By Sara Dover: Subscribe to Sara's RSS feed
February 24, 2012 9:53 AM EST
Super PACs are new this election season, but the term is popping up everywhere in politics. That's because these deep-pocketed fan clubs have become a major force in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are becoming increasingly dependent on these nontraditional sources of campaign finance, which allow candidates to reap unlimited donations. Super PACs are the mechanism by which a small group of super-rich has become the biggest source of campaign cash in 2012. Without them, two of the Republican hopefuls -- Santorum and Gingrich -- might have seen their electoral hopes dashed by now.
What Is A Super PAC?
The short answer: Super PACs are outside spending groups that aren't part of the campaign but are allowed -- by law -- to spend unlimited sums to support or attack a candidate.
In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that corporations, labor unions and other large organizations have the same free speech rights as individual citizens. In the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the judges by a 5-4 majority overturned parts of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.
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In practice, Super PACS have become a haven for anonymous donations of previously unimaginable sums from wealthy individuals and groups. They are allowed to conduct their own campaigns, but -- according to the law's provisions -- without the knowledge or involvement of the candidates they support.
Still, it's difficult to tell how much the "no coordination" rule is enforced. Viveca Novak of OpenSecrets.org pointed out that many of the staff members running these committees used to be on the staff of candidates and have close relationships with them. Also, candidates sometimes appear at events for these super PACs.
"Whether or not there is actual coordination of strategy, we don't know. But there's certainly a much cozier relationship than what was envisioned [by the court]," she said.
Super PACS are required to report their donors to the Federal Election Commission on either a monthly or quarterly basis, like any tradition political action committee would.
What are the biggest super PACs?
According to OpenSecrets.org, super PACs have raised a total of $130,330,844 and spent $51,220,626 in the 2012 cycle as of Feb. 22. Although there are dozens of these committees, a few dominate as the biggest fundraisers and spenders.
Restore Our Future: Federal Election Commission filings show that Mitt Romney has benefitted the most from super PACs, with the pro-Romney Restore Our Future raising a whopping $36.8 million through Jan. 21. In January, Restore Our Future raised $6.6 million. That pretty much doubled what Romney campaign fundraising as Romney for President, the former Massachusetts governor's official campaign committee, raised almost the same amount ($6.5 million in January).
Winning Our Future: This pro-Newt Gingrich super PAC has raised a total of $13.1 million through Jan. 31 and $11 million last month alone.
Endorse Liberty: a committee that supports Ron Paul that was founded late December, has raised $3.4 million as of Jan. 31 and $2.4 million in January.
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