Jim DeMint could make a bigger impact at Heritage than the Senate

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

Joe Garofoli