AARP, formally known as the American Association of Retired Persons, is a nonprofit membership organization of persons 50 and older that is dedicated to addressing the needs and interests of older adults. Along with providing information and products/services to its more than 30 million members, AARP is a powerful force in advocating for social change in the political arena.

AARP has considerable political influence partly because of the large number of voters the organization represents. Furthermore, older adults tend to vote more actively than other age groups. Along with representing a large voting constituency, AARP also spends millions of dollars on lobbying. In fact, AARP is often considered to be the most powerful congressional lobby in the United States. For example, Politicalmoneyline (http://www.fecinfo.com/) reported that AARP ...