The Center for Public Integrity

Mitt Romney hasn't talked much about his charitable work in public, and with outside spending focused on attack ads, even Republicans have been concerned that the GOP presidential nominee appears too aloof.

Two new ads from outside spenders are hoping to change that. “Genuinely Cares” from the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future and “Mitt and David” from the conservative nonprofit Crossroads GPS tell the stories of two individuals who received support from Romney.

They are a sharp departure from both groups’ standard attack ads. Restore Our Future has spent a little more than $99 million thus far this election, with 86 percent going toward negative advertising and other campaign materials.

“Genuinely Cares” features Army National Guard Sgt. Peter Damon, an Iraq War veteran, telling about how Gov. Romney took an interest in him when they met while Damon was recovering from an accident in the Army’s Walter Reed Medical Center that left him a double amputee.

Damon discusses Romney’s work with a charity called Homes for Troops that builds houses for seriously wounded veterans. Damon says he received one of the homes.

"The Mitt Romney I know cares deeply about people who are struggling," Damon tells the camera. "Mitt Romney helped make a huge difference in my life."

The ad, along with the anti-Obama “Better” are part of a $17.7 million ad blitz in 10 swing states.

President Barack Obama has the dictator vote, at least according to a super PAC run by evangelical leader Gary Bauer.

Hours before Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney began a debate on foreign policy, Bauer’s super PAC released an ad with quotes from Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, expressing their admiration for the president.

“Obama secured the dictator vote,” the narrator says. “Does he have yours?”

Bauer’s Campaign for American Values PAC has spent more than a half-million dollars on ads supporting Romney and opposing Obama.

An August ad said Obama is “forcing gay marriage on the country.” Another accused the president of “bowing to Islam.” And a third asked, “Why was God booed by Obama’s delegates” at the Democratic National Convention?

Bauer, a former adviser to the Reagan administration, is also president of American Values, a nonprofit, and president of Campaign for Working Families, a political action committee. All oppose abortion and gay marriage.

The Campaign for American Values PAC has received $892,000 in contributions this election cycle. A full $600,000 has come from an obscure corporation called Corporate Land Management.

Less than three weeks before Election Day, a new mystery group dropped nearly $1 million on an anti-Obama expenditure, according to records.

Citizen Awareness Project appears to be a nonprofit organization. It reported the independent expenditure opposing President Barack Obama Thursday, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission.

The entire sum — $994,000 — was paid to Stephen Clouse & Associates Inc., a Virginia firm that specializes in raising money for its clients via direct mail, according to its website.

The firm has produced marketing materials for the conservative Heritage Foundation and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, both of which count billionaire businessman and financier of conservative causes Charles Koch as a board member.

Citizen Awareness Project has no website that the Center could find and no Internal Revenue Service documents appear to have been posted online. Thursday’s filing was the first reported political expenditure made by the group.

The group is likely a 501(c)(4) “social welfare” nonprofit. Such organizations can function like super PACs but are not required to register with the FEC or disclose their donors. They are required to file reports with the IRS.

The group’s address is the same as Zakhem Law LLC in Denver, Colo., where its treasurer, Charlie Smith, is a law clerk specializing in election law.

Smith is former chairman of the College Republican National Committee and the founder of a lesser-known pro-Newt Gingrich super PAC, Solutions 2012, which raised $67,000. All of its contributions came from small donors.

Secretive nonprofits affiliated with oil and coal companies, including Koch Industries, are hitting Obama hard for what they call his “war on coal.”

Yesterday, for example, the nonprofit American Energy Alliance reported that its new ad “Stand with Coal,” cost more than a half-million dollars and is running for two weeks in the coal-producing states of Ohio and Virginia.

The ad accuses President Barack Obama of wanting to bankrupt the coal industry, alleging that his plan is to “kill affordable energy.”

The American Energy Alliance is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, which means its donors remain unknown to the public. Its president, Thomas Pyle, is the former director of federal affairs for Koch Industries and former lobbyist for the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. He also served as a policy analyst for Rep. Tom Delay, R-Texas, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The American Energy Alliance is affiliated with the Institute for Energy Research, a free-market energy nonprofit that has received backing from the Koch-run Claude R. Lambe Foundation. Pyle is also the institute’s president.

Robert Bradley, the CEO of the institute called those who are concerned about global warming “climate alarmists” in an op-ed in The Washington Times.

“It’s time to put the adults back in charge,” says the narrator of a new attack ad from a conservative political action committee.

“Sometimes Barack Obama seems to confuse being president with being on spring break,” he continues. “It’s time to retire the beer-summit, spring-break presidency.”

The Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama released this new advertisement just after the end second presidential debate Tuesday night, which saw Obama continue his campaign’s theme of painting GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney as out-of-touch and elitist.

The ad takes the out-of-touch theme and turns it against Obama.

The PAC’s ad notes that Obama has played more than 100 rounds of golf during his tenure. It also features clips of his “slow jamming the news” on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" and other talk show appearances. This is contrasted with criticisms of rising gas prices, unemployment and foreclosures.

The ad also attempts to flip what is considered one of Obama’s biggest victories — the killing of Osama bin Laden — by saying he was on the golf course when the operation got underway, which stretches the truth. Obama was on the golf course until 20 minutes before the operation to take down bin Laden began, according to a book “SEAL Target Geronimo,” published by a former Navy SEAL commander.

