The TicketReport: GOP outside groups plan to spend more than $1 billion in 2012
Pro-Republican outside groups looking to influence elections across the country are on track to spend a record-breaking $1 billion this year, Politico reports.
Those behind most of the spending include the super PAC American Crossroads, a group linked to George W. Bush's former Chief of Staff Karl Rove; Charles and David Koch; and the Chamber of Commerce.
That total includes previously undisclosed plans for newly aggressive spending by the Koch brothers, who are steering funding to build sophisticated, county-by-county operations in key states. POLITICO has learned that Koch-related organizations plan to spend about $400 million ahead of the 2012 elections—twice what they had been expected to commit.
Just the spending linked to the Koch network is more than the $370 million that John McCain raised for his entire presidential campaign four years ago. And the $1 billion total surpasses the $750 million that Barack Obama, one of the most prolific fundraisers ever, collected for his 2008 campaign.
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By contrast, Priorities USA Action, the super PAC supporting President Barack Obama's reelection, has struggled to raise money, and now hopes to spend about $100 million.
The $1 billion figure cited by Politico is on top of the anticipated $800 million in spending from Mitt Romney's presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee.
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