Tagged: SuperPAC

As Mitt Romney decisively won the Illinois Republican presidential primary Tuesday night, financial reports filed at the Federal Election Commission showed that Romney and a superPAC supporting him yet again spent more than all of his GOP opponents combined.

The reports cover the month of February, which started with Romney's win in Nevada and ended with contests in Michigan and Arizona, which the former Massachusetts governor also won.

In between, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum took three smaller states.

One of the defining elements of the 2012 presidential campaign is money. Not that the candidates themselves have raised all that much; except for President Obama, they haven't. But two dozen wealthy Americans have put in at least $1 million each.

Mostly, they're a mix of Wall Street financiers and entrepreneurs. One of the biggest donors is Sheldon Adelson, a casino magnate who is worth about $25 billion.

Residents of Illinois and Louisiana this week have been bombarded by TV ads attacking one or another presidential candidate, the vast majority of them funded by superPACs, groups that run TV ads like a regular candidate's campaign, but legally have nothing to do with the candidate they support. Tuesday night, they must file a report detailing who gave them money and how they spent it. Host Rachel Martin talks with NPR's S.V. Dáte.