Only 59 super PACs have raised more than $1 million. | REUTERS The un-super PACs

Disgusted by conservative political groups flush with billionaires’ riches, real estate professional Mark Satterlee formed his Our Country Our Voice super PAC hoping to fund television and Web ads promoting liberal candidates.

Filing the federal paperwork took about 20 minutes and a postage stamp.


But when Satterlee sought to open up a bank account for his super PAC this summer, four financial institutions turned him down. His fundraising total through October? Zero dollars.

( Also on POLITICO: Dem super PACs get jump on 2014, 2016)

“It took a lot more of my time than I thought it would, and we never really got it off the ground,” Satterlee said. “Doing this was harder than I expected.”

Satterlee’s saga is hardly unique: More than 60 percent of the 1,091 super PACs ever created have never raised a dime.

In fact, more than 100 super PACs have closed shop in 2012, 59 this month alone, the Sunlight Foundation reports.

They’re the “un-super PACs,” often born from political idealism and good intentions but doomed to virtual anonymity or irrelevancy for one reason or another. Even kitschy or eye-catching names — such as Dogs Against Romney, Joe Six PAC, Eradicate National Debt and the Slam Dunks, Fireworks and Eagles Super PAC — haven’t helped much.

( Also on POLITICO: Merriam-Webster adding 'Super-PAC')

Life is good on the other side of the spectrum, where groups such as Restore Our Future, which raised $132 million to help Mitt Romney, or the pro-Barack Obama Priorities USA Action ($63 million), took advantage of a 2010 federal court decision that essentially created super PACs and gave the power to raise and spend unlimited sums.

But those are the anomalies: Fewer than one in 10 super PACs have raised at least $100,000, according to the latest federal records. Only 59 have raised more than $1 million.

That said, super PACs have collectively generated more than $750 million as of their last federal reports — a number that will certainly increase by year’s end.

Robert Rosenfeld of Ohio, for his part, wasn’t exactly being serious when he formed the Fat Old Man PAC.

Using one of his daughters’ nicknames for him, Rosenfeld says he created the super PAC mainly to “get my three kids a little more interested in the election.”

He didn’t raise a dime but said he had some fun and learned, if nothing else, that filing paperwork to form a super PAC is a heck of a lot easier than filing tax returns for charitable organizations, which is part of his day job.

Remy Maisel raised $25 from one donor during the more than six months she’s run Penn Staters for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, a super PAC inspired by comedian Stephen Colbert, who sold a do-it-yourself kit for forming super PACs as part of a yearlong gag lambasting the influence of money in politics. Maisel added $50 from her own pocketbook, as well.

Colbert’s satirical super PAC — Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow — raised about $1.25 million, only to have Colbert to shut it down this month and donate the remaining $774,000 to a secretive nonprofit organization he set up.

Maisel says the experience of forming and using a super PAC to educate classmates about changes in campaign finance law took her on a most unexpected journey. This summer, she changed her major from animal science to political science and film and video production. Then she earned an internship with Barack Obama’s reelection campaign. Now, she’s exploring studying in Washington, D.C., having fully caught the political bug.

“Ludicrous or not, starting the super PAC changed my life for the better in every way,” said Maisel, who plans to keep Penn Staters for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow open and perhaps transfer it to another student eventually. “And it’s incredibly easy to get people to listen about politics if you start off by telling them, ‘I’ve formed a super PAC.’”

Forming super PACs for vanity or fun may seem harmless enough, but doing so doesn’t come without cost: Even if people don’t take their super PACs seriously, the Federal Election Commission must.

The FEC dedicates staff, resources and taxpayer dollars to processing their filings, mailing them letters when they fail to file properly and investigating them if their activities (or lack thereof) are suspect.

While it’s impossible to quantify exactly how much money has been spent, the FEC said in a statement that its reporting analysis division reviews each new filing and follows up as needed — an effort that, considering the filings of hundreds of super PACs, could easily gobble up hundreds of worker hours worth tens of thousands of dollars.

The FEC throughout the year has also terminated dozens of odd super PACs bearing similar names and all created by men in Florida — it’s unclear whether they’re actually a single individual, although in each case, the contact phone numbers and emails provided for the super PACs don’t work.

Then there are super PACs that haven’t quite gotten off the ground yet.

Texas resident Paula Bacon this summer helped create more than 50 super PACs designed to fight horse slaughter. Most are named for a U.S. state or jurisdiction, such as the Alabama Horse Association and Kentucky Horse Association, and designed to tailor anti-horse-slaughter messages to different parts of the nation, Bacon says.

None of them have yet generated income, and as a result, these nonpartisan super PACs effectively sat out the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.

“We haven’t really flown the kite yet,” Bacon said, promising the groups will be active for the 2014 midterm elections. “Raising money is something we don’t feel will be difficult at all. We have the support out there, we have the facts on our side and we’re taking this seriously.”

Satterlee, who runs the cash-poor Our Country Our Voice super PAC, also plans to keep his committee operating.

He’s still angling to raise enough money to produce Web videos and, if cash flow allows, television ads.

“As long as super PACs are around,” Satterlee said, “the left needs to get as aggressive as the right.”