BILL PRESS: Well, if nothing else, the Gingrich campaign could prove that a single individual can keep and entire candidacy afloat. And the individual in this case is not Newt Gingrich.
In our fourth story on the "Countdown" — if the pattern holds, billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson could propel Newt Gingrich all the way to the Republican nomination and beyond, as we learned today that Adelson is planning to donate even more money to aid Gingrich in his quest for the GOP presidential nod.
Meanwhile, a group of Democratic senators take to the chamber floor to decry the Supreme Court decision that made it all possible.
The beneficiary of Adelson's money, the pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future, says it's spending $6 million on television ads and other media in the current primary battleground state of Florida, where the Adelson gift has helped buy — get this — seven times more ad space than the Gingrich campaign itself.
Adelson and his wife, Miriam, have given $10 million this month alone to aid the Gingrich campaign — $5 million this week, $5 million earlier in January. Those two contributions are among the largest known political donations in U.S. history.
In South Carolina, the current front-runners, Gingrich and Mitt Romney, each spent — or had spent on their behalf — about $5 million. The difference? Gingrich's campaign actually put down the least of the four GOP candidates competing in the Palmetto State. The super PAC supporting him did all the rest, to the tune of nearly $4.4 billion.
This isn't Adelson's first time aiding Gingrich. Between 2006 and 2010, Adelson — who is the eighth-richest person in this country — gave more than $7 million to the former speaker's conservative political group, American Solutions for Winning the Future.
Adelson and Gingrich reportedly met back in 1995 when Gingrich was House Speaker and backed legislation lobbied for by Adelson to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Today, on Capitol Hill, the Supreme Court's Citizen United decision — which made legal the process by which Adelson and the super PACs have been able to spend all their money — was referred to with words like "disastrous" and "appalling." New York's senior Senator Chuck Schumer said the decision should be blamed for "undoing our democracy."
(Excerpt from video clip) CHUCK SCHUMER: One of the foremost needs of our society is for a fair, functioning democracy where there's some semblance of equality, that each person votes has about the same weight in the system. The Citizens United decision represents one of the most corrosive and destructive changes in law that has occurred in recent memory.
PRESS: And, of course, speaking of Gingrich's super PAC, I meant to say $4.4 million, not billion. But, you know, there's a lot of money in politics, so I get confused sometimes.
And joining me now to talk all about it — Brian Beutler, who's senior congressional reporter of Talking Points Memo. Hey, Brian, good to have you with us. Thanks for your time tonight.
BRIAN BEUTLER: Thanks, Bill.
PRESS: So, what is this with Sheldon Adelson? Who is he, and why is he giving so much money to Newt Gingrich? Do we know?
BEUTLER: Like you said, he's the eighth-richest man in the country, out of Nevada, big into gambling.
PRESS: Casino operator, right? Isn't he — owner/operator?
BEUTLER: Basically, yeah.
PRESS: Yeah.
BEUTLER: And also betting on candidates, apparently. He and Gingrich, like you said, go back to Gingrich's speakership. They became closer over the issue of Israel. You know, Adelson found a very powerful ally in Newt Gingrich at the time, and he's been a loyalist to Gingrich, sort of, ever since.
So, I don’t think it's really an issue where Adelson, like some conservative donors, have a particular problem with Mitt Romney. But, Newt's his guy. So, Newt is reaping the benefits of that and without it, as you said, he would have been dead in the water, probably after Iowa.
PRESS: Yeah, and as far as we know, just to make clear, what he is doing is perfectly legal under Citizens United, correct?
BEUTLER: Yeah, completely legal.
PRESS: Or under current campaign law? Right.
BEUTLER: Right, exactly.
PRESS: And, is there any reason why people shouldn't think, "Well, boy, if this guy gives this much money now, during the campaign" that he's going to have — that he would have an impact on — I would have to say, "God forbid" — a Newt Gingrich in the White House, a presidential policy?
BEUTLER: Well, I think that for the one issue that Adelson seems really passionate about, it's hard to imagine. I mean, he and Newt are sort of the same mind frame. So, it's not like he's buying Newt's views on this.
But, you can imagine a different megamillionaire or billionaire who found a candidate who didn't necessarily share his views, gave him as much money as he needed to win the presidency and then, that, you know, that candidate would feel, you know, sort of compelled to adhere to those policy views once he won the office. So I don’t think that, you know, I don't think that — if, in the end Newt Gingrich somehow manages to become the president — he's going to adopt a whole new set of views about Israel, because he already shares those views. But, you could see — you could imagine, in a different situation — exactly what you're talking about happening.
PRESS: They get invited to a lot of nights in the Lincoln Bedroom, probably. We can figure that out.
Now, you know, we think of people like Richard Mellon Scaife or the Koch Brothers — I mean, Adelson's not the first very wealthy individual who likes to play into politics and throw his money around. So, what makes it different now under Citizens United then it was before Citizens United, if anything?
BEUTLER: It's a little bit indirect. Citizens United's direct impact was on corporate and union donations to independent expenditure groups. Back in 2008, or in 2004, you saw wealthy donors, you know, making direct expenditures on behalf of candidates. They could buy their own ads. They could put in as much money as they wanted to do that, and they could give to these groups — the 527 groups, like the Swift Boat groups.
PRESS: Yeah, right.
BEUTLER: And there was always, sort of, a legal cloud of suspicion hanging over that kind of activity. It was sort of unsettled. What Citizens United, sort of — it released a safety valve on that. It basically said, "You can give as much money as you want to a super PAC, whether you're a corporation or a labor union or an individual — or any combination of the three if Mitt Romney's the one designating what the differences are."
PRESS: I want to ask you if — in terms of, like, a level playing field — these opportunities have been made available by Citizens United. Are Democrats taking advantage of those, as well as Republicans?
BEUTLER: They are. You know, they didn’t really want it to be this way. When Barack Obama won the nomination, a lot of outside Democratic-affiliated groups wanted big-dollar Democratic donors to help them fund, you know, basically, an outside game for Obama, and Obama kind of shut that all down.
PRESS: Right.
BEUTLER: He wanted all the work to be done through the traditional Democratic channels. Once Citizens United happened, they sort of reluctantly came to the view that they needed to, you know, play against Republicans in this terrain, and A) they weren't really happy about it, because it's not what they want, but B) there aren't a whole, you know, there aren't nearly as many Adelsons on the left as there are on the right. And so, they're at cash disadvantage.
So, there are outside groups on the Democratic side, but they're, you know, they’re not as vast. They're not as well-funded yet. And, you know, it sort of remains to be seen how much, after this cycle, Republicans are really interested — after Newt Gingrich is throwing their guy off his game — whether they want to keep, you know, the outcome of Citizens United in place.
PRESS: Got it. Yeah, so if you can't beat them, join them.
Brian Beutler, of Talking Points Memo. Thanks, Brian. Thank you very much.
BEUTLER: Thank you, Bill.
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