What Campaign Filings Don’t Show: Super PACs’ Growing Sway
Presidential contenders are set to provide a glimpse inside their campaign war chests on Wednesday, releasing financial statements that will give the first detailed accounting of how the candidates are raising and spending hundreds of millions of dollars in pursuit of elected office.
But while the reports, to be filed with the Federal Election Commission, provide an early look at the campaigns’ financial operations, they promise to tell only part of the story because they do not include any of the money being raised by the “super PACs” and other outside groups supporting many of the candidates. In many cases, the money raised by those groups is likely to dwarf what the campaigns bring in.
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Without super PACs, four Republicans — Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson — would have raised roughly the same amount of money, between $10 million and $12 million during the second quarter of 2015. A fifth, Rand Paul, would be close behind, while several others, including Rick Perry, would be trailing.
Instead, the field has rapidly separated into three distinct financial tiers. Mr. Bush has raised about $114 million with the help of a super PAC. Mr. Cruz, Mr. Rubio and their super PACs occupy the next-highest tier, with each having raised more than $40 million.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/16/us/politics/election-2016-fundraising-campaign-filings.html?ref=politics&_r=0