Citizens, Disguised

The Times reports on the new realities of our campaign-financing sham:

While most of the candidates are backed by one or more superPACs — nominally independent groups that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on their behalf — Mr. Romney and Mr. Perry’s supporters have assembled what appear to be the most robust groups, staffed by former aides with longstanding ties to the formal campaigns and financed by the candidates’ leading donors.

The groups essentially function as auxiliary units of the campaigns, even though they are required by federal law not to coordinate their activities or messages. Mr. Romney is backed by Restore Our Future, a group founded this year by three veterans of his 2008 campaign for president. Recently, the chief fund-raiser for Mr. Romney’s campaign jumped to Restore Our Future, and he has already met with some of Mr. Romney’s major donors and supporters — a practice permitted by current campaign regulations

Mr. Perry is backed by Make Us Great Again, a group advised by a prominent Austin lobbyist who is his former chief of staff and financed by some of his leading donors...