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Organizers have Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the senior policy adviser to Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign, described the group as a center-right version of the Center for American Progressin the New York Times, <ref>Jackie Calmes, [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/us/politics/04conservative.html G.O.P Group to Promote Conservative Ideas], The New York Times, February 3, 2010.</ref> but rather than working on policy analysis, it the group has just been spending spent large sums of money running ads attacking Democratsduring political campaigns.Politico refers to the group as one of the "key outside forces on the right.". <ref name="politico">Maggie Haberman, [http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78211.html/ American Action Network launches $10 million effort in 'orphan states'], Politico, July 8, 2012.</ref>
in In New Hampshire, the American Action Network invested $2 million in a single ad buy attacking Democrat Carol Shea Porter. The buy was made in mid-October.
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'''American Action Network''' (AAN) is a "501(c)4" Washington, D.C.-based "action tank" created in February 2010 after the U.S. Supreme Court's ''Citizens United'' decision permitted corporations to spend unlimited money influencing elections. AAN spent $26 million on ads in 2010, making it the second-most active outside political spending group that year behind the Chamber of Commerce.<ref>Center for Responsive Politics, [http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cycle=2010&cmte=American+Action+Network "American Action Network: 2010"], Organizational Website, Date Accessed: January 8, 2012.</ref> As a 501(c)(4), the American Action Network does not have to disclose its donors.<ref name= "fact check">Factcheck.org, [http://www.factcheck.org/2010/08/american-action-network/ AAN entry at FactCheck.Org], organizational website, accessed September 17, 2010.</ref> The organization is run by Republican political operatives (including engineers of Nixon's illegal and unethical campaign activities) and billionaires (some of whom personally benefitted from the Wall Street bailout).
In January 2011, AAN created the Hispanic Leadership Network to bring more Hispanics to the Republican party.<ref>Hispanic Leadership Network, [http://hispanicleadershipnetwork.org/about/ "The Hispanic Leadership Network: About"], organizational website, Accessed January 8, 2012.</ref>
'''''See also: [[American Crossroads]]'''''
==2015 Attacks on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau==
{{#ev:youtube|wF7HFQSpDQE|200|left|"Denied"|frame}}
During the Republican Presidential Debate on November 10, 2015, AAN aired an ad, titled "Denied", attacking the [[Consumer Financial Protection Bureau]]. The CFPB is the brainchild of U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren. It was enacted in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Bill. By 2015, the CFPB had already collected $170 million on behalf of consumers from the big banks and other financial firms.
Warren is featured in the AAN attack ad which portrays the CFPB as a Soviet-style,paper-pushing bureaucracy. The real agenda behind the ads is to smear the CFPB as it cracks down on forced corporate arbitration clauses contained in many consumer contracts that are closing off access to justice through class-action lawsuits.<ref name="NYTArbitration">Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Michael Corkery, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/16/business/dealbook/efforts-to-rein-in-arbitration-come-under-well-financed-attack.html?ribbon-ad-idx=3&rref=business/dealbook&module=Ribbon&version=context®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=DealBook&pgtype=article Efforts to Rein in Arbitration Come Under Well-Financed Attack]", "The New York Times", November 15, 2015.</ref> A November 2015 front page ''New York Times'' expose showed "how corporations across the spectrum of the American economy — phone companies, credit card providers, nursing homes — use mandatory arbitration to circumvent the court system and derail legal claims alleging predatory lending, wage theft, discrimination and other violations."<ref name="NYTArbitration"/> The U.S. Department of Justice is recommending new regulations to rein in forced arbitration, while the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pushing back.<ref name="NYTArbitration"/>
==2012 Election Activities==
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'''Ad Attacking Carol Shea-Porter in New Hampshire'''{{#ev:youtube|NNt38K1Sboc|200|left|"Rubber Stamp"|frame}}
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNt38K1Sboc&feature=youtu.be&utm_medium=email&utm_source=et&utm_content=here&utm_campaign=1879763_278678_Dan%20Conston Rubber Stamp]: October 16th, 2012: $2 million<ref>Alexandra Jaffe, [http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/house-races/261985-clf-aan-launch-first-ads-in-135-million-blitz CLF, AAN launch first ads in $13.5 million blitz], The Hill, October 15, 2012.</ref>
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