Salter: Will elections shift to outside spending model?
s of June 24, Mississippi’s 2014 U.S. Senate race had run up a tab of $17.2 million and growing, according to the Sunlight Foundation’s “Influence Explorer” website.
Outside spending by PACs, super PACs, 527 or 501c groups have pumped a total of $11.6 million in money that was spent by third parties seeking to influence the outcome of the race by advocating issues and supporting or opposing the respective candidates in the Cochran-McDaniel race. In the 2014 Senate general election, will new Democrat-leaning outside big spenders come to the aid of Democratic nominee Travis Childers?
From a broader standpoint, perhaps the better question is whether groups outside Mississippi will continue to wield the kind of influence in future Mississippi congressional elections and will that model become the norm? With statewide elections looming in 2015, what is the future of campaign finance for statewide races?
Sid Salter
Clarion Ledger
6/25/14
Magnolia Tribune
