when it comes to super pacs nothing. brett's edition of shhh, breath's talking now. >> hey, super pacs you are really great at coming up with money, but you are really terrible at coming up with names. gingrich's pac is called winning our future. which is a great name if you are winning. rick santorum pac is called red white and blue which are also the colors of britain and france. why not go for something more explicitly american, like the nuts pac. and then restore our future. this name makes no sense. you don't restore things that have already happened. the future hasn't happened yet, because it's the future. how can you restore something that hasn't happened yet? ow. is my brain exploding? the club for growth action, because it's so ambiguous people don't know why they are giving money. grow my hair back, cash. grow my -- i don't feel comfortable talking about it, but it needs to get bigger, cash.

pac 12 enterprises is a subsidiary of pac 12 conference and is home to aover 1200 employees. we will be launching one national television network, six regional television networks, and an additional network. as we have announced previously, we have distribution agreements with four of the most powerful cable companies in the cable industry. including comcast, time warner, cox, and brighthouse. if you live in the bay area, we will be part of your basic cable package with comcast. i would like to acknowledge and thank our new neighbor, the leader of comcast sportsnet. for his help in this process. when you live in a neighborhood, some neighbors swap eggs for making cookies. we will be swapping television cameras with ted's group. as part of our programming mix, we will televised 850 live sporting events across our 12 campuses each year. that does not include hundreds more that we will eventually strain on our digital network. our event mix will include 34 football games, over 125 men's basketball games, over 40 women's basketball games, and another 650 olympic sports events whi

i mean, newt's pac only has one donor. take away sheldon adelson and the pro-gingrich "winning our future" pac is just a federally registered lemonade stand. but if pelosi really wants disclosure, she should get help from her anti-super pac buddy president obama. after all, in his 2010 state of the union address he tongue-lashed the supreme court over citizens united and doubled down before this year's super bowl. >> one of the worries we have, obviously, in the next campaign is that there are so many of these so-called super pacs, there's going to be a lot of money floating around and i guarantee you a bunch of that's going to be negative. but it's not going to be enough just to say "the other guy's a bum." >> stephen: he's right. it's not enough to say the other guy's a bum. you have to destroy your opponent with a mountain of ads depicting him as a shady drifter riding the rails, burning the constitution in trash fires for warmth and leaving in his wake a trail of dead prostitutes. (laughter) that costs serious money. n

hand priorities usa the super pac supporting president obama peltry nineteen million dollars. of course that might have something to do with president obama's unwillingness to embrace the whole super pac thing as he talked about it is that super bowl interview earlier this week. one of the words we have obviously in the next campaign is that there are so many of these so-called super pacs these independent expenditures that are going to be out there there's going to be just a lot of money floating around and i must i guarantee a lot of bunch of that's going to be negative but it's not going to be enough just to say the other guy's a bomb you've got to explain to the american people what your plan is to make sure that there are good jobs at good wages and that this economy is growing over the long term and whoever wins that argument i think is going to be the next president but sometime between sunday and last night someone whispered in the president's ear you have to play dirty to win this year and in a reversal the obama reelection team announced that it would embrace super p

the other side is doing super-pacs and we're doing super-pacs. the other side said they never opposed them. >> joining me now is cnbc chief washington correspondent and "new york times" political writer john harwood, and also staff writer for the new yorker jane mayer, her latest caller is "attack dog." it appears in this week's issue of "the new yorker." i want to look at the results in minnesota now with rick santorum being called the winner there. john harwood, this seems to be the night that the santorum campaign was able to stay alive. >> absolutely they are. it's as your guests were discussing a few moments ago, it's pretty embarrassing for mitt romney to have numbers this weak against somebody like santorum. yes, he keeps his campaign alive, but he's not thriving in the contests up to now in nevadanevada or in florida or south carolina for that matter. for rick santorum to get up off the mat and really clean mitt romney's clock in missouri and minnesota has got to be concerning to the romney campaign. >> jane, you've been studying the romn

