The Center for Responsive Politics has the data on political action committee spending from the 2010 elections, and any way you slice it, regular PACs favored Democrats.
PAC spending is important because, more than the donations of individuals who work in an industry, PAC spending reflects corporate and organizational preferences. As President Obama might put it, PACs are “special interests.”
Recommended Stories
Of course, this election there was corporate spending outside of standard PACs — particularly the Super-PACs which could take direct corporate contributions. We’ll compile all the spending soon, but for now, here’s my breakdown of regular PAC spending:
House GOP: $112,387,700
Senate Dems: $42,289,559
Senate GOP: $40,179,250
House GOP: $259,153
Senate Dems: $1,068,702
Senate GOP: $952,553
House GOP: $534,161
Senate Dems: $1,855,488Senate GOP: $1,610,702
Now the picture is complicated by many factors. For instance, almost all GOP candidates were either challengers (who always have a harder time raising money) or safe incumbents (who don’t raise as much money). You can’t look at this data and conclude the Dems are the party of the special interests, but you can conclude that the Dems are full of it when they say the GOP is the party of the special interests.
Of course, both parties are too beholden to special interests.
