Dick Morris' Super PAC Sham?

[marmar]

from Mother Jones:



Do the Republicans have a chance to fundamentally remake Washington by picking up 100 House seats in the coming elections? Dick Morris—the Fox-friendly, right-wing political consultant who once upon a time advised the Clintons—says they do. At least, that's what he's telling potential donors to his super PAC, called Super PAC for America.

Super PACs are a new type of political action committee, ushered in by recent court and Federal Election Commission rulings, that can raise and spend an unlimited amount of money to influence a federal election and can expressly campaign for or against individual candidates. In the past week, President Barack Obama has slammed Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie, two former George W. Bush aides who have created a pair of outfits to raise and spend money to help GOP congressional candidates, and the Chamber of Commerce for funneling tens of millions of dollars in secret campaign cash into the midterm elections. And Morris is trying to get in on the action—even if he's a bit late in the game. On October 4, he and his colleagues sent notice to the Federal Election Commission that they were forming Super PAC for America, and it "intends to raise funds in unlimited amounts" for independent expenditures in federal elections. (That means the PAC will not donate directly to candidates, but instead fund its own efforts—mainly ads—to oppose or support candidates.) Within days, Morris was sending out fundraising emails to conservatives.

In one of those solicitations, Morris writes,

We have a very ambitious goal for Super PAC. I am calling it "Project 100."

Our plan is for the Republicans to win 100 seats in this year's congressional elections.

Yes, that's right—100 seats!

I have studied the numbers very carefully, and we believe that this can be done and will send a shockwave through Washington and around the world.

The GOP needs to gain 39 seats to win control of the House. The overwhelming consensus of veteran political handicappers is that the Republicans are within reach of snaring that many seats. But none of the established House-watchers are predicting a 100-seat gain for the GOP. Is Morris, then, taking conservative contributors for a ride? ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/10/dick-morris-super-pac