How Nonprofits Spend Millions on Elections and Call it Public Welfare
Some tax-exempt groups underreported their political activities in 2010 to the IRS, ProPublica finds, using tactics that are being used to pour dark money into campaigns on an even larger scale this year. More »
A Tangled Web: Who’s Making Money From All This Campaign Spending?
Many have been detailing the vast sums being raised by the presidential candidates and the super PACs supporting them. But where are all those millions being spent? More »
PAC Track: What and Where are the Super PACs Spending?
Two federal court rulings in 2010 paved the way for the ascent of "super PACs," political action committees that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on political races, as long as they don't coordinate with a specific candidate. This app keeps track of where super PACs are spending and raising their cash to influence the presidential race.
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Who Are the Super PACs' Biggest Donors?
This chart shows the share of all contributions given by the top 10 donors to each of the 12 largest super PACs. More »
Message Machine: Reverse Engineering an Obama Email Campaign
Campaigns are increasingly tailoring their messages—and their funding requests—using massive databases of personal information about potential voters. Here are six variations of a Thursday night message from the Obama campaign, based on emails submitted by 190 recipients across the country. More »
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updates since last visitIRS Office That Targeted Tea Party Also Disclosed Confidential Docs From Conservative Groups
The IRS’s Cincinnati office last year sent ProPublica the unapproved applications for several conservative groups.
Senator Pushes for Investigation of ‘False Statements’ by Dark Money Groups
If the IRS is not well-suited to investigate these “plain vanilla criminal cases,” the U.S. Department of Justice should, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said.
Voter Information Wars: Will the GOP Team Up With Wal-Mart’s Data Specialist?
The 2012 Obama campaign set the bar for the use of voter data. The Republicans aren't interested in being beaten again.
Inside Game: Creating PACs and then Spending Their Money
The California consulting firm Russo, Marsh and Associates has tapped into Tea Party true believers, and made millions as a result.
From Citizens United to Super PACs: A Campaign Finance Reading Guide
A roundup of the most important stories on campaign finance, and the dark money groups that don’t have to report their donors.
IRS Should Bar Dark Money Groups From Funding Political Ads, Lawsuit Says
A former Illinois congressional candidate joins forces with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington to challenge IRS oversight of social welfare nonprofits.
Can Vote-By-Mail Fix Those Long Lines At The Polls?
A big potential drawback to the convenience of absentee and mail voting: Studies show that ballots are rejected at a higher rate than for voters who brave the wait at polling places.
Big Corporations Put Up Seed Funding for Republican Dark Money Group
IRS files show that some of the biggest companies in the country provided more than a million dollars a decade ago to launch a Republican dark money group.
Obama Says We Need to Fix Voting Lines. But How?
Researchers say simply expanding voting hours and shortening ballots isn’t enough. The U.S. needs to overhaul how they decide to allocate resources on Election Day.
The Best Reporting on Redistricting Shenanigans (#MuckReads)
We’ve rounded up some of the best reporting on how the parties have tried to influence both congressional and state electoral maps — and, in most cases, gotten away with it — for political gain.
Four Graphs That Show How Democrats Predict Your Political Beliefs
Little pieces of data about individual voters add up to a powerful big picture for state Democratic parties
In Minnesota, Democratic Grandmas Gather Data About Their Neighbors
From the campaign sign on your lawn to what you write in a letter to the editor, your political opinions are being recorded in party databases — and then shared in ways you might not expect.
Controversial Dark Money Group Among Five That Told IRS They Would Stay Out of Politics, Then Didn’t
Americans for Responsible Leadership, which California officials have accused of "campaign money laundering," promised the IRS it would not engage in elections, a confidential filing shows.
In Montana, Dark Money Helped Democrats Hold a Key Senate Seat
With control of the Senate at stake, liberals hit the streets and bought ads for a libertarian candidate who likely siphoned crucial votes away from the Republican challenger.
How Much Did Sheldon Adelson Really Spend on Campaign 2012?
Because of dark money, we may never know. But recent campaign finance filings give us a better idea.
Karl Rove’s Dark Money Group Promised IRS It Would Spend ‘Limited’ Money on Elections
Crossroads GPS, which has spent tens of millions from secret donors on elections, told the IRS in its 2010 application that its efforts would focus on education, policy-making and research.
Are Voter ID Laws Here to Stay?
The elections saw a furor over voter ID laws. So what's next for the laws?
Crowdsourcing Campaign Spending: What We Learned From Free the Files
This fall, ProPublica set out to Free the Files, enlisting our readers to help us review political ad files logged with Federal Communications Commission. Here’s how we did it.
FCC’s Plan for Fixing Its Political Ads Transparency Site? It Won’t Say
The agency’s new system to put political ad spending information online turned out to be deeply flawed.
Everything We Know (So Far) About Obama’s Big Data Tactics
A new look at what the Obama campaign did with its much-heralded data operation.
Why Is Arizona Still Counting Votes?
Answer: a record number of early and provisional ballots that’s squeezing the system.
