republican candidates far behind the front-runner, who hasn t spent a dime on television advertising. super pacs are a disaster. they re a scam. they cause dishonesty and you better get rid of them, because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. and i m not blaming these folks, but i guess i could. reporter: some experts say big check writers are driven by a mix of business and ego. they re giving to people they think will support what they want. and they re giving to people that they know will answer their phone calls if they win. and they know will give them access and listen very carefully to what they want on a public agenda. reporter: so those gop presidential political ads you see on tv, more than 80% of them so far have been paid for by super pacs, that s according to a recent report from a nonpartisan watchdog group. but how successful those ads are still is an open question, with many candidates supported by super pacs doing poorly
giving because they believe in something. they outnumber the people given for access. they get much larger dollars. according to a nonpartisan watchdog, so far, super pacts have raised $315 million and spent almost a hundred million. much of it on adds. but those adds still leave republican candidates far behind the front runner who hasn t spent a dime on television advertising. super pacts are a didsaster. they re a scam, they cause dishonesty and you better get rid of them because they re causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people and i m not blaming these folks but i guess i could. some check writers are driven by a mix of business and ego. they re giving people support they want and giving to people they know will answer phone calls and know they ll give them access and want them carefully.
better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people, and i m not blaming these folks, but i guess i could. reporter: some experts say big check writers are driven by a mix of business and ego. they re giving to people they think will support what they want, and they re giving to people that they know will answer their phone calls if they win and they know will give them access and listen carefully to what they want on a public agenda. so those gop presidential political ads you see on tv, more than 80% of them so far have been paid for by super pacs. that s according to a recent report from a nonprofit watchdog group. but how successful those ads are is still a really open question. the report says jeb bush and the super pac backing his campaign has spent almost $26 million airing 15,000 ads, yet bush is still polling in the single digits. though with the first contest just over a month away, now is the time that money could
ambitious plan to change medicare medicaid and social security. so james, what do you make of governor christie s i guess you could call it presidential comeback strategy? some people have ruled him out. clearly not him. well i think he does have to do something to set himself apart. he s looking right now like he s in that second tier of candidates. he s not he s going to struggle to get the money and the voters that are now going to jeb bush. he s had some big donors step up recently. he has. given super pacs you don t need that many check writers as long as the checks are big enough this time around. but i think even in that competition, it s going to be hard with jeb there to soak up those dollars. but do you like this strategy of saying i m the truth teller i m the guy who is not going to fool you, i m going to go right at this major problem and like i did in new jersey on pensions and property taxes, i m going to solve that problem and tell you straight. you like that s
influence from businesses, at least to the left she does. so, i think she really was the person she would get excited about and the check writers like her, too, if you look at how she does in the fund-raising circuits. can she beat hillary clinton if she does run? i really don t. she talks with her fists and she speaks well, but in the end, hillary has a marvelous, well-oiled machine. she is familiar and when people look at the difference in, i mean, people outside the democratic primary voters, hillary has travelled the world. she has seen everything. but in 2008, they said the same thing about the well-oiled clinton machine and barack obama upended it. why couldn t that happen, again? these are two very different figures. you can t have this single voice saying the system is rigged against you and have nothing else to say. all right, dorothy, this is going to be fun to watch, i think, as we go ahead. take one more break. when we come back, hits and misses of the week. [mu