Welcome! Don't tell anyone yet, but you're getting a sneak preview of the new OpenSecrets.org. We're not scheduled to officially launch until Wednesday, May 14, but we thought it was a good idea to flip the switch a little early and test some things out. Massie Ritsch

Economic hardship didn't cause the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) to withhold federal contributions for the last 10 weeks, and it won't prevent the group from following up on its decision late last week to start giving again. Lindsay Renick Mayer

If money had predicted the winners of last night's Democratic primary contests, Barack Obama would have emerged victorious in both North Carolina and Indiana. In the Tar Heel State, Obama raised $1.7 million compared to Hillary Clinton's $1.1 million. Much like the results at the polls, the financial results were closer in the Hoosier State. Lindsay Renick Mayer

The 2008 Webby for Politics has gone to FactCheck.org, which frequently uses Center for Responsive Politics data to check the accuracy of candidates' statements and advertisements. FactCheck, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, beat out the likes of NPR, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and Truthdig. Also among the finalists was MAPLight.org, which mashes up CRP data with congressional voting records to correlate money and votes on legislation. Lindsay Renick Mayer

Getting a more complete picture of lobbying expenditures will be a little easier, thanks to a modification to the now quarterly disclosure reports that lobbying firms and clients must file. Previously, firms earning, and clients spending less, than $10,000 needed only to check a box indicating they'd earned or spent less than that amount. Lindsay Renick Mayer

Congressional candidates come up with all kinds of creative ways to draw attention to their campaigns. Some of these techniques land political hopefuls in office and some...land them in jail. Lindsay Renick Mayer

The U.S. Supreme Court had its hands full with money this week—more specifically, with campaign finance dollars. The justices considered Tuesday whether it's constitutional to "level the playing field" in congressional elections by increasing the dollar limit on individual contributions for candidates who face wealthy, self-funded opponents. Communications

The news media and commentators have recently pointed out that Hillary Clinton's campaign was $10 million in debt after March, but then they sometimes include a disclaimer that the figure includes her $5 million loan to her campaign. It doesn't. In fact, the Clinton campaign's total debt as of March 31 was $15,321,562. Communications

A contribution of $2,300 to a presidential candidate can go a long way, but the contributions of $200 and less are going even further for the Democrats in the presidential race, according to a study by the Campaign Finance Institute this week. March marked the second month in a row where more than half of the contributions going to Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama came from donors giving $200 or less. Communications

We've been processing the presidential candidates' March fundraising reports since they filed them Sunday, so take a spin through the presidential election section to see what's new. The Donor Lookup now includes individuals who gave in March, and totals by state and metro area have been updated. (The Democrats' next battleground, Indiana, hasn't produced much money, but Barack Obama has a small edge in fundraising there, and his lead is larger in North Carolina.) Communications

In the contests for Congress, 1st Quarter fundraising totals for some congressional candidates -- many of them incumbent senators -- still haven't come out electronically from the FEC. (Senators insist on filing their reports on paper even though everyone else files electronically, so this usually explains the delay in getting electronic information -- it has to be keyed in at your expense, taxpayer.) Communications

The New York Times generated a lot of buzz this week with a story about military analysts who work for military contractors when they're not opining on television. The analysts, who have unprecedented access to information from the Bush administration, lobby for military contractors, serve on their boards and act as consultants to them. Communications

Monday, April 21 was the deadline for lobbyists to report their activity under a new quarterly filing system. We will incorporate the new data into our Lobbying Database as the Senate Office of Public Records makes it available electronically. Communications

CRP is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, but we're giving you the birthday gift -- a new website. The redesigned OpenSecrets.org is scheduled to launch officially on May 14th with great new features and a fresh look. In addition to beefed-up news and analysis, you'll be able to easily search across our multiple databases, customize the site to monitor what most interests you and share data through widgets and social networking. Communications

Although former presidential candidate John Edwards has not yet endorsed either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, his supporters are giving more money to Obama, The Hill reported. Communications

In the spring of 2006, Boeing paid one of the largest fines ever imposed on a U.S. company for violating the Arms Export Control Act. From 2000 to 2003, the aerospace and defense giant had defied State Department regulations and warnings about the unauthorized export of commercial aircraft equipped with a microchip that had military applications. (By Jim Morris and Marina Walker Guevara)

Growing up in southeastern Washington State, Trisha Pritikin played among the waters and islands of the Columbia River and gave little thought to the looming neighbor upstream: the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, a sprawling complex of factories where, beginning in the mid-1940s, the U.S. government secretly manufactured plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program. Pritikin, whose parents worked at the Hanford site, was unaware that radioactive residues from the facility had not only contaminated her riverside playgrounds but had also leached into her yard, tainted the milk she drank, and possibly even been tracked across the rugs in her family's home. (By Marina Walker Guevara)

The U.S. Supreme Court had its hands full with money this week — more specifically, with campaign finance dollars. The justices considered Tuesday whether it's constitutional to "level the playing field" in congressional elections by increasing the dollar limit on individual contributions for candidates who face wealthy, self-funded opponents. But in 2008, fewer candidates than in recent elections appear to be reaching deep enough into their pockets to trigger the "Millionaires' Amendment," the federal law at issue in Davis v. the Federal Election Commission.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the world's largest retailer, has transformed its once-tiny political action committee into one of the nation's biggest corporate PACs by promising salaried managers and other executives that it will make corresponding donations in their names, on a two-to-one basis, into a company-controlled charity.

The unusual sweetener, unveiled at company meetings in 2001, has clearly fueled the dramatic growth of Wal-Mart's "Responsible Government" PAC. That year, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Wal-Mart's PAC counted more than 380 contributors of $200 or more. In 2002, with the incentive in place, the number of $200+ contributors to Wal-Mart's PAC zoomed to more than 1,040, and by 2004 it was up to more than 1,240.

The Center for Public Integrity has unearthed a series of videotapes (see box, right) that show Wal-Mart executives making pitches for the "double your money" PAC program, as it was billed internally, at company events in 2001 and 2004. The tapes, drawn from a mammoth archive of Wal-Mart video footage, offer unique insights into how the company induced ever-larger numbers of salaried managers to earmark a part of each of their paychecks for the PAC. (By Bill Hogan)

Alaska Republican Don Young, currently under fire for possibly illegal earmarking for a project near Naples, Florida, was one of Congress's most frequent fliers, racking up more than $20,000 in special-interest sponsored travel to the Sunshine State over a five-and-a-half-year period. (By Caitlin Ginley)