The Republican establishment thinks the grass roots have the power but the grass roots think the reverse. The unions think the corporations have the power but the corporations think the start-ups do. Regulators think Wall Street has the power but Wall Street thinks the regulators do. The Pew Research Center asked Americans, “Would you say your side has been winning or losing more?” Sixty-four percent of Americans, with majorities of both parties, believe their side has been losing more.
.. Americans are beset by complex, intractable problems that don’t have a clear villain: technological change displaces workers; globalization and the rapid movement of people destabilize communities; family structure dissolves; the political order in the Middle East teeters, the Chinese economy craters, inequality rises, the global order frays, etc.
.. Those institutions have been weakened of late. Parties have been rendered weak by both campaign finance laws and the Citizens United decision, which have cut off their funding streams and given power to polarized super-donors who work outside the party system.
.. The fact is, for all the problems we may have with Wall Street or Washington, our biggest problems are systemic — the disruptions caused by technological progress and globalization, mass migration, family breakdown and so on. There’s no all-controlling Wizard of Oz to slay.
Gaming Out Ben Carson’s Fundraising Shakeup
So how to think of the latest move? For that, it’s important to heed the words of that famous analyst of Republican politics, Vladimir Lenin: “When it is not immediately apparent which political or social groups, forces or alignments advocate certain proposals, measures, etc., one should always ask: ‘Who stands to gain?’”
.. The central questions about Carson’s fundraising all along have been (1) is it sustainable? and (2) why is he plowing so much of it back into fundraising?Carson’s campaign told me in October that it was necessary to do that to build fundraising lists and to track down the small-dollar donors he’s done so well with. But skeptics view it as a way to line the pockets of the vendors who are doing the direct mail and telemarketing for the campaign. And Murray is closely connected to them—in fact, he’s the president of a firm called TMA Direct.
.. As Mother Jones noted at the time, American Legacy’s spending in 2013 looked questionable. As of July 15 of that year, it had raised $1.4 million while contributing only $27,500 to actual candidates. The biggest recipient of American Legacy’s cash was InfoCision. TMA Direct also took in about $14,500. American Legacy’s mid-year report for 2015 is even worse. It raised $1.25 million but spent $1.38 million, and gave just $2,500 to candidates.
Ted Cruz Didn’t Report Goldman Sachs Loan in a Senate Race
As Ted Cruz tells it, the story of how he financed his upstart campaign for the United States Senate four years ago is an endearing example of loyalty and shared sacrifice between a married couple.
“Sweetheart, I’d like us to liquidate our entire net worth, liquid net worth, and put it into the campaign,” he says he told his wife, Heidi, who readily agreed.
.. Those reports show that in the critical weeks before the May 2012Republican primary, Mr. Cruz — currently a leading contender for his party’s presidential nomination — put “personal funds” totaling $960,000 into his Senate campaign. Two months later, shortly before a scheduled runoff election, he added more, bringing the total to $1.2 million — “which is all we had saved,”
.. What it does show, however, is that in the first half of 2012, Ted and Heidi Cruz obtained the low-interest loan from Goldman Sachs, as well as another one from Citibank. The loans totaled as much as $750,000 and eventually increased to a maximum of $1 million before being paid down later that year.
.. She told Politico in 2014 that she thought they should apply “common investment sense” and not use their own money for the campaign “unless it made the difference” in winning.
.. While the Cruzes were well paid — he made more than $1 million a year as a law partner, and she earned a six-figure income as an executive in Goldman Sachs’s Houston office
The Great Super PAC Bust
The shift in focus for super PACs comes as the price of advertising increases. As the Times notes:
In some parts of Iowa and New Hampshire, super PACs are paying almost nine times what a campaign would pay—largely erasing even the advantage held by a group like Right to Rise, which is supporting Mr. Bush and has raised more than $100 million, when compared with the smaller amounts of hard money raised by individual campaigns.