A quick reminder of what a "Super PAC" is

The term "Super PAC" was coined in 2010 by Eliza Carney in an article for the National Journal about the AFL-CIO's independent expenditure-only political action committee "Workers' Voices". She decided the term "independent expenditure-only political action committee" was a really ungainly phrase, so she shorthanded it as "Super-PAC".

Ordinary political action committees ("PACs&quot are either "connected" or "non-connected". Most are "connected", meaning they are controlled by a business (about half of them), a labor union (about a third of them), or a trade association (the remaining ones).

Connected PACs can only take up to $5000 per year from people in the business, union, or association (with a few exceptions), and can donate to candidates' campaigns (though they have the same limit as people: $2500 per campaign). More importantly they can coordinate their spending with the candidates' campaigns, and they can buy ads that contain the "magic words" to vote for or vote against a certain candidate.

Non-connected PACs can take up to $5000 per year from anyone but cannot donate it to candidates, but can coordinate with their campaigns. (So-called "Leadership PACs" run by elected politicians are the most common examples, though they have the added restriction that they cannot coordinate with their own campaigns.)

"Super PACs" can take any amount of money from anyone but cannot in any way coordinate their expenses with any campaign (people have gone to jail already over this). They were made possible not so much by Citizens United, despite all the hype, but more by SpeechNOW.org vs. FEC.

Super PACs cannot donate to candidates. Candidates cannot receive money from Super PACs. Candidates' campaigns cannot coordinate in any way with Super PACs. Super PACs cannot pay for campaign travel, internal polling, or any other campaign expenses (though leadership PACs can).