Spotlight on Congress

Aug. 28, 2012–MapLight has run an analysis of independent expenditures made from Jan. 1, 2011 to July 31, 2012 by so-called super PACs to influence congressional and presidential races in the 2012 election cycle.

In July 2012, super PACs that file monthly reports spent $29.6 million on independent expenditures across the country. Of that total, $25.9 million (88 percent) was spent by just five super PACs. Figures from super PACs that file quarterly reports will not be available until October.

Aug. 16, 2012—MapLight has conducted an analysis of independent expenditures made by so-called super PACs across the country from Jan. 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012 and found that almost $138 million has been funneled by big-monied interest groups to dictate outcomes of the 2012 election.

Super PACs have already made over $30 million in independent expenditures to influence House and Senate races in the 2012 election cycle, in addition to the nearly $107 million spent swaying the outcome of the race for the White House.

Aug. 15, 2012 -- MapLight, a nonpartisan research organization that tracks money's influence on politics, has conducted an analysis of census data combined with the geographic origin of over $306 million in contributions to super PACs from Jan. 1, 2011 - June 30, 2012. The analysis found that a disproportionate amount of contributions comes from a few states: