With Thursday’s second-quarter fundraising deadline looming, U.S. Senate candidates George Allen and Tim Kaine are seeking cash â and trading barbs over where, exactly, the other side’s money will be coming from â in what will undoubtedly be one of the most expensive Senate races in 2012.
âActBlue, a liberal website with ties to the Daily Kos, has already raised $560,000 and counting for Chairman Kaine!â reads a fundraising email sent out by Mike Thomas, Allenâs campaign manager. âThis group has strong ties to Daily Kos and Moveon.org and is working to raise millions for Democrats in Wisconsin who did the bidding of the SEIU labor bosses.â
The ActBlue political action committee bills itself as “the nation’s largest source of funds for Democrats.”
Meanwhile, in Kaineâs latest fundraising email, he alludes to a recently-announced push from Karl Rove’s SuperPAC, Crossroads GPS â part of a $20 million advertising campaign against President Obama ahead of the 2012 elections.
âThe spotlight will be on Virginia in 2012. Both President Obama and the Republican nominee will campaign hard in Virginia,â Kaine writes. âIt’s good to be in the spotlight, but it comes with some challenges. Just recently, a group organized by Karl Rove announced that they would start running TV ads in Virginia this summer â nearly 16 months before the 2012 election.â
Such conservative outside groups used last year’s Citizens United Supreme Court ruling allowing unlimited, anonymous donations from corporations and unions to their advantage during the 2010 Congressional elections, though Democrats, including former White House aide Bill Burton, are hitting back by forming similar organizations for 2012.
