Super PACs raise $26 million

The 2012 presidential cycle is already shaping up to be battle of the super PACs.

Super PACs-- a new type of independent campaign committee permitted to raise unlimited funds--raised a combined total of $26 million in the first six months of this year alone, according to the Sunlight Foundation, a non-profit advocacy group that promotes government transparency.

And Mitt Romney's political action committee was the big winner.

As we previously reported, the "Restore Our Future" committee created by Romney allies to boost the former Massachusetts governor's 2012 campaign reported raising a whopping $12.2 million in the first half of this year. Two additional super PACs joined Restore Our Future as the top fundraisers over the same period: American Crossroads, a GOP group overseen by former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove, raised $3.9 million; and Priorities USA Action, formed in April by former Barack Obama advisers. Priorties USA Action was touted at the time of its founding as the Democrats' answer to GOP "shadow" fundraising committees raised $3.1 million.

Political operatives have launched super PACs in the wake of the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The first crop of super PACs raised more than $60 million last year.

This year's super PACs report $23 million on hand heading into the second half of 2011.