Political Money
As the primaries draw near, every special interest group is pouring money into Vermillion, to try and swing the Senate race. The money is itself beginning to become a story. In particular, some major backers include:
- The NRA is backing Fred Ronit, whose second-amendment credentials are impeccable. He has been bragging for months about how he and Roger still go down to the range for practice every Saturday, and have been doing so for decades. (This is introducing some tension between N Stanimir and R Newbold, who had assumed that the NRA money was all locked up due to their association.) He also has the full-throated backing of several Tea Party PACs, and does nothing to hide that.
- Jeri Ferdinand has received the support of a bunch of Internet firms, which like her recent initiative to build a tech hub in Violet City, and who has become an outspoken advocate of rules to level the Internet playing field. F Ronit is slamming her as favoring Internet regulation, which will slow down innovation.
- Meanwhile, Senator Newbold is facing a mini-scandal over receiving an enormous amount of advertising and support from the Modern American Freedom PAC, and nobody actually knows where that money is really coming from. There have been frequent allegations that it is all big-oil and big-pharma, and shows that he is in the pocket of Corporatism. He is saying consistently that he doesn't actually know who is behind the PAC, and that's true, but he isn't willing to disclaim the donations.
