In an effort to get a leg up on what will likely be an avalanche of red-tinted outside money for 2012, David Brock of Media Matters has announced the rollout of an outside group of our own--American Bridge.
Mr. Brock said in an interview that he planned to formally file papers with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday to set up American Bridge as what is known as an independent-expenditure-only political action committee, meaning it will be able to take in contributions of unlimited size from individuals and corporations but must regularly disclose its donors.
Brock is already rolling out some heavy artillery for this group. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend will serve as chairwoman, and he's already racked up $4 million in donations from Dem heavyweights like Rob McKay of the Taco Bell fortune.
One potential problem, though (unless I'm reading it wrong)--Brock seems to have plans to raise money for both American Bridge and Media Matters. While Media Matters doesn't have to disclose its donors, American Bridge will have to. However, there's more than enough reason to believe that Brock won't be nearly as cavalier about complying with the law as Rove was in 2010.
While several other Dem activists have been setting up outside groups, Brock appears to have gone further than any of them. This also comes as the Obama administration seems to be more willing to let outside groups for our side play a role in raising money for 2012.