The Center for Public Integrity

The National Association of Realtors, a major outside spender in the election, reported $500,000 in television ads supporting Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., in his quest to be elected in California’s 30th District.

Sherman faces a challenge from another incumbent Democrat, Rep. Howard Berman, thanks to redistricting and California’s top-two primary system. That new system pitted all candidates — regardless of party affiliation — against each other during the June primary, with the top two vote-getters moving onto the general election.

Friday’s $500,000 investment came from the National Association of Realtors’ traditional political action commitee, though the group also has a super PAC called the National Association of Realtors Congressional Fund.

The National Association of Realtors is the primary trade group representing realtors and is also a powerful lobbying group. In 2011, it spent more than $22 million on lobbying, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. This election cycle, the PAC has spent $1.2 million on independent campaign expenditures, and the super PAC has spent $2.5 million. This makes the Realtors’ outside spending comparable to the National Rifle Association.

Democratic super PACs have begun to make up ground in the political arms race, raising substantially more in August than they did during the previous month, new filings with the Federal Election Commission show.

For much of the 2012 election cycle, Democratic super PACs have been outraised their GOP rivals. The groups, made possible in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling, are allowed to collect contributions of unlimited size from individuals, unions and companies — so long as the funds are spent on advertisements that are not coordinated with any candidate.

Priorities USA Action, the primary super PAC supporting the re-election of President Barack Obama, took in $10.1 million through the end of August. That’s up from just $4.8 million in July. While the group finished August with $4.8 million cash on hand, during the first three weeks of September, it reported spending more than $7.8 million — suggesting that the cash has continued to come in.

Top donors to Priorities USA Action in August included James Simons, founder of the hedge fund giant Renaissance Technologies, who gave $2 million; Anne Cox Chambers, the owner of Cox Enterprises, who gave $1 million; and attorney Steve Mostyn, who also gave $1 million. The majority owner of the Baltimore Orioles, Peter Angelos, also gave big, contributing $500,000 in his first ever donation to the pro-Obama group.

Conservative nonprofit Let Freedom Ring attempts to link President Barack Obama to child soldiers in a new ad focusing on the United States’ military aid to certain countries in Africa and the Middle East.

The ad opens with brief background on child soldiers and notes that Sen. Obama supported a bill that restricted American aid to countries that use child soldiers in militaries and state-backed militias.

“This was the right thing to do. It’s what leaders do,” the narrator says. “But then, as president, Obama waived these restrictions, allowing millions of our taxpayer dollars to go to countries where children as young as 11 — 11! — are forced to fight.”

“Why, Mr. President? Why?” the ad finishes.

In 2011, Obama waived restrictions on military aid to countries that the U.S. has identified as using child soldiers, despite the 2008 Child Soldiers Protection Act that he, as senator, supported.

The states that received waivers — Sudan, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Yemen — were considered key to American national security interests. Burma and Somalia, the other two countries identified in a 2010 State Department report as using child soldiers, were not granted waivers, the Christian Science Monitor reported.

The move sparked controversy not only because it appeared that the Obama administration was overlooking human rights abuses, but also because it sidestepped Congress’ authority and appeared to not adequately consult human rights activists, Foreign Policy reported.

Crossroads GPS, a conservative nonprofit outside spending group, began a $2.3 million ad campaign Wednesday, including the Crossroads network’s first reported foray into congressional races and ads in four hotly contested Senate races. With its entry into the House race, Crossroads is now active at all levels of the national election.

This campaign is part of a larger $10 million-plus offensive from Republican strategist Karl Rove’s Crossroads network that began this week. Super PAC American Crossroads just announced an $8.8 million campaign targeting President Barack Obama.

Crossroads GPS’ ads target Senate races in Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and Wisconsin as well as New York’s 1st Congressional District, where Republicans have become adamant about ousting Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop:

Conservative nonprofit American Action Network and its sister super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, have launched a multi-million campaign targeting top congressional races.

The groups, which were both founded by former GOP Sen. Norm Coleman and ex-Nixon aide Fred Malek, are spending more than $3 million on ads designed to aid Republicans, with $1.6 million of that coming from the American Action Network, according to a press release from the group.

With just seven weeks until Election Day, the spending comes as part of an advertising barrage on down-ticket races, where groups can often get more bang for their buck. Conservative super PACs American Crossroads and YG Action Fund have also announced plans to target House races in hopes of helping the GOP maintain the majority.

