Campaign Spending: Why Companies Are Holding Fire

Business Week reports:

The Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission provoked condemnation as a decisive breach of the ramparts protecting U.S. politics from the influence of corporations and big labor. The hoopla, it's turning out, may have been hasty.

The ruling, issued Jan. 21 and denounced a week later by President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address, established that companies and unions may make unlimited expenditures advocating the election or defeat of federal candidates right up to Election Day. So far, though, it has not resulted in corporations rushing to set aside fresh money for campaign attack ads. To the contrary, the decision has provoked a backlash among Democrats in Congress. They are drafting disclosure legislation that could make it trickier for businesses to influence elections.