The story:
Presidential campaigns are so 2008, like boyfriend jeans or Tila Tequila. If you want to win the White House these days, “Super PACs” are the thing to have. And all the Republican hopefuls know it. If current trends continue, the splashiest ads and most aggressive ground campaigns will come from groups officially unaffiliated with any candidate.
Just last week, Jon Huntsman’s ad man, Fred Davis, left the campaign to work for a pro-Huntsman Super PAC, where the lack of limits on campaign contributions will presumably give Davis far more money to work with. This summer, Steve Roche, a top fundraiser for Mitt Romney’s campaign, jumped ship to a pro-Romney Super PAC, Restore our Future, which was founded by Romney’s 2008 campaign treasurer, Charles Spies, and political director, Carl Forti. As Rick Perry prepared his race, his former Chief of Staff, Mike Toomey, set up a pro-Perry Super PAC called Make Us Great Again, with the stated goal of raising $55 million.
All three of the groups are easily capable of raising and spending more money than their official presidential campaign counterparts because they do not have to abide by the $2,500 individual campaign donation limit imposed by Congress. But in look, taste and feel, voters are unlikely to notice the difference between the official campaigns and the outside groups. The strategies will be the same. The messaging will jell. It will all seem like an old story, even though it is anything but.
