The American Bankers Association, a trade group for thousands of banks headed by former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, voted to start a legal entity for this federal campaign cycle, adding millions of dollars into an already overstuffed election.

The ABA entity would reportedly donate to existing Super PACs, so that the member banks can keep their donations secret.

Aside from the death threats to Todd Akin, the insider account of a Karl Rove fundraiser was enormously revealing. First of all, you get an eye into the Crossroads strategy, and since it promises to have $300 million behind it, it’s a heavy part of the strategy to recapture the White House.

Here’s a pretty incredible story out of South Florida. David Rivera, a GOP Congressman who already has an impressive history of corruption, paid the bills for a fake Democratic primary candidate for his House seat. There is evidence here of federal election crimes that carry jail terms.

As expected, Republicans filibustered the DISCLOSE Act last night, as the legislation that would have forced disclosure on political campaign expenditures failed 51-44. Republicans who voted all united against the bill, and they were joined by West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, who is sure to have a wide variety of independent expenditure ads funded by secret donors against him in his re-election campaign.

One of the ways that supporters of California’s Prop 32, the Trojan horse initiative to silence union activity in elections while facilitating corporate campaign spending, will probably press their case publicly is by claiming that unions spend ungodly amounts of money on politics.

After the victory in Wisconsin, many wondered where conservative interests would strike next to finish off unions and permanently alter the power relationship between labor and capital. It appears the next step is California. In November, voters will decide on an initiative, Prop 32, that would “eliminate unions from having any voice in politics whatsoever,” according to one labor official.

The Electoral College. The medical insurance industry. Campaign finance laws. Congressional budget negotiations . . .

If you’re looking for the identity of my candidate for Patron Saint of the United States of America — a man born on the 4th of July, no less — then you need look no further that the list above.

Of course, there is plenty more evidence to support my belief . . .

Good news, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued a wide-ranging subpoena yesterday. Only it had nothing to do with the financial fraud task force he’s co-chairing. Instead, this was a subpoena about campaign contributions to tax-exempt groups.

In a way, the idea that the Supreme Court would overturn their landmark ruling in the Citizens United case, in just two years’ time, with the same personnel on the Court based on a state Supreme Court holding in Montana, of all places, was pretty fanciful. And the Court did not suprise anyone.

This really makes minced meat of our campaign finance laws. Mitt Romney is holding a “Victory Leadership Retreat” this weekend in Utah. It sounds like a fine affair, if your idea of a good time is listening to former secretaries of state James Baker and Condoleezza Rice, Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman, Sen. John McCain, Rep. Paul Ryan, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and a parade of mostly older white men opine on national and world affairs. But among the guests is the head of a leading SuperPAC that’s supposedly barred from coordinating with any political campaign, Karl Rove.