Super PACs and other outside groups poured more than $1 billion into the 2012 elections, according to the Center for Public Integrity. But not all of that money proved to be wisely spent.

Here are six of the worst investments right-wing groups made:

– $29,836,729 in the Virginia Senate race (lost by 4.8 points): Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS and American Crossroads ($11,287,908 combined), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ($4,494,618), and Independence Virginia PAC ($4,921,410) majorly backed former Sen. George Allen (R-VA) in his race against former Gov. Tim Kaine (D). Independence Virginia PAC, formed especially to elect Allen, received at least $1.5 million in contributions from billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson. Allen lost the same seat six years ago after his infamous bullying of an Indian-American campaign tracker who he called “macaca.” This time around, he spent much of the campaign complaining about the national debt he helped run up in his first term and advocating for pro-polluter policies to benefit the companies he worked for as an energy consultant. As President Obama won Ohio by 3 points, Kaine beat Allen by a 4.8 point spread (52.4 to 47.6).

– $22,143,479 in the Ohio Senate race (lost by 5.2 points): Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS ($6,363,714), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ($4,392,434), former Rep. Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks for America ($2,246,409), and the controversial Government Integrity Fund ($1,300,000) were among the biggest investors in support of Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel (R) in his challenge to Sen. Sherrod Brown (D). Mandel refused to tell voters his position on the automobile bailout that saved thousands of Ohio jobs and advocated for fracking in National Forests. As President Obama won Ohio by less than 2 points, Mandel apparently lost 50.3 to 45.1.

– $15,316,062 in the Florida Senate race (lost by 12.8 points): Karl Rove’s American Crossroads ($4,022,607), former Rep. Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks for America ($2,883,893), and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ($3,846,303) all invested millions in support of Rep. Connie Mack IV (R-FL) in his challenge to Sen. Bill Nelson (D). Though the seat was previously held by Mack’s father, former Sen. Connie Mack III (R), the younger Mack’s campaign was forced to contend with headlines about his history of bar fights and was mocked as the “Charlie Sheen of Florida politics.” Mack apparently lost 55.1 to 42.3.

– $5,879,939 in the Illinois 8th District race (lost by 9.4 points): Former Rep. Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks for America ($2,164,046) and Now or Never PAC ($2,789,614) spent big to try to re-elect controversial Tea Party freshman Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL). A leading opponent of raising the debt ceiling, Walsh generated controversy when he said President Obama only won because he is “a black man who was articulate,” yelled at his constituents at a local bar, and he belittled his opponent’s war record and injuries. Though Walsh claimed she was not a “true hero,” Tammy Duckworth, a double amputee who lost both her legs in Iraq when insurgents hit her helicopter with an RPG in 2004, easily beat him Tuesday. Walsh apparently lost 51.5 to 42.9.

– $4,177,208 in the Illinois 12th District race (lost by 8.6 points): Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform ($472,053), Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS ($586,103), and the YG Action Fund and YG Network ($1,184,259 combined) all spent heavily in support of candidate Jason Plummer (R). Plummer, whose painful interview as a 2010 Lieutenant Governor candidate went viral, lost an open seat race to former Illinois National Guard Adjutant General Bill Enyart (D). Plummer apparently lost 51.5 to 42.9.

– $918,789 in the New Jersey 9th District race (lost by more than 48 points): Patriot Prosperity PAC made a massive investment in support of Rabbi Shmuel “Shmuley” Boteach (R) — the host of TLC’s Shalom in the Home — in his challenge to Rep. Bill Pascrell (D). The super PAC was funded almost entirely by $1 million in contributions from billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam. Pascrell’s lone outside support came in the form of a $10 expenditure by the Sierra Club. Even with this massive 91,878-to-1 advantage on outside spending, Boteach lost in a landslide: he apparently lost 73.6 to 25.4 percent.

In a stunning smear, a GOP group chaired by a prominent Republican strategist and funded by the state Republican leadership, has sent a mailing to Florida voters accusing an elementary school teacher running for state legislature of enabling child molestation because she is in a teacher’s union.

The mailings — by a group called the Committee to Protect Florida — attack Karen Castor Dentel, an elementary school teacher in Maitland, Florida, and the Democratic challenger for the 30th District State House of Representatives seat. Because she is a member of the Florida Education Association, which opposed a 2011 bill that eliminated tenure for public-school teachers, the mailer says she would “rather protect bad teachers and the union” than “young and impressionable students.” One one side of the mailing is a picture of convicted serial child molester Jerry Sandusky — who as an assistant football coach at Penn State would not have been protected by any Florida public school teacher’s union; the other side shows a picture of her and the other says:

Karen Castor Dentel’s priorities are clear:

* Use tenure policies to protect bad, burnt-out, longtime teachers at the expense of younger, better teachers.
* Use the courts to keep all teachers in the classroom – even those who prey on young people.
* The right to use our tax dollars and valuable student learning time to promote her political campaign.

Karen Castor Dentel: Good for the union, bad for kids.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that even the Republican incumbent, State Rep. Scott Plakon, denounced the ad as sounding “indefensible,” and called it “exhibit A” of why campaign finance reform is needed to stop anonymous groups from making such attacks. The Supreme Court’s 5-4 Citizens United ruling allows outside attacks like this with very little disclosure or restriction.

