According to the chart in this Washington Post article, the top 10 PACs in 2006, in order, were the left‐​feminist Emily’s List, the left‐​wing MoveOn​.org, the left‐​wing union SEIU, the left‐​Democratic ActBlue, three more unions, the NRA, and two Democratic PACs. So how did the accompanying story read? (Note that the PAC graphic goes with the third item in this column; that’s clear in the print paper but not so clear online.)


The item was headlined: Why Gun Control is a Long Shot


And the text began:

If you want to know why major new federal restrictions on firearms will be a hard sell despite the horrific shootings at Virginia Tech last week, here’s a leading reason: The National Rifle Association is one of the nation’s richest and most influential pressure groups.

Well, one of them, yes. But the other 9 of the top 10 are all liberal‐​to‐​left Democratic funders. The top two lefty PACs together raised almost six times as much in 2006 as the NRA. So did the top four unions. And two Democratic PACs that you probably haven’t heard of — America Coming Together and Forward Together — each raised just as much as the NRA.