Excerpt
SUMMARY: The amount of money spent in the 2016 election cycle is on track to double the roughly $2 billion spent in 2012. One reason is the rise of spending by millionaire and billionaire political activists on both sides of the aisle. Gwen Ifill talks to billionaire Tom Steyer of NextGen Climate, who has pledged millions on the issue of climate change.
GWEN IFILL (NewsHour): The ever-growing cost of political warfare is now reaching into the stratosphere, with the 2016 election on track to possibly double the roughly $2 billion spent in 2012.
Part of the reason for all that spending has been the rise of millionaire and billionaire political activists on both sides of the political aisle. In the past, we have looked at the Koch brothers, who have pledged nearly a billion dollars to Republican and conservative causes this cycle. On the left, there is billionaire Tom Steyer, who has pledged millions on the issue of climate change.
And Tom Steyer joins me now.
Welcome to the NewsHour.
TOM STEYER, Founder, NextGen Climate: Nice to see you, Gwen.
GWEN IFILL: You spent, they say, $70 million in the 2014 midterm elections. Is money the key to this 2016 election?
TOM STEYER: I sure hope not, because, from what I can tell, the Democrats have a very good chance of being outspent.
I think the key to the election is going to be message and candidate, the way it usually is. And if the message is significant and meaningful to voters, and if the candidate connects as an authentic person who really cares about their concerns and wants to address them and can address them, I think that is going to carry the day.
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