Mass Senate Race: Elizabeth Warren More Reliant on Out-of-State Donors, Scott Brown More Reliant on PACs
Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard Law Professor and consumer advocate running for U.S. Senate against Senator Scott Brown, raised a whopping $5.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. But a full 69% of it came from out-of-state supporters, according to her campaign.
By contrast, Senator Brown raised $3.2 million, with 66% of reported contributions from in state, according to The Boston Globe.*
But as the AP reports, Brown is more reliant on political action committees (PACs) than Warren, having collected ten times the amount from PACs that Warren has.
Moreover, the two candidates have received support from very different PACs:
The PACs backing Brown included financial institutions, defense contractors and corporations like Citigroup, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, McDonald’s, Microsoft and Google.
Many of the PACs supporting Warren represent labor unions, including the Sheet Metal Workers International Association, the Laborer’s International Union and the American Federation of Government Employees.
Brown and Warren have struck an agreement to curb the influence of so called “SuperPACs”, a new kind of fundraising organization made legal by a court case in 2010 and able to raise and spend unlimited amounts to influence campaigns.
The influx of outside dollars into the Mass. Senate race just goes to highlight its importance on the national scene. Polling is close between the two candidates (while Warren is the presumed Democratic nominee, she still has to win the primary). And Democrats see Brown as vulnerable in this election and hope to take back the seat that until 2010 belonged to the late Ted Kennedy.
*Contributions under $200 are not subject to the same reporting requirements, so the 66% applies to the $1.5 million of reported contributions only.
from BostInno http://bostinno.com/2012/02/14/mass-senate-race-elizabeth-warren-more-reliant...