The Center for Public Integrity

One might reasonably assume a casino company run by Sheldon Adelson, the most generous super PAC donor of the 2012 election cycle, would sponsor a rather substantial political action committee.

Think again.

The Las Vegas Sands Corp. Political Action Committee has nearly run its account dry with less than $11,000 to its name as of Dec. 31, a new document filed with the Federal Election Commission indicates.

Unlike super PACs, which may accept unlimited contributions to attack or promote political candidates, the casino's PAC is of the traditional variety, legally empowered to accept only limited donations for the primary purpose of donating directly to political candidates. Individuals may donate no more than $5,000 per year to a traditional PAC.

Nevertheless, Sands PAC's spending during the 2012 election season is tiny compared to the more than $93 million Adelson and his family directed to various conservative super PACs ahead of November's election. It's also notably less than the spending by many other corporate PACs of similarly sized corporations, which routinely ranged deep into six- and seven-figure territory last year.

For the 2012 election cycle, Sands PAC raised more than $95,000 and spent less than $126,000, federal records show. Most of its expenditures came in the form of modest contributions to a couple dozen congressional candidates, the American Gaming Association Political Action Committee and the National Shooting Sports Foundation PAC.

Too early to think about the 2014 midterm elections?

Not for a quartet of first-term Democratic senators who face potentially contentious — and expensive — re-election campaigns ahead of an Election Day that's more than 21 months away.

Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.; Kay Hagan, D-N.C.; Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; and Mark Udall, D-Colo.; have teamed up to form Senate Victory 2014, a federal joint fundraising committee, new paperwork filed with the Federal Election Commission indicates.

Such a committee raises cash on behalf of each participant, then distributes funds among them. The setup makes it easier for big-dollar donors to write a single check to the joint committee instead of sending money to multiple candidates.

Judy Zamore of Capitol Compliance Associates will serve as the committee's treasurer.

Why is 2013 an important year for campaign finance? Dave Levinthal and Michael Beckel will answer that, and many other questions about the money-in-politics world in a live chat next Monday, February 4, at 1:00pm ET. 

Cain Connections PAC, a super PAC led by former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain and administered by his cigarette-smoking right hand man Mark Block, finds itself struggling to stay solvent. And relevant.

For one, the super PAC took in just $640 in contributions between Nov. 27 and Dec. 31, new federal filings show.

That's a pittance compared to the more than $1.24 million it collected from people and political committees during the rest of 2012.

Most of the money Cain Connections PAC generated in late 2012 — $19,294 — came from renting lists of information on its supporters to a pair of Virginia-based political fundraising firms, its latest federal disclosure indicates.

Meanwhile, the super PAC's minimal expenditures aren't going toward political advocacy at all but to bankroll its own internal operations.

Legal services and credit card and bank fees rank among its late-year spending, which stands in stark contrast to the tens of thousands of dollars it invested earlier in 2012 on attacking President Barack Obama through various advertisements.

Cain Connections PAC ended the year with about $37,000 in reserve against more than $13,500 in debt, records show. That means it's just back in the black after spending chunks of 2012 carrying more debt on its balance sheet than available cash.

"Jeopardy!" viewers in Denver will get a dose of politics during this evening’s program, Federal Communications Commission records indicate.

A recently formed group called Americans for a Strong Defense has purchased advertising time during "Jeopardy!," "Wheel of Fortune," "Meet the Press" and several other programs in Colorado’s largest media market ahead of this week’s potentially contentious confirmation hearing of former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., who has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be the next defense secretary.

The group has purchased more than 90 TV spots for roughly $73,000 in the Denver media market, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of FCC records posted online.

Last week, Americans for a Strong Defense announced a multi-state advertising spree urging viewers to call their senators to vote against Hagel’s nomination.

The group’s ads are targeting Colorado’s two Democratic senators — Mark Udall and Michael Bennet — as well as Sens. Mark Begich, D-Alaska; Mark Pryor, D-Ark.; Mary Landrieu, D-La.; and Kay Hagan, D-N.C. With the exception of Bennet, each senator is likely to face a competitive re-election in 2014.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee wants people to “say thank you” to Hillary Clinton for her service as secretary of state. Just “add your name” to an online card because it’s “the least we can do.”

