Actually, for a despicable, anti-democratic ruling from the ditto Supreme Court, the case known as Citizens United, which stripped almost all efforts to curb political contributions by non citizens (e.g. corporations), has had a wonderful first set of victims:  the GOP pols who overwhelmingly thought it was a great idea.

Mitt Romney won the Iowa caucus with the help of an ominous new trend in politics called the “Tony Soprano strategy“: Let your unnamed friends pummel your enemies while you keep your hands clean.

The Iowa race was a national showcase for the power of a relatively new type of political action committee, known as super PACs, independent groups that are allowed unlimited donations from corporations and individuals.

Such groups are going to continue to reshape the Republican race this year because federal election rules don’t require them to reveal their donors until Jan. 31 – the day of the Florida primary and after voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have cast ballots.

…  Hard-hitting TV ads funded by the group sank the campaign of onetime Iowa front-runner Newt Gingrich with a $4.1 million onslaught of TV ads in the final weeks before the caucuses. The former House speaker finished a distant fourth Tuesday, with half as many votes as Romney.

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