election cycle, according to a CQ Roll Call analysis of data.

At a private gathering of conservative political donors last year, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell applauded the state of American elections today, which he described as more deregulated than at any point in recent memory.

When Congress moved quietly late last year to permit much larger contributions to the political parties, some experts cast the rules change as, at best, an improvement on the old system, and, at worst, inconsequential.

Dubbed the “billionaire election” by some, these midterms have featured more money than ever spent by the wealthiest Americans and less by small donors. Big-spending outside groups are distilling an already elite donor pool even further, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and the overall number of individual donorsKevin Johnson

USA TODAY

The popular Orlando gay nightclub where Omar Mateen carried out the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history was the gunman's only target in an assault that was described Wednesday by the FBI's lead investigator as both a crime of hate and terrorism.

While federal authorities have been reviewing whether the 29-year-old security guard had considered other locations in the area, including Disney World, Ron Hopper, who is managing the broad federal inquiry, said there was no evidence to indicate other possible targets.

Much of the investigation so far has focused on Mateen's activities in the days before the massacre, primarily an account provided by the gunman's wife who allegedly told authorities that she sought to dissuade Mateen from launching an attack on the club. A federal law enforcement