This is a great tool to get a quick glimpse of the effect of money in state legislative races. What did Bob DeLeo need $895,000 for? Well, it’s one way to funnel money around to your Democratic buddies who do your dirty work. And it’s sure gotta be nice to have $446k in the bank.

But in case you thought the Senate was immune to going along with such an anti-labor position, take a look at the second dot — Senate President Therese Murray’s nearly $636k raised in 2010. At least Murray had a close race to fight. Of course, her opponent spent only about $49,000, and came within 3,600 votes out of 72,000 cast. DeLeo, on the other hand, was unopposed in both his primary and the general election.

As Greg Palast said, we’ve got the best democracy money can buy.

Other great tools include a map to compare competitiveness of state elections, and a committee analysis tool to show the influence of money on house and senate committees. If you really want to dig in, check their online sleuthing tutorials to see how to use all of their tools.