that a different outcome. a fascinating thing we learned is it was not actually the 47% remarks that motivated him to go public with the recording. it was something mr. romney said earlier before he got to the 47% thing. when i was back in my private equity days we went to china to buy a factory that employed 20,000 people, women between the ages of 18 and 22 or 23. it was that anecdote, that casual reference to buying a factory in china that scott prouty said made him sit up and take notice. this recording that he was making just for himself, for a souvenir of the evening might end up being a politically important thing. the way mitt romney was talking on the campaign trail, he realized was not the way romney was talking at private meetings. he never could have imagined mitt romney telling the public these stories about shopping for factories in china with horrible work environments. ultimately, what this guy was
seen the direct spending from corporate treasuries that many predicted when the ruling came down. what citizens united has done is unleash a class of megadonors. for example, 67% of all super pac donations have come from 209 donors giving $500,000 or more. those kind of donations is one of the reason this is the most expensive campaign in history, $6 billion. there s the growth in dark money, which i think is the most important story. funnel through what are known as issue advocate groups. they do not have to release the name of donors. it s lopsided in support for republicans. this week, the romney campaign and allies spent $96.4 million on ads, more than double obama.
our political system. you see down ballot more than the presidential. the money pouring into the senate and congressional races. say this won t happen, but a good person wants to run in ohio, representing 99%. first of all, will they enter the race? two, will he or she, when they get into the senate or the house or the state legislature vote in a certain way because of the money fear? the other thing is the coercion. i just came back from moscow, we lectured the russians and the world about how they should vote. i think we should get our own house in order. there s an anger at the russians because they tell workers how to vote in russia. you would lose your job if you don t vote for this boss. what are the coke brothers doing when they demand they go to a romney fund-raiser? it s something we are going to so more of. the most important thing is we
however, one prediction that has largely not come true is the prediction by the obama campaign, once the numbers tally, it would be vastly outspent by republican opponents. the first president to be outspent, not because of what romney is raising, but the super pacs. when you have people so active in wisconsin saying they are going to spend $400 million to impact this race, that s more than john mccain and the republican party spent in total last time. it s a source of concern. it should be a source of concern to everyone. the republican allies like the coke brothers spent. the obama campaign made up the gap when it comes to costly television advertising. by embracing a target and the fdc gives them a discount on ad rates. i have kim barker, a reporter who writes about campaign finance joining us.
i want to show this press release. this is great. gas station ad. i don t mean an ad about a gas station, i mean ads at gas stations. they have so saturated the air waves, they have having a change the pump ad. when grow to the local gas station and pump gas on the lcd screen, it s playing a romney ad about the cost of gas. there s no more ad space to buy. josh, i think you have a different perspective than i do. this is inevitable. the parts you find the most problematic are the most unconstitutional. i can take out an ad urging you not to eat meat or i can take out an ad urging you to vote for a candidate. donations to campaign committees, which we regulate. but, the parts of this that are