But of the 14 races targeted by American Crossroads, just three were won by Republicans, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, a group that publishes election expenses. Crossroads GPS fared only slightly better; the group was seven for 24 in its races.
Factors well beyond money helped explain the outcomes in multiple races, but progressive groups had feared that wealthy conservatives’ blank checks would swamp less heavily invested liberal candidates running in smaller, out-of-the-way areas.
“The candidates sometimes don’t have enough resources of their own to make themselves well known to the electorate,” Bob Biersack, senior fellow at the Center for Responsive Politics, told AFP.
“People don’t know them to begin with, so you can shape people’s judgment about candidates more easily in those kind of districts” with big money invested by super PACs.
Crossroads sees the glass half full. According to its communications director Jonathan Collegio, the group helped offset the fundraising juggernaut that was the Obama campaign, which spent $541 million compared to the Romney campaign’s $336 million.
“Crossroads played a critical role of balancing out those efforts, and had we not been there, it’s safe to say that the outcome would have been considerably worse,” Collegio said.
The strategist is confident about his group’s role in the future, and said he did not fear a decline in contributions from wealthy donors.
Former investment fund manager Foster Friess, who spent $5 million on Republican races this year, told the Los Angeles Times that contributions to such independent groups “will not drop off” in the 2014 mid-term election and then the 2016 general.
Crossroads won’t be waiting until then. It confirmed to AFP it will air advertisements aimed at influencing upcoming negotiations on the US budget and encouraging policies that decrease taxes for US companies and budgets.
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