Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Outside Groups Outspend Candidates in 26 House Races

Illinois' 17th Congressional District looks like it was drawn by an X-acto knife on crack, pitted with divots large and small and tendrils leading nowhere.

This misshapen plot of land, dubbed the "rabbit on a skateboard," is the result of a redistricting process that made it slightly more Democratic territory.

That means first-term Rep. Bobby Schilling, a Republican, doesn't exactly have a smooth glide-path to re-election. In fact, he’s in a fight -- an expensive one. Through Oct. 17, Schilling and his Democratic opponent, Cheri Bustos, together have spent $3.3 million on the race ($1.9 by Schilling, $1.4 million by Bustos).

But that's not the half of it. Another $6 million has been spent by outside groups, a cool $2.7 million more than the candidates themselves have laid out.

That makes the contest one of 26 House elections in which outside spending adds up to more than spending by the candidates, according to Center for Responsive Politics data.

The table below shows the top ten races in which outside groups have spent more than the candidates. (Totals are through Oct. 17, the last date for which candidate spending data is available.)

Read more: http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/10/outside-groups-outspend-candidates-1.html

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