REMEMBER THE FEC? The agency chair tweets an update here.
WINNER DECLARED. Here. “State Sen. Katherine Clark won a crowded special primary in Massachusetts’ 5th District on Tuesday night, defeating four other Democrats and most likely becoming the sixth woman ever elected to Congress from the Bay State.”
SET IT FREE. Heritage. “The First Amendment protects assembly, speech and the resources that make speech possible. Yet the rules governing political speech in the United States are fraught with limits, red tape and restrictions so complex that the average person is deterred or unable to engage in the process.”
MCCUTCHEON MATTERS. DC. “What seems obvious here is in fact true: aggregate limits simply do not address actual or apparent quid pro quo corruption.”
EDSALL ON MCCUTCHEON AND MORE. The Times. “Corruption and the appearance of corruption are here to stay. The difference now is that the squalid character of the system has become institutionalized. It’s so deeply integrated into the routine of Congress that, McCutcheon notwithstanding, the American political-monetary complex provokes cynicism and apathy rather than outrage, protest or indignation. It is also kindling for fiery populists on both the left and the right.”
CONTRIBUTIONS IN THE NEWS. DC. “Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Reince Preibus called for Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid, and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to return campaign donations they received from a man who pled guilty to identity theft of the terminally ill.”
KY NUMBERS. Here. “Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, a Democrat, raised more than Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in the third quarter, raking in an impressive $2.5 million for the competitive Senate contest.”
ALL: NEW NAME? The Post. “The Washington association that lobbies for lobbyists thinks it’s time to change its name and drop the word ‘lobbyists.'”
AZ: LAW BLOCKED. Here. “The state Court of Appeals on Tuesday blocked enactment of a new state law allowing candidates to take sharply higher campaign donations.”
CA: NO MAN’S LAND. Story here. “San Diego’s political parties are getting into the thick of the fundraising battle in the mayor’s race, spending tens of thousands of dollars on their favored candidates.”
NJ: CASH LEAD. Story here. “Campaign finance reports released this morning show Gov. Chris Christie has more than six times more cash in the bank than his Democratic rival, state Sen. Barbara Buono, for the final few weeks of the gubernatorial campaign.”
RI: MCCUTCHEON IMPACT. Here. “Of 34,000 individual donors to Rhode Island state campaigns in the 2010-12 election cycles, ‘just 12 bumped up against state’s aggregate limit,’ according to a new report by the nonprofit, nonpartisan National Institute on Money in State Politics.”
WA: THE ANSWER IN PROP. 1. Here. “Big money is a problem in Seattle City Council elections, say proponents of Proposition 1, a measure on the November ballot.”
VA: CALL FOR INVESTIGATION. Story here. “With weeks left in a bitter Virginia race for governor where financial ethics have been a key issue, state Republicans want an investigation into Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s failure to disclose investing $33,000 with a Rhode Island estate planner who ran an insurance scam to profit off gravely ill people.”
BMW FAMILY DONATIONS IN THE NEWS. Here. “German opposition parties on Tuesday accused Angela Merkel of pandering to the car lobby, after her conservatives received major donations from the family that controls BMW, just as Berlin was lobbying against tougher EU caps on carbon emissions.”
HAVE A GREAT DAY.