After little more than a year in existence, conservative advocacy group Freedom’s Watch is closing up shop. The group’s primary financial backer was Sheldon Adelson, the owner of Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Forbes‘ third richest man last year. But Sands Corp. stock has taken a 95% hit in 2008, and Freedom’s Watch seems to be one of the first casualties along with Adelson’s net worth ranking.
There were signs that Freedom’s Watch was on its way out before yesterday’s announcement. According to the Washington Times, the group spent $30 million on political races this year—a relatively small sum considering it originally planned to hand out $200 million to conservative candidates. Before that, when the cash was still flowing, it funded a $15 million campaign to promote the surge in Iraq. Here’s one of those ads:
