The Center for Public Integrity

While many of the independent groups trying to shape the outcome of the November election expressly endorse or criticize a candidate, some aim to highlight issues. Readers in both Grants Pass, Ore. and St. Paul, Minn. report seeing an independent ad run by BankruptingAmerica.org, a project paid for by a group called Public Notice.

A reader in Mukilteo, Washington, a coastal suburb about 20 miles north of Seattle, reports seeing an independent attack ad against Washington Sen. Patty Murray. The 30-second spot, entitled “Can’t Afford Patty,” bashes the third-term Democrat for having “increased our national debt by trillions." The reader's tip was submitted via Sunlight Foundation's Campaign Ad Monitor, with which the Center is collaborating to inform our You Report: Election 2010 reporting initiative this election season.

As election ads paid for by third-party groups begin to flood U.S. airways, one group seeking campaign finance reform is running an ad blasting a California Republican who has protected the current election financing system. The ad lampoons Dan Lungren, now seeking his 9th term representing the suburbs of Sacramento, California, as a bathing-suit-wearing-fatcat using a legal loophole to get a free Hawaiian vacation.

The Supreme Court's ruling in the Citizens United case opened the floodgates for corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts of money trying to influence the midterm congressional elections in November. Campaign reporters Josh Israel, Aaron Mehta, and Peter Stone, with the help of the Sunlight Foundation's Campaign Ad Monitor, are mobilizing the Center’s supporters to detect in real time examples of political dirty tricks, corporate ads, persuasive "push" polls, pre-recorded phone messages — "robo calls," and efforts to discourage voters from showing up at the polls.