But the mailings were largely funded by his own party’s leadership: incoming Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford (R) and Rep. Richard Corcoran (R), who is in line to become Florida’s Speaker in 2016. Financial disclosures for the group also indicate that the Florida Chamber of Commerce Alliance Inc., the Florida Medical Association, and AFSCME have made significant contributions to the group.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce — which spent nearly $33 million in 2010 to elect a Republican Congress — strongly backed the 2011 Budget Control Act which averted a national debt default and instituted automatic cuts that will go into effect unless Congress reduces federal spending. But while the Chamber’s CEO Tom Donohue reportedly warned Congressional Republicans at the time “we’ll get rid of you,” if they did not agree to a debt ceiling increase, the group has spent millions supporting Republicans who voted against the bipartisan agreement:

1. Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO). The Chamber spent more than $692,000 on “independent expenditures” helping Akin in his challenge to Sen. Claire McCaskill (D), with ads attacking both McCaskill and his primary opponent former Missouri State Treasurer Sarah Steelman (R). The group has not spent any money in support of Akin since his comments that victims of “legitimate rape” are unlikely to become pregnant. Akin explained his opposition to the deal, saying it “fails to address the problem at hand, and it threatens to severely degrade our national defense with a trillion dollars in cuts to our military.”

2. Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY). The Chamber has spent at least $185,000 in “independent expenditures” attacking her opponent, former Rep. Dan Maffei (D), and praising Buerkle. The freshman Congresswoman explained her vote against the deal in a statement, saying “There were some good aspects to the bill, but this version also creates several new problems. At the end of the day, I was not satisfied that all my questions and concerns had been answered as to potential negative effects of this bill on the people in my district.”

3. Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV). The Chamber spent more than $489,000 on “independent expenditures” helping Heller in his re-election bid against Rep. Shelley Berkley (D), with ads endorsing his re-election and attacking her record. Heller said he saw “no strategy” in the compromise and would have preferred a “big deal.”

4. Rep. Connie Mack IV (R-FL). The Chamber spent over $3.8 million on “independent expenditures” helping Mack in his challenge to Sen. Bill Nelson (D), with ads attacking Nelson and urging voters to defeat him. Mack said he didn’t think the American people wanted a deal or “gimmicks.”

5. Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT). The Chamber has spent more than $1.3 million on “independent expenditures” helping Rehberg in his challenge to Sen. Jon Tester (D), with ads attacking Tester and encouraging voters to defeat him. Rehberg called the deal “little more than business as usual for Washington.”

The Chamber has also spent at least $3.3 million on “independent expenditures” helping Mitt Romney by attacking Barack Obama. While Obama signed the compromise, Romney said he “thought it was a mistake on the part of the White House to propose it” and “a mistake for Republicans to go along with it.”

After Senate nominee and U.S. Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-MO) August comments that victims of “legitimate rape” are unlikely to become pregnant, a wide array of leading Republicans called on him to withdraw from the race. When he refused, some outside groups cancelled their plans to run ads on Akin’s behalf. But, a ThinkProgress review of independent expenditures shows several groups have continued to spend in support of Akin.

Among those continuing to back Akin are:

1. Reinventing A New Direction PAC (Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) leadership PAC): This political action committee has spent at least $100,000 on its media efforts against incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill (D). The group’s ad attacks McCaskill for supporting foreign aid. Even Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) denounced the spots — which are also being run against other Senate Democrats.

2. Faith Family Freedom Fund (the super PAC affiliated with the Family Research Council, an anti-LGBT hate group): This super PAC has reported spending more than $15,000 on radio ads attacking McCaskill for her support for Obamacare and the 2009 stimulus law — though it does not mention the social issues the group tends to focus on. One speaker in the ads argues “everyone’s talking about this so-called war on women, and it seems to me that McCaskill is the problem,” because she “made the economy worse.” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins criticized the GOP’s abandonment as “suspect.”

3. Senate Conservatives Fund (Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) leadership PAC): This political action committee has spent more than $90,000 backing Akin, including e-mail list rental and on-line processing. The PAC’s website is collecting online contributions for Akin and says it has already raised more than $444,000 for his campaign. DeMint and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) endorsed Akin in September, saying, “We support Todd Akin and hope freedom-loving Americans in Missouri and around the country will join us so we can save our country from fiscal collapse.”

4. National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund and its NRA Institute for Legislative Action: The political and lobbying arms of the pro-gun group
have combined to spent more than $140,000 on flyers and postcard mailings. The group’s endorsement praised Akin for his “proven record of defending the Second Amendment.”

5. National Right to Life PAC: This anti-abortion group spent more than $30,000 on mailings backing Akin.

6. Freedom’s Defense Fund: This PAC, tied to birther and Swift Boat conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi has spent over $150,000 running TV ads in support of Akin. While one recent ad attacked McCaskill for her support of “socialism” and “the liberal assault on free markets and traditional values,” the group made the odd decision to run a pro-Akin ad that actually reminds voters of Akin’s “legitimate rape” comments.

Watch the spot:

7. Missouri Farm Bureau Federation Statewide Farm PAC: The group, which claims to support candidates who are pro-agriculture, has spent about $20,000 on radio ads supporting Akin.

8. National Federation of Independent Business: This pro-GOP trade association spent more than $10,000 on mailings against McCaskill. The group, which calls itself “the voice of small business,” endorsed Akin this month, noting his opposition to Obamacare, tax increases, and “the regulatory bureaucracies in Washington.”

In recent weeks, Akin has come under additional fire for repeatedly comparing McCaskill to a dog, claiming there is no “science” behind evolution, and arguing against equal pay laws.