No. of Recommendations: 15
Trump made the decision to save more money that he could put into his coffers to get rid of the Republican get-out-the-vote operation and outsource it to outside conservative groups.
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This is another example of how Citizens United hasn't enabled more "political speech," it has simply enabled more political grift. There are only so many voters in the country. There are only so many waking hours per day those voters are available to encounter advertising of any kind. Advertising is no different than seeding a yard. If you have 12,000 square feet and want to ensure the seed takes root, you can buy one 80 pound bag, try to spread it evenly around the 12,000 square feet and take your chances. Or you can buy two or three 80-pound bags and spread that evenly. Or you can buy one thousand bags and spread the seed three inches deep. But there is still only so much grass that can take root per square inch. Spending for more than two or three bags doesn't improve the outcome.
By eliminating any limit on spending in political campaigns, Citizens United created a mechanism by which rich donors could overspend well beyond effective limits for actual POLITICAL influence with the PUBLIC and convert that spending into corruption of both politicians and their cronies. Spending $50 million on a Senate campaign instead of "only" $10 million allows a politician to pick a buddy as a campaign manager who works for 10% of the "ad buy" who then nets ten percent of $50 million ($5 million) for doing no more than was needed for a $10 million campaign that would have paid $1 million. The campaign manager gets to hire other friends and family to spread out that $5 million yet there are only maybe twenty Senate races in the country that are competitive. What value do the campaign managers provide in the other eighty races for their $5 million? NONE.
WTH