Money and Politics

A nonprofit with ties to Hillary Clinton is under fire for running apparently illegal "robocalls" ahead of next week's North Carolina primary. The group promotes voting by women, but its misleading calls may discourage voting in the African-American community. CIR and NPR look into the organization’s political connections and financing.
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A new ad campaign attacking GOP presidential candidate John McCain is the opening salvo from a group of top Democrat donors, operatives and unions who have been amassing money for the presidential campaign. NPR and CIR trace the money flow and interwoven connections behind the group running the ad.

Top fundraisers for the presidential campaigns of Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain lobby on behalf of foreign governments, and in some cases, helped their clients gain access to the senators, according to a CIR and ABCNews.com investigation.

A CIR web exclusive chart showing which presidential candidates have fundraisers who also work as lobbyists for foreign governments.
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A CIR investigation for Politico finds new examples of presidential candidates relying on fundraisers with questionable backgrounds. Does the high-stakes campaign money race attract people with “shady” pasts?

The 150-year-old King Ranch in south Texas helped shape the cowboy image of the American West. Now it's diversified into everything from citrus to pecans. And it's one of the biggest recipients of federal farm subsidies.

Sugar growers and their allies in Congress want the government to protect the industry from Mexican imports by diverting surplus sugar into ethanol production. CIR contributed research and reporting for this NPR story.

As the new Democratic Congress heralded the elimination of earmarks from a major spending bill earlier this year, top Democrats and members of both parties deluged government agencies with special requests to fund pet projects, according to an investigation by CIR and the Los Angeles Times.

An exclusive look into the inner workings of Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell's fundraising operations by Lexington Herald-Leader reporter and author John Cheves.