super pacs raise more money in january than campaigns themselves who's really running for president the g.o.p. candidates are getting a billionaire's also will we see a brokered convention in the republican party and could third party candidate make a splash come november more on those topics and more into nights alone liberal rumble and inside the daily take how has corporate america created a nation of drug addicts. you need to know this meet the two thousand and twelve republican candidates for president no not these guys they're just the front men i'm talking about these guys . these are the guys actually running to control the office of the presidency of the united states you don't need to know the names in fact you don't they don't want you to know their names but these are the faces behind the super pacs those opaque front groups that were created by the supreme court's citizens united decision and through them millionaires and billionaires and corporations even foreign corporations the pay three hundred bucks to open a u.s. branch and spend unlimited amounts of money to build up

an age when mitt romney can park is restore a future corporate super pac tank in iowa or florida and new gingrich with millions and millions of dollars worth of negative ads none of which romney had to actually sign his name too. polls change pretty quickly after that and when it comes to super pacs the president is in the same league as romney of the republicans right wing super pacs like karl rove's american crossroads and crossroads g.p.s. raise fifty one million bucks last year and romney super pac raise thirty million bucks on the other hand priorities usa the super pac supporting president obama peltry nine hundred million dollars of course that might have something to do with president obama's unwillingness to embrace the whole super pac thing as he talked about it is that super bowl interview earlier this week. one of the words we have obviously in the next campaign is that there are so many of these so-called super pacs these independent expenditures that are going to be out there there's going to be just a lot of money floating around and i'm i guarantee you a lot of bunch

pro-gingrich pacs raised just $2.1 million.hael isikoff joins me now, what else can you tell us about these new numbers? >> first of all, they do show the big republican advantage in this new era of super pacs, unlimited donations from wealthy donors and corporations. there were some filings last night, not just by the romney super pac, the main one, which has raised $30 million last year. there's also another big one, american cross roads, run by carl rove, over $50 million, and then you look at the comparable super pac for president obama and you get $6.7 million. far less. now, of course, president obama has the financial juggernaut of his reelection campaign, which is doing quite well, $140 million, hopes up to a billion. but in the world of the super pacs, they tilt heavily to the gop so far, and it's going to give the republicans a big advantage in the fall election. >> we've talked nonstop about the guy who single handedly kept newt gingrich going, sheldon ad lson, but tell us about the other folks. >> quite a few intere

pacs. there are more than 300 of them already. so, today, we poored through hundreds of pages of super pac documents, really only for a few of the super pacs. the pro romney super pac called restore our future raised nearly $30 million last year. now, there were a group of donors that gave a million dollars each and one is julian robertson. he's been a mitt romney fan since the last election and told me that mitt is quote the smartest guy and extremely decent. "outfront's" strike team member mark was on the list. the facebook board member told me quote, i think he gets it with respect to the economy in a way that the others don't. the super pac for newt gingrich raked in $2 million. now, because his single biggest donor, sheldon adelson and his wife, didn't give their $10 million until recently, that money didn't count. he didn't talk to me today, but i have talked to him about newt gingrich. in october, he told me that he liked all the republican candidates. and here's the scary thing. he

you don't want to they don't want you to know their names but these are the faces behind the super pacs those opaque front groups that were created by the supreme court's citizens united decision and through them millionaires and billionaires and corporations even foreign corporations that pay three hundred bucks to open a u.s. branch and spend unlimited amounts of money to build up or destroy the political candidates of their choice want proof that it's the super pacs running for control of the white house and not people like romney or santorum last month the super pacs actually raised more money than the candidates did themselves in january the individual campaigns of romney santorum gingrich and paul raked in two point one million dollars at the super pac supporting these candidates beat that raising twenty two point one million dollars and that doesn't even include other right wing super pacs karl rove's american crossroads g.p.s. it's on its way to raising over one hundred million dollars but hasn't yet started spending it in a big way so it isn't so far seen as affiliated with a c

