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Obama blesses fundraising for super PAC – Priorities USA Action
Republicans criticized the Obama campaign’s embrace of the outside groups, calling it a hypocritical shift by Obama after he chided the influence of secret, special-interest money. Obama has previously referred to the money as a “threat to our democracy.”
“This is a brazenly cynical move by Barack Obama and his political handlers, who just a year ago had the chutzpah to call outside groups a threat to democracy,” said Jonathan Collegio, a spokesman for American Crossroads.
The super PACs have played a major role in the primary contests. In GOP primaries so far, groups working for or against presidential candidates have spent roughly US$25 million on TV ads, about half the nearly US$53 million spent on advertising so far to influence voters in the early weeks of the race.
The group supporting Mitt Romney, Restore Our Future, collected US$17.9 million in contributions since July, most of which it spent on advertisements supporting Romney or attacking Republican rival Newt Gingrich. A pro-Gingrich group, Winning Our Future, received US$11 million from the family of casino mogul Sheldon Adelson.
The new super PACs can’t coordinate directly with campaigns, but many that are active in this election are staffed by longtime supporters or former aides of the candidates.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