What Effect, If Any, Did Voter ID Laws Have on the Election?
Dealt early defeats in court, the laws’ actual impact on voters remains an open question
What We Learned from Free the Files—and How to Make It Better
After spending months digging through the tens of thousands of documents the country's television stations uploaded as part of our Free the Files project, we look back on what we learned and how to make it better.
Outside Groups Dominated Las Vegas Airwaves in 2012 Campaign
An analysis of political ad files in our Free the Files database found spending by dark money nonprofit Crossroads GPS and its affiliate super PAC rivaled spending by the Obama and Romney campaigns combined.
Check ’Em Out: Donations to Dark Money Group Revealed
ProPublica and Frontline are putting checks written to Western Tradition Partnership online. Released under a court order last week, the records give a rare look inside the controversial dark money group.
Meet the 10 People Leading ProPublica’s Free the Files Effort
All told, 880 people have helped review at least one file as part of our Free the Files initiative. But 10 people led the pack, collectively reviewing half of all the files reviewed.
Obama’s Microtargeting ‘Nuclear Codes’
Some key findings on campaign targeting from Time Magazine's interviews with Obama advisers.
Welcome to Election Day: Seven Things That Could Go Wrong (or Already Have)
Long lines, confusion, voter suppression, Sandy-related disruptions, a tie in electoral votes and more.
Dark Money and the 2012 Election: We Need Your Help!
Join ProPublica’s campaign to shine a light on the hidden aspects of campaign finance by chronicling ad spending in Las Vegas, one of the nation’s most heavily blanketed cities.
Why It May Be Illegal to Instagram Your Ballot
In most states, you’re not allowed to show other people your marked ballot.
Five of the Most Confusing Ballots in the Country
In many states, voters will be asked to weigh in on a slew of measures and proposals, whether comprehensible or not.
Key Montana Senate Race Draws Deluge of Dark Money
More TV ads have been purchased in the race than in any other Senate contest in the country, including many paid for by outside money groups.
Dark Money Group’s Donors Revealed
Bank records released under a court order show that Western Tradition Partnership's donors included an Oklahoma businessman, a Colorado builder and other dark money groups linked to Ron Paul.
Dark Money Group’s Bank Records Suggest Ties to Campaign Work
Bank records released Friday by a Montana district court judge show that the wife of a key player for Western Tradition Partnership signed many of the group's checks. She runs a company that did work for candidates.
Reading Guide: Where Romney and Obama Actually Stand on Global Warming
We've looked beyond the candidates' rhetoric — or lack thereof — to find out where they actually stand on climate change.
A Pop-Up Problem
By the time the Internal Revenue Service discovers that a group has crossed the line from nonprofit promotion to politicking, many operators have boarded up shop and moved on.
Dark Money Rises
Hundreds of millions of dollars spent on this election came from faceless donors. A TIME/ProPublica report on how mystery cash is changing American politics.
When Dark Money Goes Local
How the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity is attacking a cap-and-trade program in New Hampshire.
More Evidence Key Dark Money Group May Have Misled IRS
Western Tradition Partnership's alleged big donor said he had actually never heard of the group.
Documents Found in Meth House Bare Inner Workings of Dark Money Group
Boxes of records turned over to Montana authorities show that a top person from Western Tradition Partnership interacted with candidates and helped shape their election efforts, possibly violating laws that bar coordination between campaigns and outside groups.
Reading Guide: Where Romney and Obama Stand on the Supreme Court
It's a topic voters won't necessarily hear about – despite the long-lasting consequences.
Dark Money and Citizens United: What Obama and Romney Would and Wouldn’t Do About It
We look at where the candidates stand on money in politics.
How Companies Have Assembled Political Profiles for Millions of Internet Users
Political targeting companies are pushing the boundaries of what it means to be "anonymous" on the web.
Debate Night Snacks: Help ProPublica Take a Bite out Dark Money Spending
Tonight, while Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are preparing their foreign policy talking points for the final presidential debate of the 2012 election, we’ll be joining a group of Ohio volunteers focused on uncovering political spending at home.
Reading Guide: Where Obama and Romney Actually Stand on Iran
We've looked beyond the candidates' campaign rhetoric to see what actually separates them on Iran.
Did the Dark Money Group that Spurred a Landmark Ruling Mislead the IRS?
A nonprofit group that filed a lawsuit that led the Supreme Court to apply its Citizens United decision to states told the IRS that it wouldn't intervene in elections – after it already had.
Democratic Congressman Takes Heat For Lobbyist-Organized Taiwan Trip
ProPublica reported on Bill Owens’ trip to Taiwan earlier this year. Now his opponent is attacking him over the trip in a campaign ad.
Message Machine Starts Providing Answers
Political campaigns use massive databases to target their constituents. ProPublica's Message Machine is beginning to find some answers on how they do it.
Money is Speech: A Musical History of Campaign Finance
Our latest explainer video, on the storied history of money in politics.
The Campaign Finance Free-For-All: How We Got to This Point
A primer in the four-decade-long unraveling of campaign finance reform
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