The money race updated, and what the figures don't show.

Last Wednesday was the first deadline for candidates to report to the Federal Election Commission details on how they are raising, and spending their money.

This NY Times article details how much has been raised, spent, and in some instances, where the money is coming from.

As you can see from the table below, while Hillary Clinton has raised the most from direct contributions ($47.5 million), Jeb Bush has raised the most money from outside support (PAC's) with $103 million. 


For those of you that have been following my blog, you can clearly see the disconnect between direct funds raised and PAC money raised, and how this is impacting campaigns.

What the campaign filings don't show is how much the Super PAC's continue to have growing sway.  While these reports do provide an early glimpse at each campaign's financial operations, they promise to tell only part of the story.  These figures do not include any of the money being raised by the "super PACs" and other outside groups supporting many of the candidates.  In many cases, the money raised by these super PAC's will dwarf what the direct campaign brings in.

As we have discussed, some candidates are relying on these groups, which can tap unlimited corporate and individual contributions, so long as they do not coordinate directly with the candidates.  This is a huge departure from past campaigns and has directly led to candidates becoming reliant on a handful of super rich donors.

As you can with the table above, without Super PAC's, Jeb Bush would have raised approximately the same amount as Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz in the Republican field.  Instead, the field is clearly separated by those that have the most Super PAC money (and again, this table doesn't show all of it).

Rick Perry offers a perfect example.  The former governor of Texas, who ran a choppy campaign in 2012, has had trouble firing up direct contributions.  Perry is at the bottom of direct money raised. 

However, a few super PAC's have furnished Perry with over $10 million, with most of that money coming from just a handful of super wealthy donors.

With some much power and influence in the hands of a few, watchdog groups (and citizens) continue to be concerned about this growing trend in fund raising.