
When Connecticut Democrat Chris Dodd first ran for the Senate in 1980, his campaign cost only about $1.4 million. But three decades later, running for office has grown far more expensive — Dodd had already spent nearly $1.8 million in the first three-quarters of 2009 in anticipation of his now-aborted 2010 re-election campaign. With the announcement this week that Dodd would retire, rather than seek a sixth term, we took a look at his biggest sources of campaign cash over the course of that long Senate tenure. Of the $10 million-plus he’s received from hundreds of political action committees (in addition to millions from individuals) since the dawn of his first campaign through his late 2009 filings, at least $981,250 came from just ten sources. These are the top ten PACs that have supported Dodd over his entire Senate career: Read more
The American International Group, more commonly known as AIG, has become the poster child for the financial bailout. The company has received $170 billion from the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve since September 2008, and recently landed in a world of hurt when it was revealed that some $165 million of that money was given as bonuses to its employees — many of whom worked in the insurance giant’s financial arm. Read more

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