Candidate Donald Trump was quite up front and out in the open with his warning about Super-PACs doing some sketchy business and putting their candidates in compromising positions.
The recent discoveries of Team Rubio using Digital Media Astroturf paid for via Club for Growth spending is one such example of “sketchy”.
In a similar fashion we have warned of Ted Cruz being compromised by “sketchy” activity resulting from his way-too-close association/alignment with Glenn Beck and the extremely “sketchy” David Barton who runs “Keep the Promise”.
Now a recent outline from Politico (<– which you may want to bookmark) claims that the Cruz Camp is a little concerned about the activity, or, well, actually, lack thereof, from the various Keep The Promise Pro-Cruz Super-PACs.
However, the main point of the politico story is not factually accurate.
You may have seen on Fox News, and various other cable networks, a commercial which essentially states: “Don’t let Washington DC pick our candidate” – and then goes on to give phone numbers for the viewer to call with pictures of various candidates – Those frequent commercials are being run by Keep the Promise, which is the subject of the Politico story.
POLITICO – The super PACs backing Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential run have yet to reserve any TV time in the early primary states — or anywhere else — despite a combined $38 million war chest that ranks second among presidential contenders only to Jeb Bush’s $103 million operation.
The total absence of ads has created confusion and growing consternation inside the Cruz campaign, which cannot legally communicate with its allied super PACs and has had to watch as its rivals lock in tens of millions of dollars in ads before prices spike, as they typically do as elections near.
“I assume they’re waiting so their media buyers make the highest commission,” one Cruz adviser quipped.
While most 2016 candidates have one main super PAC backing them, the Cruz super PACS are a decentralized alliance of four independent but interconnected operations, each called some version of “Keep the Promise.” People familiar with the groups say they were designed that way to cater to the different big donors funding them.
Hedge fund manager Robert Mercer gave $11 million to one. Energy investor Toby Neugebauer gave $10 million to another. And the families of Dan and Farris Wilks, brothers who became billionaires in the Texas fracking boom, gave $15 million to a third. (link) [<– Read Entire Article ]
You might remember the initial seed money for Carly Fiorina’s Super-PAC, Carly For America (CfA), actually came from Mercer’s donation to Keep the Promise I. A curious issue which has yet to be resolved.
However, the more interesting aspect of the current politico story is this:
Keep the Promise II and III, which have $25 million between them, have so far reported spending less than $50,000 on independent expenditures to help the Texas senator. David Barton, an influential evangelical leader, is also involved in setting the strategy for the Cruz super PACs but was unavailable for an interview. (link)
Keep the Promise IS RUNNING COMMERCIALS, they’re jut not running Ted Cruz commercials. David Barton’s group is gathering some form of data collection via the commercials previously mentioned. So what exactly is being done with the data gathered? And for whose benefit is this being constructed?
Curiosor and curiosor.
