Campaign Fund-raising, Congress | featured news

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised a record $22.6 million during the first three months of the year, officials announced Thursday. It ended March with $8.9 million in cash reserves and $4.5 million in debt.

The ads have hit hard: In one, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown is slammed as an out-of-touch politician who saddled his state's manufacturers with higher taxes by voting for President Obama's health care law. In another, he is savaged for his "failed record on energy."

Americans don't like all the cash that's going to super political action committees and other outside groups that are pouring millions of dollars into races for president and Congress.

Senate Republicans blocked Democratic-backed legislation requiring organizations pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaign ads to disclose their top donors and the amounts they spend.

House Democrats raise money off a Romney supporter's comment that "lower income" people don't get the impact of President Obama's policies.

GOP candidates in the closest campaigns for the Senate have moved ahead of their Democratic rivals in the fund-raising race, according to reports released late Friday.