Ohio Democratic Congressmen are addicted to special interest money

Opensecrets.org is a great website that provides some details into the money behind campaigns.

One of the best breakdowns they provide highlights the money raised by special interests, or PACs, versus money raised by individuals.

As you'll see below, some of the most hotly contested congressional races in Ohio show a few Democrats that have an overwhelming reliance on special interests. The three highlighted below show Charlie Wilson, Marcy Kaptur, and Betty Sutton with 2/3 or more of their fundraising haul coming from special interests.

Take special notice of the percentage of PAC money versus Individual dollars in each race.

OH-6

OH-9

OH-13

If these three Democrats win, they'll have special interests to thank. And when you owe your career to special interests, they expect you to pay up.

Compare that to the three Republicans. Two of the three are largely self-financing their races thanks to their success as businessmen. And the third is running as solid a race as can be expected against an incumbent liberal with 3 out of 4 dollars coming from special interests.

Maybe one of these days this meme that the GOP is the Party beholden to special interests will go out of style and reality will set in. At worst, both Parties have their issues. But as can be seen above, when the chips are down we know who these Democrats run to for help.

And with upwards of 3/4 of their cash coming from special interests, we know who they'll be beholden to if they win in November.