pacs. there are more than 300 of them already. so, today, we poored through hundreds of pages of super pac documents, really only for a few of the super pacs. the pro romney super pac called restore our future raised nearly $30 million last year. now, there were a group of donors that gave a million dollars each and one is julian robertson. he's been a mitt romney fan since the last election and told me that mitt is quote the smartest guy and extremely decent. "outfront's" strike team member mark was on the list. the facebook board member told me quote, i think he gets it with respect to the economy in a way that the others don't. the super pac for newt gingrich raked in $2 million. now, because his single biggest donor, sheldon adelson and his wife, didn't give their $10 million until recently, that money didn't count. he didn't talk to me today, but i have talked to him about newt gingrich. in october, he told me that he liked all the republican candidates. and here's the scary thing. he

on super pacs. it used to be morally wrong and now you're going to take the money. >> i still think the citizens united decision that was made by the supreme court was the wrong decision. what i've said consistently is we're not going to just unilaterally disarm. >> in light of mr. small donor's reversal on super pacs, i just have one thing to say. ahhhh. welcome, young pac worker. feel the power of the green side. embrace your destiny. join me and together we will rule the galaxy! the galaxy! you are now darthboma. >> i love colbert.

the super pac, it's extraordinary. each candidate has an edge on there with him n supposed to talk or communicate, but this is the election we see super-pacs emerge. >> that's right. and one of the things the super pacs allow, and i think a lot of viewers here are super pacads and it allows the candidates to play dirty and throw stones but in some way hide their hand because they can say that's the super pac, it's not the campaign. but one thing you are starting to see from the romney campaign, they were able to dump a bunch of negative ads in florida and stop gingrich's momentum, but i think they might see some blow-back in michigan. you throw a lot of mud and some will end up on you. so they are dancing in a lot of ways around the impact of these negative ads to see if this is the strategy they want to play in michigan again. >> and the gov. romney super pac, or the ones associated him is going heavily on senator santorum. santorum is not so much fussing back at the super pac but he's going after the media because th

as you know, super pacs have now become short hand for big money in politics. the decision today by the president's campaign to essentially flip flop and go down the super pac road means more money will flow even faster. >> how can we trust him? think you know mitt? >> they've been seeing a lot of this in the republican primary and caucus states. >> he raised our hopes. he seemed to understand. >> reporter: nonstop negative tv ads from super pacs, big money groups, outside the campaigns, loosely affiliated with the candidates. >> winning our future is responsible for the content of this ad. >>. >> reporter: super pac spending exploded in 2010 after the supreme court opened the door for unlimited contributions from corporations and individuals to political groups. >> phony front group, you've seen them. they're called americans for prosperity. moms for mother hood. . >> reporter: but today, the president's campaign changed course, it will encourage super pac support. >> we're going to fight on the same playing field, we're going to level the playing field. >> re

when people are giving their money to a super pac, you can't vote against the super pac. the problem with the system is distorted. candidates aren't able to raise the money so that they can compete, and people are giving money to these unaccountable groups and there's nothing you can do about it. so why don't we let the candidates raise the money. >> all right. jim bopp, thank you very much. we appreciate it. let's bring in john avlon and ken vogel who is the influence reporter for politico. there's one thing he said they think most reasonable people would agree with. maybe i'm wrong. if you're going to give money to a candidate and you like their cause, you should be able to give it to the candidate, not the roundabout groups. the reason they give it to the roundabout groups is because there are limits to giving to the candidate, and money finds a way to go look for influence. >> and he seemed to be sort of complaining about the system in part he's helped create. look. the image of the super pac sort of functioning as george bailey's building & loan where it's a bunch of

how many big givers does he have or does that super pac have? >> he's had something like a dozen or so donors of, seven- figure donors, actually seven seven-figure donors plus another five that have given a combined $1 million. he has a lot more donors, and he's raised a lot more money. >> warner: what sorts of people are they? >> they are very much like he is. they are people who use other people's money to make money. a lot of hedge fund people. a lot of private equity people, a lot of investors, what i would call sort of the investor class. they're his biggest backers by far. >> warner: not to leave out ron paul. he raised over $2 million. that super pac raised over $2 million. >> ron paul is interesting too because the guy who is backing him is interesting. he was early investor in facebook. he was actually portrayed in the movie social network as the angel investor in that movie. he's a 44-year-old guy, worth lots of money. he's given something close to three quarters of all the money that has gone in to endorse liberty. he is a very devout