Vice President Joe Biden, meanwhile, emailed Friday asking recipients to say, “Yes, I support President Obama’s plan” to reduce gun violence. Do it by registering your name and ZIP code with the Obama for America campaign committee.

Former Obama Campaign Manager Jim Messina followed up with another email directing people to submit their names and ZIP codes though a separate online form and “let us know if your members of Congress support the president's plan to reduce gun violence.”

What do these digital come-ons have in common? Fine print that explains how the committees are granting themselves the right to liberally use personal information in just about any way they see fit.

Obama’s campaign committee, for example, notes in its online privacy policy that it might share your information with “candidates, organizations, groups or causes that we believe have similar political viewpoints, principles or objectives.”

Add “vendors, consultants and other service providers or volunteers who are engaged by or working with us and who need access to such information to carry out their work for us” to the list of entities who might know more about who you are than you think.

A conservative 501(c)(4) nonprofit called the American Future Fund had a bumper year in 2012, spending more than $29 million on political advertisements, according to a new Center for Public Integrity analysis of state and federal records:

That amount included more than $19 million on efforts designed to oust President Barack Obama, as well as millions more to oppose Democratic candidates for Congress and even two state attorneys general. 

That's a lot of activity from an organization that says influencing elections is not its primary purpose.

Who funded the advertising spree? It's unclear. 

What little is known on the American Future Fund's donors simply leads to another 501(c)(4) nonprofit that has no website and lists its address as a post office box in Phoenix. 

The Arizona-based Center to Protect Patient Rights "contributed more than $14 million to the American Future Fund between 2009 and 2011, or 51 percent of funds the group raised over the three-year period," the Center's investigation found.

Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin may have just lost her gig — and enviable paycheck — as a Fox News contributor.

But Sarah PAC, the political action committee Palin runs, remains flush with cash, with a little more than $1.15 million in cash on hand through December, new reports filed today with the Federal Election Commission indicate.

That figure is slightly smaller than the number Palin reported in early December, as the PAC's expenses ($67,807) exceeded its income ($20,790) late in 2012, according to the report.

Consulting and speechwriting fees account for much of Sarah PAC's spending from late November through the end of December.

Few PACs, be they traditional or super in nature, maintain a cash balance in the seven-figure range, meaning Sarah PAC remains a force in politics, even if its namesake's public persona has absorbed a setback.

During calendar year 2012, Sarah PAC took in nearly $2.6 million in contributions, its reporting shows.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's political future may not be clear, but her backers have already created a new super PAC to support a potential 2016 presidential bid.

A group called "Ready for Hillary" registered Friday with the Federal Election Commission. Its chairperson? Allida Black, a George Washington University professor and historian, who has been a vocal Clinton supporter for years.

Four years ago, Black called for President Barack Obama to name Clinton as his vice presidential pick, and she helped launch a political action committee called WomenCount that pushed back against calls for Clinton to drop out of the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. In its first month of operation, WomenCount PAC raised more than $350,000.

"She's the candidate that I have wanted for decades," Black, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, told The New Republic in 2008. "I had heard about Hillary for a good 15 years before Bill ran in '92, and I was for Bill because of Hillary."

Ready for Hillary's treasurer is listed as Judy A. Beck, who is married to Black, according to Black's Twitter profile.

This is the second Hillary Clinton-themed super PAC to materialize this month. Davenport, Iowa, resident Nigel Wallace formed Hillary Clinton Super PAC on January 10. He declined to comment on its creation.

The Center for Public Integrity's Consider the Source project today launches Primary Source, a daily diary of developments in the post-Citizens United world of money in politics.

Primary Source will augment Consider the Source's investigative reporting and feature original reporting from Center staff. The feature will include regular examinations and analyses of primary source documents pertaining to political contributions, spending, lobbying and other forms of influence. 

Look for several new Primary Source dispatches later today. In the meantime, bookmark Primary Source here, subscribe to its RSS feed here, follow daily updates on Twitter at @PublicI and "like" us on Facebook.

Also be sure to sent your tips, hints and suggestions to tips@publicintegrity.org.