Corporations Spend Millions to Sway Democrats

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As the year-long fight over health care reform draws to a close, corporations are once again pouring big money into influencing the debate. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has already spent $11 million just this month to try and get 27 Democrats who supported the health care bill last year to oppose it. Pharmaceutical companies have bought $12 million worth of advertising to try and defeat the measure. The total amount of money being aimed at swing Democrats during this round of lobbying could total $30 million before week's end. The corporate front group Americans for Prosperity, financed by the billionaire conservative oil man David Koch, has also jumped into the fray, funding an anti-reform ad campaign that cost nearly $1 million. As several on-the-fence Democrats try to sort out their constituents' feelings towards the bill, the lobbying is becoming deafening.