Tag: Erik Paulsen

In fact, the 2018 election in Minnesota saw an unprecedented amount of political advertising: $120 million was spent on 671,000 political ads on television, cable and radio to influence voting. The data — which detailed political ad purchases at every TV, cable and radio station in Minnesota — was collected on a week-by-week basis, providing an opportunity to study election advertising by campaigns and outside groups in close-to-real time. About $23 million in ads ran on those stations two years ago, compared with almost $43 million this year. While Minnesota may not get the same attention in 2020 as it did in 2018, big spending is here to stay, said Steven Schier, professor emeritus of political science at Carleton College. Republican candidates spent $14 million. Paulsen lost despite spending the most on TV and radio ads of any congressional candidate in the state. But outside interest groups spent more money on ads than candidates – about $75 million across the state. Of the 11 major races in Minnesota, seven of the candidates who won spent more on TV and radio advertising than their opponents. She also spent almost double the amount of money advertising that Lewis did: more than $4.4 million vs. his $2.3 million. The endowment was created to put students and professors together to produce and publish professional-quality work as part of a class at the journalism school.

“Norbert?” he asked on the doorstep of a man who’d donated $25 to his campaign. A handful of candidates, including Phillips, are going a step further and refusing to take any PAC money at all, even if it comes from labor unions or fellow Democrats. In Minnesota, Phillips, a Democrat, has raised more than $2.3 million, 99 percent of it from individuals, and has used his no-PAC-money pledge to mount a formidable challenge in a district that Republicans have held since 1961. Trump also made corruption in Washington a central theme of his campaign and promised to “drain the swamp” of politicians who only do the bidding of their wealthy donors. The cycle perpetuates itself, he wrote, as members of Congress who serve on powerful committees attract more donations for their re-election campaigns. And Trump routinely endorses candidates who accept large amounts of money from corporate PACs. In 2016, only three of the 41 candidates on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “red-to-blue” list of the most competitive races made the no-corporate-PAC pledge, according to Adam Bozzi, communications director at End Citizens United, a group that supports an overhaul of campaign finance laws. In the last midterm election year, 2014, some 1.5 million small donors contributed a total of $335 million to Democratic campaigns across the country through ActBlue, an online platform that raises money for Democrats. Paulsen’s campaign has tried to make an issue of Phillips’ wealth. “He said, ‘I’m not taking any PAC money.