are formed by companies, unions or other groups to raise and spend money to help presidential and congressional candidates. That was 9 percent more than the 4,234 PACs a year earlier.

Well, maybe this is why Obama is optimistic about the economy all of a sudden.

There's boom times going on in the influence peddling industry!

 

0
Your rating: None

Comments

Jan 1, 2012 ?

Submitted by artigiano on Sat, 03/14/2009 - 11:40.

I'd have to with hold drawing any conclusions from comparing the PAC number from Jan 1, 2009 to the number from Jan 1, 2008. At that point neither party had a nominee. Surely a lot of PAC's have disbanded since then. Does the FEC keep tabs on who is no longer operating, or just new filings? You might have to wait for the Jan 1, 2012 number to get a fair comparrison to the same point in the election cycle..

In fact, the only fair comparrison might be to Jan 1, 2016. Maybe the last year of a lame duck administration pushes the number of PAC's up or down as opposed to the other seven years. I really don't know for sure. But I am sure the election cycle must have a strong effect one way or another.

Can you get the numbers for past years back to 2003/2004, or 1999/2000?

I'll Bet There are also

Submitted by Allen on Sat, 03/14/2009 - 21:01.

A whole bunch of groups (Wall Mart, businesses, pro-lifers,.patriots..) who understand that Obama is looking to radically change America and are putting their money where their feelings are.

I do believe your main is true.