Super PACs wielded influence in Iowa race

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 1/4/12 | Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Political Writer

[SmithL]

Des Moines, Iowa -- Mitt Romney won the Iowa caucus with the help of an ominous new trend in politics called the "Tony Soprano strategy": Let your unnamed friends pummel your enemies while you keep your hands clean.

The Iowa race was a national showcase for the power of a relatively new type of political action committee, known as super PACs, independent groups that are allowed unlimited donations from corporations and individuals.

Such groups are going to continue to reshape the Republican race this year because federal election rules don't require them to reveal their donors until Jan. 31 - the day of the Florida primary and after voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have cast ballots.

Some political analysts wonder whether late-surging former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who finished just eight votes behind Romney in Iowa, would have had a chance if a super PAC had trained its sights on him earlier. Santorum raised less money than any candidate through Sept. 30.

"It enables a few people who have an awful lot of money to influence the process," said Viveca Novak, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit that analyzes how money influences politics. "Mitt Romney was a beneficiary of super PACs. He has a lot of money personally and he has access to a lot of other people who have a lot of money."

[USNBandit]

an ominous new trend in politics called the "Tony Soprano strategy": Let your unnamed friends pummel your enemies while you keep your hands clean.<\i>

not really a new trend.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Gingrich got Mittboated. His answer: the Newtron bomb.