Politics

The Washington DC-based Club for Growth has racked up a winning record in its well-funded, $10.8 million effort to influence GOP Senate primaries across the country, and with help from some deep-pocketed donors, will continue throwing its weight around as November approaches.

In response to a recent court decision that was expected to bring greater transparency to election spending, the nonprofit created and chaired by billionaire industrialist David Koch, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), is shifting its electoral strategy to continue hiding its donors as it drops $27 million on the presidential race, with millions more likely to be spent as the election approaches.

A communications director for Mitt Romney's campaign, Ciara Matthews, has been demoted after prohibiting reporters from asking the GOP presidential candidate questions about Todd Akin or abortion. Matthews was recently communications director for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's recall campaign and has long been an anti-abortion advocate -- and even wrote last year that Republicans should be speaking more about abortion.

Comments about "legitimate rape" and human reproduction from U.S. Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.), GOP senate candidate for Missouri, has set off a firestorm of controversy and a growing chorus of Republicans calling on him to withdraw from the race. But the decision by Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS to stop running ads in Missouri may be the most decisive call for withdrawal, and an indication of how well-funded outside groups are calling the shots in modern elections, to an even greater degree than political parties.