“Anyway, major donors will tell you that candidates who receive help are so sensitive to that image that they almost go out of their way to screw donors to prove it is above board,” Jordan said.
Kentucky Senate
Because outside groups can activate quickly, with just one or two big checks, it’s easier for them to jump into an election early with a bout of TV advertising.
That’s the state of play in Kentucky, where Senator Mitch McConnell faces a competitive Republican primary in May and, if he prevails, a well-funded Democratic opponent in November.
Two McConnell supporter groups have focused on the general election, and they’ve been chipping away at Democratic hopeful Alison Lundergan Grimes for almost a year. While Grimes has yet to air a single ad, pro-McConnell forces -- his campaign, the super-PAC Kentuckians for Strong Leadership, and a nonprofit Kentucky Opportunity Coalition -- have broadcast about 5,000 ads, CMAG data shows.
The commercials paint Grimes as a yes-woman for Obama and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Kentuckians for Strong Leadership isn’t so much a group of Kentuckians; a Bloomberg review of its initial fundraising showed only 2 percent of its receipts came from in-state. Its most recent FEC filing, for the first three months of this year, shows that about 80 percent of the money still comes from out of state. One of the biggest check-writers was Joseph Craft III, president and chief executive officer of Alliance Resource Partners LP, a Tulsa-based coal producer. He gave $100,000 through his JWC III Revocable Trust.