CCP
Media Watch: Campaign Finance and Slavery
By Joe TrotterDredd Scott and Citizens United cases have something in common: they were both a challenge against government suppression of natural rights. The validity of the comparison ends there. But apparently not for some legislators and newspaper pundits with axes to grind.
Independent Groups
Politico: New NRSC parody site: President Obama selling access to OFA donors
By James HohmannThe National Republican Senatorial Committee is launching a parody web site Thursday that accuses President Barack Obama of hypocrisy for allowing Organizing for Action to sell access to him.
AP: Illinois congressional race shows clout of Bloomberg super PAC, may foreshadow future efforts
CHICAGO — In the race to replace former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s super PAC followed a simple strategy: Choose a strong anti-gun candidate, attack rivals supported by the National Rifle Association and add in $2.2 million in resources.
Roll Call: K Street Files: Hey, Is That Jack Abramoff Dressed as a $100 Bill?
By Kate AckleySilver said the event is designed to raise awareness for an American Anti-Corruption Act, for which his group is trying to enlist 1 million “citizen cosponsors” before it pushes for actual introduction in Congress. The idea for the race came from one of the group’s 300,000 members, Silver said.
SCOTUS/Judiciary
The Atlantic: Is Campaign Spending Regulated Too Much, or Not Enough?
By Wendy KaminerCampaign-finance reform is a bit like the war on drugs: a decades-long exercise in over-regulation that has exacerbated the problems it was designed to solve.
Roll Call: Has Power Tipped in Favor of High Court?
By Amanda BeckerSome of the more conservative justices on the Supreme Court weren’t shy about assessing their neighbors across the street Wednesday during oral arguments in a closely watched Voting Rights Act case.
Candidates, Politicians and Parties
Washington Times: Mr. Markey’s outburst
EDITORIALHyperbole is a familiar ingredient of political debate, and long may it wave. But Mr. Markey should take two aspirin, lie down and he’ll probably feel better. We think reversing Citizens United is a bad idea — tinkering with free speech is always a bad idea — but reversing any court decision is a legitimate, if not always worthy goal. Nevertheless, even if Citizens United is as bad as Mr. Markey says it is, it hardly rises to the evil of slavery. Such racial insensitivity has no place in the debate, circa 2013.
Politico: Karl Rove: My ‘posterior was shredded’
By Kevin CirilliKarl Rove says the 2012 election was a pain in his rear end — but that Republican candidates, not GOP policies, were to blame.
State and Local
Colorado –– Denver Post: Federal judge dismisses challenge to Colorado campaign-finance law
By Tom McGheeU.S. District Judge Philip Brimmer has thrown out a challenge to a state campaign-finance law that allows candidates who have a primary election to receive more money in donations than others.
