From a release of the Center for American Politics and Leadership:

With all the talk about the role of Super PACs in the upcoming Presidential election, Paul Herrnson’s analysis of campaign finance in the 2010 midterm elections gives timely insight into the newly bolstered role of special interests in campaigns.

Herrnson’s research shows that by the end of 2010 – less than 12 months after the landmark Citizens United v. FEC ruling opened up the floodgates to unlimited special interest funding in elections – Super PACs had already left their mark on congressional elections. These groups raised and spent nearly $60 million attempting to influence congressional campaigns across the country.

Another $71.8 million in newly-legal independent expenditures by corporate, labor, and other organizations were made as a result of the Supreme Court case, bringing the total amount spent by interest groups as a result of the Citizens United case to $131 million – almost one fifth of all interest group spending on the 2010 elections.

Dr. Paul Herrnson, Director of the Center for American Politics and Citizenship (CAPC), is the author of Congressional Elections: Campaigning at Home and in Washington.