A super PAC’s abortive plan to launch incendiary, personally charged attack ads against President Barack Obama
sent a sharp warning message to candidates up and down the federal
ballot: This year more than ever, they are not in control of their own
destinies.
Campaigns and party committees have recognized since
before the 2012 race began that independent spending groups would play
an outsized role this cycle. But the revelation last week that the
Ending Spending Action Fund, a group backed by billionaire Joe Ricketts,
had considered a proposal to run ads
about Obama’s past ties to the firebrand preacher Jeremiah Wright
highlighted just how little traditional political groups will be able to
manage the 2012 debate.
To strategists on both sides of the presidential fight,
the Ending Spending flap looked like a near miss — a sign of the ease
with which reckless donors and operatives could meddle in this year’s
campaign with a provocative message not authorized by either party.
