The End of Freedom’s Watch

The Washington Times has news of another victim of the meltdown: Freedom’s Watch, the conservative political advocacy group bankrolled by billionaire Sheldon Adelson, is closing up shop. The group, which pumped $30 million into the election this year, is a victim of Adelson’s plummeting fortunes—the casino magnate’s Las Vegas Sands Corp. has lost 95 percent of its stock value—and has decided to shut down instead of a post-election downsizing. Founded in September 2007, Freedom’s Watch “touted itself as an answer of sorts to the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org…[spending] $15 million on an ad campaign supporting President Bush’s surge of troops in Iraq just as Gen. David Petraeus was being summoned before Congress to testify about the strategy,” the Times reports.