Erik C. Anderson and I decided to follow the money for our election follow-up stories. In addition to new complaints about Excel (great with data, terrible with design) we learned that the future of campaign spending is as murky as its present.

Outside Money Plays Major Role in Top Montana Campaigns

The story on Montana Public Media, which was designed for web-only viewing, links to the non-profit groups in the “shadow money” sector as well as some of their ads and related filings.

A big thanks to the folks at opensecrets.org and followthemoney.org providing valuable data and working tirelessly to maintain some transparency in campaigns.