Presidential candidates lean on well-funded outside groups

In this June 15, 2015 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton shakes hands after speaking inside a barn as it rained in Concord, N.H. Republican Jeb Bush and Clinton are asking donors to write the checks to get their campaigns started. Yet these “new” candidates have been fueling their presidential ambitions for months"”years, in Clinton"™s case"”thanks to outside groups that will continue serving as big-money bank accounts throughout the race. In the 2016 presidential field, creative financing abounds.

Jim Cole, File, Associated Press

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In this June 16, 2015 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush talks to members of the media after speaking to voters at the Derry Opera House in Derry, N.H. Bush and Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton are asking donors to write the checks to get their campaigns started. Yet these “new” candidates have been fueling their presidential ambitions for months"”years, in Clinton"™s case"”thanks to outside groups that will continue serving as big-money bank accounts throughout the race. In the 2016 presidential field, creative financing abounds.

Jim Cole, File, Associated Press

2 of 2

WASHINGTON — The 2016 presidential race is featuring some creative ways to generate cash to help candidates.

Federal Election Commission Chairwoman Ann Ravel calls it the "Wild West," fostered by a 2010 Supreme Court decision that lets outside groups raise unlimited sums.

Donors can give only a maximum $2,700 apiece, per election, to their favorite candidate's campaign.

But outside groups that can accept checks of unlimited size include personalized super PACs that, while barred from directly coordinating with candidates, are often filled with their trusted friends.

And there are so-called "dark money" nonprofit policy groups that keep contributors' names secret.

Republican Jeb Bush, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and others have been fueling their presidential ambitions for months thanks to outside groups that will continue serving as big-money bank accounts throughout the race.

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