Guide to Big Money influencing North Carolina elections

The usual suspects

If you thought all the big money spent in the 2010 election, the first election since the U.S. Supreme Court unleashed a flood of corporate cash in American elections with its decision in Citizens United, was bad, this year will be worse.

Want to know where all the big corporate cash flooding North Carolina elections will be coming from in 2012? Facing South, a publication from our friends at the Institute for Southern Studies, has some answers.

In 2012, corporate groups in North Carolina are gearing up to exert an even stronger influence in the state's elections. Campaign spending reports show a well-organized network of business-backed groups in N.C. poised to spend large amounts of money helping their favored candidates -- most often Republicans, with occasional support for conservative Democrats (especially during primaries).

Big spenders this time include the Carolina Business Coalition, Real Jobs NC, the NC Chamber, and Americans For Prosperity. North Carolina's own right-wing sugar daddy, Art Pope, is a significant source of funding for some of these organizations.

Click here to read the article, 'NC business groups prepare to unleash big money in state elections".