Good Rainy Saturday Morning.

Oh look! More good news…

PAC money flowing to Mass. delegation
Donations on rise since ‘08 political power shift

The Massachusetts delegation in the US House of Representatives is reaping the financial rewards of Democrats’ return to power, attracting increasing amounts of campaign cash from Washington’s influential business and labor union lobbies.

Since their party regained House control in 2006, the state’s 10-member, all-Democrat delegation has secured the chairmanships of one major House committee, one select committee, and five subcommittees. And with those powerful posts comes more fund-raising leverage.

Donations from special-interest political action committees, or PACs, comprised 45 percent of the delegation’s campaign collections during the 2008 election, jumping from 33 percent of the total in 2004, the last time Republicans won a majority in the House.

In raw dollars, the increase in PAC money flowing to the delegation also was striking, rising to $4.6 million, from $3.2 million in 2004, a 44 percent increase.