During the operation, Obama was gathered with his national security team in the Situation Room, a scene depicted in a famous photo released by the White House.

A new batch of super PAC donor information arrived at the Federal Election Commission Monday, and among the top contributors was the nonprofit Americans for Limited Government, profiled by the Daily Disclosure Monday.

The organization, which released a Web video implying that Vice President Joe Biden was on drugs during last week’s vice presidential debate, gave 86 percent of the $1.7 million received by Now or Never PAC, which has spent most of its money opposing the candidacy of Democrat Tammy Duckworth.

Duckworth is running for U.S. House in Illinois’ 8th District. Super PACs report donors to the FEC monthly or quarterly. Quarterly reports were due  by the end of the day Monday.

Super PACs that file quarterly are generally less well-known. For example, Restore Our Future, which favors Mitt Romney, brought in $9.4 million in August alone. American Bridge 21st Century, a liberal super PAC that acts as a sort of opposition research arm for Democrats and produces anti-Romney Web videos, for the third quarter brought in $2.1 million.

Notable contributors include the American Bridge 21st Century Foundation, a nonprofit that does not disclose donors, the National Education Association and top Democratic donor Barbara Stiefel.

America’s Next Generation, primarily an anti-President Barack Obama super PAC, was funded mostly by small donors, who helped contribute to its $1.1 million take in the third quarter.

Americans for Limited Government, a well-funded, shadowy nonprofit that has released a series of videos attacking the administration of President Barack Obama, released a new one that implies Vice President Joe Biden was on drugs during last week’s vice presidential debate.

The video has gotten few views on YouTube, but the group behind it, Americans for Limited Government, has considerable resources. The 501(c)(4) “social welfare” nonprofit is not required to publicly disclose its donors but in its 2010 tax filing, the most recent available, it reported revenue of $9.1 million. The group has also spent at least $1.4 million on election expenditures, according to the filing.

Democrats praised Biden’s aggressiveness in the debate with GOP vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Republicans have played his interruptions and derisive laughs as an inability to take the country’s problems seriously.

A spokesman for Americans for Limited Government says the ad was intended as satire. "There's no evidence Joe Biden was on anything," he said.

The group calls itself a nonpartisan advocacy organization that works against the expansion of government. All of the videos on its YouTube channel oppose Democrats and support Republicans.

Communications director Rick Manning said that ALG consider itself to have several functions, including providing news content. He declined to reveal the organization's donors. He asked if the Center reveals its donors, which are available here.

Last night’s debate between Vice President Joe Biden and GOP vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan has already produced at least two ads from outside spenders criticizing both the style and substance of the debate.

American Bridge 21st Century, a liberal super PAC, released a web video called “VP Debate Fact Check,” which takes issue with many of Ryan’s statements.

The Republican National Committee responded to the debate with “Laughing at the Issues,” portraying Biden as not serious about the country’s problems.

The debate, which was feistier and livelier than the first presidential debate, saw Biden laughing and sometimes shaking his head as Ryan, of Wisconsin, argued his points. Biden was particularly aggressive in calling Ryan out when he seemed to bend the facts.

Republicans, as seen in the RNC ad, are portraying Biden’s behavior as condescending and as evidence of a lack of gravitas on important national issues.

Democrats are concentrating on factual errors in Ryan’s arguments, including what Politifact once named the “Lie of the Year” — that the Affordable Care Act is a “government takeover” of health care and mischaracterizing the effects of the Obama administration’s sanctions on Iran.

Three labor unions have teamed up to try to thwart the election prospects of former Sen. George Allen, the Republican running for U.S. Senate in Virginia.

The political action committees of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Service Employees International Union and the National Education Association launched “Better” on Wednesday, attacking Allen on Medicare and women’s health.

“That’s George Allen,” the narrators say. “Cuts Medicare. Reduces care for women. More power for insurance companies.”

Allen supports vice presidential nominee and Republican Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget, which proposes a voucher-type system for Medicare that Democrats argue would result in deep cuts. When speaking of women’s health, the ad refers to Allen’s support of a failed amendment to the Affordable Care Act that would allow employers to refuse to cover contraceptives for “moral reasons.”

Allen faces former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, in the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Jim Webb, to whom Allen lost in 2006.

“Tim Kaine’s friends have reached a new level of desperation,” Allen spokeswoman Emily Davis said in an emailed response to the Washington Post. “Virginians know scare tactics when they see them, and they know George Allen has a record of fighting to strengthen and expand Medicare coverage and women’s access to quality health care.”

Redistricting in the Chicago metro area has endangered Republicans that hold House seats in the already Democrat-dominated region and attracted some major spending by a labor union and a liberal super PAC.

Republican Reps. Joe Walsh, Bob Dold and Judy Biggert are targeted in a new ad from House Majority PAC and SEIU COPE, the political action committee of the Service Employees International Union, as part of a $2.4 million campaign in the region.

The ad shows what appears to be an angry tirade from Walsh and a list of housing and health care votes House Majority PAC calls “extreme.”

Walsh is running in the redrawn 8th District and faces the well-liked Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth. Duckworth has the backing of the Now or Never super PAC, which has spent $1.8 million supporting her, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Walsh is considered one of the most conservative freshman members of Congress and has the backing of tea party-aligned super PACs including FreedomWorks for America.