. >> that super pac was in a world of hurt it's a super pac that is run by white house staffers but theyo traction whatsoever up until now for fund-raising, so when some guys on the democratic side who can write big checks they are going to do so and the gap that exists right now, is slowly going to come -- maybe even quickly come shorter and shorter, and narrower and narrower. >> david thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> seeing your money corrupt the country, and saying gosh i wish i doesn't like this mornin'. i guess i'm helping them save hundreds on car insurance. it probably also doesn't hurt that i'm a world-famous advertising icon. cheers! i mean, who wouldn't want a piece of that? geico. ah... fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent oh dear... or more on car insurance. >>> on the date in 1988 jimmy swagart stopped denying the media reports that he was hiring prostitutes. and then here comes the water works. >> i have sinned against you, my lord, and i would ask that your preciousness would wash and cleanse every stain. >> stains! i don't want to know this? what i

that's he's going to put them so the situation to himself and to you know bracing super pacs though is the just the latest example in a long line of the president on his promises so whether it was a promise to accept public financing in the two thousand and eight campaign which he then went back on when he realized he could raise so much more money without it and ended up raising nearly ten times as much as he would have been able to with public financing or whether it's saying i don't have lobbyists donating to my campaign well in fact we found out today that ron klein former congressman now a lobbyist for spirit airlines had it has given bottled at least two hundred thousand dollars there as it has made a ton of money back but just came out the other day from those you know they're giving tons of money back but on top of that i think what we've seen from the president is he's realized that he has to beat back the entire republican establishment to beat back the all these big oil of the big oil's of this world over the course. i mean or for him to do that he has to find more and mo

. >> bill burton is one of the key people behind the president's super pac. let me ask you about one analogy and maybe it's a fair one, maybe not. but in the 1980s, we saw the buildup towards the soviet union because the u.s. didn't want to the unilaterally disarm with the weapons that the soviet union had. in terms of campaign money that the republicans are able to amaze from organizations like crossroads gps and others and what the obama campaign was looking as the, were they disarming financially because the republicans were getting so much more than the democrats and is that a fair analogy? >> that's certainly what the democrats feel as if suits their positioning and they can say that we're just trying to level the playing field. but the fact of the matter is the playing peeled is what it is because of the stances taken by democrats in opposition to this type of outside spending, which was to you know, these stances were arrived at at a result of principle. so there's the unilateral disarmament analogy, but it will just sugar coats it that this basic prem

super pacs drop the fig leaf. after months of being in the dark about who is bank rolling the candidates, we have answers. you know the super pacs are groups that can raise unlimited money and they're major players, but get ready for this, infederal election commission tells us out front that this might cost $11 billion. twice as much as 2008. and that jump, thanks in no small part to super pacs. there are more than 300 of them already. so today we pored through hundreds of pages of super pac tument, and that was only for a few super pacs and the pro romney super pac called restore our future raised nearly $30 million last year. there were a group of donors who gave $1 million each, and one is jewel whereulian robertson. he's been a fan since the last election and he told me that mitt is quote the smartest guy and extremely decent. marc andreessen was also on the donor list. he told me today, quote, i think he gets it with respect to the economy in a way that the others don't. the super pac for newt gingrich, winn

when people are giving their money to a super pac, you can't vote against the super pac. the problem with the system is distorted. candidates aren't able to raise the money so that they can compete, and people are giving money to these unaccountable groups and there's nothing you can do about it. so why don't we let the candidates raise the money. >> all right. jim bopp, thank you very much. we appreciate it. let's bring in john avlon and ken vogel who is the influence reporter for politico. there's one thing he said they think most reasonable people would agree with. maybe i'm wrong. if you're going to give money to a candidate and you like their cause, you should be able to give it to the candidate, not the roundabout groups. the reason they give it to the roundabout groups is because there are limits to giving to the candidate, and money finds a way to go look for influence. >> and he seemed to be sort of complaining about the system in part he's helped create. look. the image of the super pac sort of functioning as george bailey's building & loan where it's a bunch of