Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Big G.O.P. Donors Stir Senate Runs

Democrats in races that will help determine control of the Senate are rapidly burning through their campaign cash, whittling away their financial advantage over Republican opponents as they fend off attacks from conservative groups, according to figures released through Friday.

The spending on both sides underscores the critical role that outside conservative groups are playing as Republicans try to retake the Senate. In state after state, organizations like Americans for Prosperity, the nonprofit linked to the conservative billionaires David H. and Charles G. Koch, have kept Democrats on the defensive with a barrage of negative ads while establishment-backed Republican candidates raise money and navigate their way through primaries.

In Alaska, the Democratic incumbent, Senator Mark Begich, spent about as much money as he raised during the first three months of the year, while Dan Sullivan, a Republican candidate and former state attorney general, increased his fund-raising and substantially narrowed Mr. Begich’s advantage in cash on hand.

In Montana, Senator John Walsh, a Democrat, spent almost three-quarters of the money he raised since January, ending with about $700,000. Representative Bruce Braley of Iowa, the likely Democratic nominee for Senate, spent over 60 percent of the cash he raised.

Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, spent only about a third of what she collected through the end of March. But last month, Ms. Landrieu reserved $2.7 million of advertising time, according to strategists tracking both parties’ television spending, which will cut deeply into the $7.5 million she reported at the beginning of April.

“The spending totals so far show that a lot of Democratic candidates find themselves on the run,” said Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Democratic strategists say their candidates have faced a historic early onslaught of outside spending — about $33 million in all, most of it from Koch-linked groups — without squandering their coffers and while staying, for the most part, ahead of or even with their Republican rivals in the polls.

In the five battleground races where both candidates have reported their totals — Alaska, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana and North Carolina — Democrats reported a combined $25.2 million in cash on hand, compared with $12.1 million for Republicans. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had $22 million, compared with $15.9 million for the Republican committee.

“Up and down the map, Democrats are outpolling and out-fund-raising their Republican opponents, and we enjoy cash-on-hand advantages at both the campaign and committee level,” said Justin Barasky, a spokesman for the Democratic committee. “We feel very confident that, going forward, this will ensure Democrats have the resources we need to win in November.”

Democratic outside groups, which largely held their fire in the fall, have begun to increase their spending on behalf of Senate candidates while the party moves aggressively to tie Republican candidates to wealthy donors like the Kochs. According to media buyers, these Democratic groups spent about $4 million in March, led by Senate Majority PAC, a “super PAC” with ties to the Democratic leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada. Republican groups spent about $5.5 million.

The Democratic counterattack is being led chiefly by super PACs, the groups legalized after the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision to allow big donors, unions and corporations to raise and spend unlimited contributions. By contrast, Republican super PACs, which have dominated fund-raising in the past two elections, appear to be collecting and spending less this time.

Instead, Republicans are relying heavily on nonprofit groups that do not disclose their donors and whose political activities have come under scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service and congressional Democrats.

Several Republican challengers will need to spend more heavily in the weeks ahead to beat back rivals for the party’s nomination, or to introduce themselves to voters against Democrats who are already well known.

In the high-profile Senate race in Kentucky, neither Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, nor Alison Lundergan Grimes, his Democratic challenger, has released recent figures. But over the last six months, Ms. Grimes has steadily narrowed her financial gap with Mr. McConnell, who faces a primary challenge and attacks from conservative groups that are seeking to unseat him. In Republican-leaning Georgia, which has an open Senate seat, the Democratic candidate, Michelle Nunn, posted consistently strong fund-raising numbers during the second half of last year.

And some Republican candidates are floundering in the hunt for cash.

Senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina, a Democrat who has been the subject of nearly ceaseless attack ads from conservative groups since the fall, conserved about half of the cash she raised and began the spring with $8.3 million in hand. Thom Tillis, the Republican candidate backed by the party establishment, spent significantly more than he raised during the first three months of the year. Mr. Tillis, the speaker of the North Carolina House, began April with just $1 million in cash on hand and is locked in a primary fight.

In many general election matchups, spending by Republican super PACs and political nonprofit groups appears to have more than evened the financial playing field with Democrats.

In Arkansas, Republican candidates and outside groups have spent $4 million on television advertising, more than twice what Democrats have. That has allowed Representative Tom Cotton, who is expected to be the Republican nominee for Senate, to spend less of his cash than Senator Mark Pryor, a Democrat, who spent more than he raised during the last three months of 2013. (The campaigns said they would not release more recent fund-raising figures until next week.)

In Michigan, Representative Gary Peters, a Democrat running for Senate, faces both a Republican opponent who is partly financing her own campaign and a financial offensive mounted by outside groups. Republican spending there has reached $3.6 million, about three times the Democrats’ spending.

Mr. Peters spent twice as much during the last months of 2013 as his leading Republican opponent, Terri Lynn Land, a former Michigan secretary of state. Neither candidate has released detailed fund-raising information for 2014. Ms. Land said she had raised $1.5 million, and a spokesman for Mr. Peters said he would report a similar amount.

Original Article
Source: nytimes.com/
Author:  NICHOLAS CONFESSORE

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