Politics
July 6, 2015 at 1:05 pm
As presidential candidates find new ways to exploit secret donations from tax-exempt groups, hobbled regulators at the Internal Revenue Service appear certain to delay trying to curb widespread abuses at nonprofits until after the 2016 election. In a shift from past elections, at least eight Republican presidential candidates, including leading contenders like Jeb Bush and…
July 6, 2015 at 12:59 pm
Bernie Sanders now has hard numbers (in dollars and donors) to back up the idea that he can run a serious campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. The Vermont senator banked $15 million, a surprisingly robust fundraising haul, in the three months that ended June 30.
July 2, 2015 at 1:25 pm
Fundraising is often used as a proxy for the strength of a campaign, and Hillary Clinton's team wants everyone to know she's $45 million strong. Clinton is the first major candidate to announce their fundraising haul this cycle ahead of a midmonth reporting deadline. Clinton's campaign says she raised more than $45 million in donations…
July 1, 2015 at 7:00 am
Go big or go home, right? That seems to be the mantra at the Greek Bailout Fund page on crowdfunding site Indiegogo. The campaign, started by a 29-year-old Brit named Thom Feeney, popped up two days ago, seemingly as a good-natured (if tongue-in-cheek) way to lend a hand to Greece, which yesterday announced it was unable to make its scheduled 1.8-billion-euro International Monetary Fund loan payment. "All this dithering over Greece is getting boring," reads the campaign's mission statement.
June 30, 2015 at 7:00 am
The Obergefell v. Hodges ruling announced on Friday by the Supreme Court granting same-sex couples the constitutional right to marry sparked spontaneous celebrations all over the country. Many view the decision as an inevitable outcome of a relatively rapid evolution of public opinion over the past decade. That said, this does not mean that all…
June 25, 2015 at 2:28 pm
By my calculations, in 503 days, it will be over. No, not the world or even the Star Wars saga. I mean the 2016 presidential campaign.
June 25, 2015 at 1:28 pm
The money race for second place is on. With a June 30 fundraising deadline drawing near, speculation over how much money Republican presidential candidates will collect is reaching a fever pitch. It's already clear that Jeb Bush will come out on top regardless of whether he hits or even surpasses the $100 million target many in…
June 24, 2015 at 1:21 pm
Hillary Clinton is racing across red states and blue states at a frenetic pace for a frontrunner, hoping to show that her early dominance in the Democratic presidential race will also translate into a muscular financial advantage as the campaign's first fundraising period ends next week. The first true measure of Clinton's strength will come…
June 23, 2015 at 1:30 pm
The leader of a white supremacist group mentioned by Dylann Roof in his alleged manifesto has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republican campaigns in recent years. Earl Holt, president of the St. Louis-based Council of Conservative Citizens, has given to prominent 2016 candidates Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Rick Santorum over the years,…
June 11, 2015 at 2:11 pm
Former President Bill Clinton said if his wife is elected the next U.S. president, he will consider stepping aside from leading his global philanthropy, and that, while he intends to keep delivering speeches on issues he cares about, he will stop accepting money for them. “I believe if you have been president, and the current…
