Super PACs dole out cash, whether candidates like it or not

[...] the barrage of insults hasn't stopped the political groups known as super PACs and their donors from showing the two presidential candidates some love — no matter how loudly they may rail against their very existence.

Yet already, a super PAC allied with a nurses' union that endorsed Sanders over Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in August has put more than $600,000 into pro-Sanders digital and print ads in the important early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

[...] the nurses' union has moved $3.4 million in dues into its super PAC, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission.

"Anti-labor folks might say that these unions are extorting money from their dues-paying members to use on politics, whether those members like it or not," said Paul S. Ryan, senior counsel at the Campaign Legal Center in Washington, which advocates for stricter campaign finance rules.

RoseAnn DeMoro, the union's executive director, said the super PAC has helped other candidates in previous elections and is assisting Sanders' bid because "we've never seen a better messenger" for causes important to the union's members, citing as an example his plan to expand Medicare.

While both say they'd like to limit money in politics by rolling back the Citizens United court ruling, Clinton deployed close aides to a super PAC that aims to at least triple the $80 million it raised to support President Barack Obama's re-election.

[...] in June, Sanders' campaign attorney sent a cease-and-desist letter to a strategist who set up a "pro-Sanders" super PAC going by several names, including Bet on Bernie and Americans Socially United.

The group's website includes a headline about how "Republicans support political outsiders" — and a disclaimer that its mission is "in no way a direct relation to Donald Trump or his 2016 presidential campaign."