Nonprofit Campaign Spending Down Overall in 2008

The 501(c) groups, which included business coalitions, heavily favored Republican candidates. The top three spenders were the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with $36.4 million, Freedom’s Watch with nearly $30.2 million and Employee Freedom Action Committee, which spent $20 million.

The decline in nonprofit spending overall, however, was the result of 527 groups withholding fire. These unregulated, narrow interest groups spent $202 million during the 2008 election, down from the $426 million they shelled out in 2004.