One of the beauties of the transfer of power from major media operations to individuals, bloggers and tweeters is that they — we — can all serve as a sort of fact-checking peanut gallery. So it’s hard to imagine that, in this day and age, the mainstream media could repeatedly misstate the holding of one of the most significant Supreme Court decisions without being roundly excoriated. Not a matter of opinion or a partisan viewpoint, but, simply parroting a mistake or lie about the holding in that crucial ruling.

Super PACs have been facing heavy criticism since the moment they were created but, lately, that outcry has become nearly deafening. One of the harshest critics has been President Obama. That’s why it was awesome for his campaign to write a blog post explaining why they need to win eliminate Super PACs by winning the election…using a Super PAC. This morning on CNN, Obama supporter Russell Simmons defended the President’s “second Super PAC wrong to make a campaign finance reform right” approach.

Yesterday marked a significant anniversary in campaign finance history: the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling in Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission that concluded corporations are legally people and can use unlimited campaign funds to support candidates for public office. Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer discussed the decision yesterday before the South Carolina bar, with Scalia telling opponents of the decision to just turn their TVs off if they didn’t like seeing all the negative ads.

Herman Cain is on the ballot in South Carolina which, given that he dropped out of the race a long time ago, would usually not be much of an issue. But thanks to Stephen Colbert‘s endorsement, Cain is once again a player. Having been a former frontrunner in the Republican race, however, Cain found himself defending his appearance with Colbert from claims that the two were “trivializing the process,” and told Neil Cavuto today that he did it to court youth and college voters, and that Colbert was correct in pointing out that the “FEC rules are broken.”

Stephen Colbert has been very concerned about going to jail since he decided to explore a run for President of the United States (of South Carolina), so much so that he gave his SuperPAC to Jon Stewart and, apparently in complete non-coordination with each other, Colbert SuperPAC is going after Stephen Colbert. This time, the pro-Herman Cain ad stars Samuel L. Jackson, and blasts Colbert for “turning our election into a circus.”

In an interview with The Daily Rundown‘s Chuck Todd, besieged GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was asked if the Citizens United Supreme Court decision had enabled the relentless barrage of attacks from Mitt Romney. Gingrich replied that he wasn’t a victim of the case that allows unlimited donations to SuperPACs, but rather of “a bunch of millionaires getting together to run a negative campaign.”

Karl Rove‘s Crossroads GPS PAC has released a new ad, backed by a huge ad buy, attacking Massachusetts candidate for US Senate Elizabeth Warren by tying her to the Occupy Wall Street movement’s most extreme elements. In an interview with a Boston ABC affiliate, Warren responded to the attack by refusing to disavow the movement, or to buy into the notion that support for its principles means support for the actions of all participants.

According to an email to supporters, President Obama‘s reelection campaign raised more than $70 million in the third quarter, from 606,027 donors. The total, including joint fundraisers with the Democratic National Committee, is down from the combined $86 million they raised in the second quarter, but well ahead of their $55 million goal, and miles ahead of the President’s Republican challengers.

In advance of Friday’s FEC filing deadline, Obama For America has released a video detailing the campaign’s fundraising success during the 2nd quarter of 2011. While other candidates brag about “money bombs,” President Obama‘s reelection campaign looks more like a money supernova. Campaign manager Jim Messina points out, though, that the enormity of the President’s [...]

The 2012 election cycle is proving to be a bit of a dry spell for fundraising for many Republican contenders, as even the most powerful fundraisers are appearing to underperform. Last night Rachel Maddow took a look at the finances of several candidates– from the formidable fundraiser Mitt Romney to folksy upstart Rep. Thaddeus McCotter– and found they made significantly less money than one would assume. This led Maddow to conclude the money was being channeled elsewhere, to third party PACs, which could potentially decide the 2012 election.

The Federal Election Commission has officially approved Stephen Colbert‘s SuperPAC, allowing him to create independent advertisements and raise unlimited campaign donations in the 2012 election cycle.

Late last month Stephen Colbert formed his own Political Action Committee, or PAC, joining fellow conservatives Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin. Last night he learned that, since his nascent PAC ran afoul of some campaign finance regulations, he sadly had to say goodbye to “ColbertPAC.” In what turned into a rather stunning demonstration of the absurdities of campaign finance rules, Colbert followed the counsel of guest legal expert Trevor Potter and quickly resurrected his ColbertPAC with the magical powers of a cover letter!

On the cusp of the first major national elections since the Supreme Court ruled corporations have the First Amendment right to speech in politics, the echo chamber of public political discourse sounds all the louder with all those extra voices. While on legal grounds it’s unclear what it is about Citizens United that seems to evoke hysteria in many talking heads, they have good reason to want to lower the volume: to better hear themselves talk.

Love her or hate her, Sarah Palin has influence. If you doubt this, look no further than former Bush adviser Ed Gillespie‘s appearance on CBS News’ Face the Nation today. In responding to charges that he’s helping to “steal our democracy,” Gillespie resurrected the former Alaska governor’s most infamous malapropism, stating that several newspapers had “refudiated” the claim. Was it a mistake, or the start of a campaign to vindicate Palin by rewriting linguistic history? You be the judge. (h/t Think Progress)

Retailers Target and Best Buy are under fire from gay rights groups, who are organizing boycotts over both companies’ corporate donations to support Republican Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, who they say is virulently anti-gay. The donations of $150,000 and $100,000, respectively, were made possible by the Supreme Court’s hotly debated Citizens United decision, which allows unlimited political donations by corporations. This confrontation will test the limiting effect of the free market on Citizens United.

This is what happens when your late-night show tapes at 5 in the afternoon. Last night Jon Stewart took on Keith Olbermann‘s 3-day Scott-war against the newly-elected Republican Senator from Massachusetts, incinerating the Countdown host’s Special Comment segment along the way. In a case of life imitating art, Olbermann parodied the Special Comment hours after Stewart taped his takedown, saying that yesterday’s Supreme Court decision legalizing corporate campaign contributions was worse than the Dred Scott decision.