Media Trackers Unregulated Math

The right wing group Media Trackers has a long record of distortions, innuendo and absolute lies.  They have repeatedly shown that they have no problem smearing people in just about any way to advance their extreme political goals.  They are now applying this approach to their use of normally objective things like math and counting.

Sleazy Washington D.C. special interests have been trying their best to prop up their exhausted candidate Tommy Thompson.  In fact they have spent over $10.7 million attacking Tammy Baldwin with some of the most dishonest ads in recent memory.  Media Trackers has decided to dispute this number by using what I'll generously call "fuzzy math".

Media Trackers falsely claims that the outside attack ads against Baldwin total only $5.4 million. However they completely ignore the amount of unregulated spending on paid media that is not even filed with the FEC.  It doesn't seem like the kind of thing that Media Trackers should "forget" since they receive the very same kind of unregulated and unfiled funding.

But again, given their history, Media Trackers exists to distract, muddy the waters and distort reality for partisan purposes.  So when they encounter real numbers that dispel their propaganda, they employ the kind of fuzzy math that simply omits those numbers.  Apparently the people at Media Trackers adhere to a kind of mathematical relativism.

Here is a full listing of the special interest spending against Tammy Baldwin.  Unlike (unregulated funding recipient) Media Trackers, this listing actually includes the unregulated money.  When you take all of the numbers together, you quickly see that the Baldwin figures are completely true.  You also find that Media Trackers' funding is not the only thing that is unregulated...so is their use of math.

Primary Spending Against Baldwin by Outside Groups 
NRSC (Radio) $32,179.00
US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE $1,333,161.00 ($490,851)*
AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY $423,225.00*
AMERICAN COMMITMENT $464,518.00*
TOTAL $2,253,083.00

General Election Spending Against Baldwin/for Thompson 
CROSSROADS GPS $3,939,029.00
AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY $1,574,842.00*
60 PLUS $520,800.00*
NFIB $145,587.00*
US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE $714,702.00
NRCS/THOMPSON $733,332.00
NRSC $840,171.00
TOTAL $8,468,463.00

GRAND TOTAL:$10,721,546.00

*Unregulated, not filed with FEC, $4,540,397
 [Source, Wisconsin Radio and Television Stations]