What are Super PACs?

A Super PAC is an organization that can raise unlimited amounts of money for spending on federal elections.

While candidates and regular PACs (political action committees) are only permitted to raise a few thousand dollars from any one individual, a Super PAC can accept unlimited contributions from any US citizen or corporation.

There’s a hitch, though: Super PACs can’t give any money directly to political candidates or coordinate with campaigns. Instead, they spend heavily on their own independently-produced ads promoting their preferred candidates, which is why the official term for a Super PAC is an "independent-expenditure only committee." Super PACs must disclose all of their funders to the Federal Election Commission. They spend most of their money on advertisements — usually television ones.

Prominent Super PACs from the 2012 election include Restore Our Future (pro-Romney), Priorities USA (pro-Obama), American Crossroads (a group identified with Karl Rove, supporting Republicans), and Majority PAC (supporting Democratic Senate candidates).

http://www.vox.com/cards/super-pacs-...are-super-pacs