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Last night, President Barack Obama and his family attended the 90th National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony. His two daughters, Sasha and Malia, flipped the switch that lit the tall blue spruce that now adorns the Ellipse south of the White House.
The Obamas were joined not just be Santa Claus but also by celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris, from the show ‘How I Met Your Mother,’ and Rico Rodriguez, from the show ‘Modern Family.’ Musical guests included The Fray, Jason Mraz and many more.
MSNBC takes a straight razor to David Axelrod in the name of charity. One of the wonkiest ‘staches in American politics is no more as the high-profile Democratic consultant rid himself of his signature look on live television.
Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were able to help rustle up a million bucks for Axelrod’s CURE charity, an epilepsy research charity.
When South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint leaves the Senate for the Heritage Foundation thinktank, look for Heritage to get a lot more active.
As one prominent California conservative activist who knows DeMint was telling me, “It’s not going to be, ‘Here’s our white paper on drones.’ It’s going to be more about ‘Here’s how you should vote.’”
And the money will follow DeMint, who has a strong rep among the conservative grassroots.
DeMint, the Tea Party fave, directed his own leadership PAC called the Senate Conservatives Fund. It spent $5.48 million in the 2010 and 2012 elections, but didn’t have a good record. Jim D’s candidate only won 8 of the 27 primary or general elections it played in.
And according to the folks at the nonpartian Maplight, which analyzes the role of money in politics, the Heritage Foundation PAC’s made $227,000 in independent expenditures in federal races — all in October 2012. PAC’s preferred candidate won in only two of the seven races it played in.
But conservatives feel that Heritage’s profile will skyrocket with the outspoken DeMint on their megaphone — and the money will follow.
Courtesy of Maplight, here’s a breakdown of those races:
Data: MapLight analysis of independent expenditures from the Heritage Foundation’s PAC in the 2012 election cycle.
| Race | Achieved Desired Election Result? |
Candidate | Opposing $ |
Supporting $ |
Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ill. – 8th | L. Tammy Duckworth (D) | $85,289 | |||
| Joe Walsh (R) | $23,639 | ||||
| Ill. – 8th Total | NO | $108,928 | |||
| Penn. – 12th | Mark Critz (D) | $27,058 | |||
| Keith Rothfus (R) | $17,165 | ||||
| Penn. – 12th Total | YES | $44,223 | |||
| N.Y. – 24th | Daniel Benjamin Maffei (D) |
$26,083 | |||
| Ann Marie Buerkle (R) | $16,190 | ||||
| N.Y. – 24th Total | NO | $42,273 | |||
| President | Barack Obama (D) | $15,446 | |||
| President Total | NO | $15,446 | |||
| Wisc. – 8th | James Richard Wall Jr. (D) |
$3,650 | |||
| Reid Ribble (R) | $3,650 | ||||
| Wisc. – 8th Total | YES | $7,300 | |||
| Ohio – Senate | Sherrod Brown (D) | $5,342 | |||
| Ohio – Senate Total | NO | $5,342 | |||
| Penn. – Senate | Robert P. Casey Jr. (D) | $3,912 | |||
| Penn. – Senate Total | NO | $3,912 | |||
| Grand Total | $166,781 | $60,645 | $227,426 |
METHODOLOGY: MapLight analysis of independent expenditures made by Heritage Action for America in support of or opposition to federal candidates from Jan. 1, 2011-Dec. 2, 2012. Source: FEC.gov. If you use MapLight data please cite accordingly.
Photo credit: Christopher Halloran/Shutterstock.com
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