The four ads released by American Action Network Monday targeted races in Minnesota, Illinois and California:

Tea-party aligned super PAC FreedomWorks for America released 11 new ads over the weekend targeting hotly contested U.S. Senate races in Florida, Arizona, Ohio, Indiana and Virginia:

It’s the tea party versus unions in the race to determine who will control Pennsylvania’s redrawn 12th Congressional District. Democratic Rep. Mark Critz, backed by union muscle, faces a challenge from attorney Keith Rothfus, a tea party favorite, in a race that has already seen $1.4 million in outside spending.

House races are especially vulnerable to outside spending because smaller districts and smaller campaign accounts mean less money is needed to make an impact.

The Service Employees International Union’s super PAC, SEIU PEA Federal, and its traditional PAC, SEIU COPE, dropped $277,000 on Thursday on ads and other campaign expenditures designed to help Critz stay in Congress, Federal Election Commission reports show. Critz has also gotten help from the AFL-CIO and its political committees and affiliates as well as the United Steelworkers and its PAC, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

House Majority PAC, a Democratic super PAC, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have also supported his re-election with a combined $385,000 in spending.

Most of the outside spending in favor of Rothfus has come via the National Republican Congressional Committee, which has spent more than a half-million dollars in his favor. Rothfus also has financial support from the tea party-aligned super PAC FreedomWorks for America, headed up by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, and Club for Growth, a free-market, conservative nonprofit.

The seat is considered a tossup.

Planned Parenthood this week began its most extensive attack this election on Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, spending $1.8 million on a new television ad that’s part of a $3.2 million initiative.

The ad, called “Mitt Romney Would Turn Back the Clock on Women’s Health,” began airing in northern Virginia this week and is set to run throughout Virginia and Ohio in the coming weeks, according to a press release.

The ad buy comes via Planned Parenthood Votes, a super PAC that is allowed to accept contributions of unlimited size from individuals, unions and corporations. Planned Parenthood has also made campaign expenditures through its nonprofit, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, which is not required to reveal its donors, as well as a handful of local affiliates.

The new ad shows clips of Romney saying he wants to overturn Roe v. Wade, which protects a woman’s right to an abortion, as well as saying, “Planned Parenthood — we’re going to get rid of that.”

Women “should be making our personal medical decisions —not Mitt Romney,” the narrator says as the clips of Romney are played in black and white on a 1950s-era television.

Part of Romney’s plan to reduce government spending is to eliminate Title X funding, which provides government support for family planning services like Planned Parenthood.

The anonymously funded Crossroads GPS released four new ads on Tuesday going after Senate seats in Nevada, Ohio and Virginia with ad buys worth $2.5 million, according to Federal Election Commission reports.

"Laughable," in Nevada, calls Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley “desperate.” Berkley is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Dean Heller, who was appointed to replace disgraced former Sen. John Ensign. Republicans are hoping an ethics probe exploring whether some of Berkley’s legislative actions benefited her physician-husband’s business could spoil her chances.

The ad focuses on Berkley’s support of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act., proposes $716 billion in cuts. Democrats, backed by Politifact, point out that Republican vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan also cuts $700 billion. The difference is in where the savings come from, the Daily Disclosure reported on Sept. 5.

An FEC report shows the anti-Berkley ad cost $425,000.

In Ohio, a football-themed ad attacking Sen. Sherrod Brown says “Ohio just can’t compete while Brown is calling the plays.” Brown is challenged by state treasurer Josh Mandel, whose campaign has been buoyed by outside spending from fiscally conservative groups like Crossroads GPS and Club for Growth.

Super PAC Prosperity First, which is bankrolled by wealthy hedge fund CEO Robert Mercer, is attempting to oust Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop in New York’s 1st Congressional District. In less than a week, the super PAC has spent more than $294,000 on ads.

Prosperity First reported its first buy to the tune of $273,000 on Friday, followed by an additional $21,000 on Monday, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

The ads support Randy Altschuler, a wealthy Republican businessman running for Congress against Bishop in Mercer’s home district of eastern Long Island.

Altschuler and Bishop first went head-to-head in 2010 in one of the tightest races in the country. Both campaigns challenged the results, and three weeks after the election, just 16 votes separated the candidates, The Hill reported. Eventually, Altschuler, who funded his own campaign, conceded. The final tally gave Bishop a margin of victory of less than 600 votes in a race where about 200,000 votes were cast.

New York’s 1st District is considered a tossup again this year, but Bishop may receive a bump from increased Democratic turnout for the presidential election.