and then restore our future. this name makes no sense. store 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.

overall, restore our future took in 59 donations of $100,000 or more in the last six months of 2011. jim and alice walton-- heirs to the wal-mart fortune-- were in that group. by comparison, the superpac backing newt gingrich "winning our future" lagged far behind. it raised $2 million in the last six months of 2011. the money came from 18 donors, including a million dollars from the step children of casino mogul sheldon adelson. adelson and his wife donated $10 million to the superpac in january which was a lifeline for the struggling gingrich campaign. as for the superpac supporting the president, they raised $3.3 million in the last six months of 2011. one top donor, the service employees international union which gave a half million dollars. director steven spielberg was at $100,000. to date, about $45 million in superpac money has been spent on campaign 2012. much of it, scott, pouring into those negative political ads. >> pelley: curious, armen, was there a standout among the wealthy donors? >> absolutely. harold simmons the texas billionaire. he gave $8.5 million, $7 million o

restore our future says the ad is legal saying in part, quote, we purchased the rights to the footage from its owner cold harbor films which did not entail interacting with the romney campaign. the group is run by several former romney campaign staffers and colleagues. >>> in other political news, rising gas prices are quickly becoming a major issue in the 2012 campaign with president obama trading new attacks with the republicans over the economic implications. in a speech from miami yesterday, the president insisted there are, quote, no quick fixes to solving america's energy challenges. despite what his opponents are saying on the trail. >> only in politics do people root for bad news, do they greet bad news so enthusiastically. we may more, they're licking their chops. you can bet that since it's an election year they're already dusting off their three-point plan for $2 gas. anybody who tells you that we can drill our way out of this problem doesn't know what they're talking about or just isn't telling you the truth. that's the easiest thing in the world to make phony election yea

"restore our future" also raised $6.6 million in january from companies and individuals legally able to give six-figure donations or more. hotel magnates j.w. and richard marriott gave $250,000 each. hooup executive meg whitman $100 on the list of corporate donors are three firms in the business of short term typically high-interest loans, an industry the obama administration has promised to review. the superpac behind newt gingrich raised $11 million, most from casino owners sheldon and miriam adeleson in las vegas. all of this points to what's new in this campaign. for example, if romney goes on to the nomination, scott, all these meg donor can help claim they... can claim they helped fund the romney turnaround. >> pelley: romney couldome state right now. the latest poll shows him trailing in michigan a week before the primary. rick santorum has a five-point lead, 37% to 32% as he stakes a claim as the conservative alternative to romney. dean reynolds in michigan is covering the santorum campaign tonight. dean? >> reporter: a more focused picture of rick santorum is now being devel

the superpac called "restore our future" spent $14 million on romney's behalf in january, most of that to buy anti-gingrich t.v. ads in florida. >> newt was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. >> reporter: the spending in florida is significant because according to most estimates the superpac outspend the campaign on television advertising. that helped romney come from nine points behind gingrich to win the primary. "restore our future" also raised $6.6 million in january from companies and individuals legally able to give six-figure donations or more. hotel magnates j.w. and richard marriott gave $250,000 each. hooup executive meg whitman $100 on the list of corporate donors are three firms in the business of short term typically high-interest loans, an industry the obama administration has promised to review. the superpac behind newt gingrich raised $11 million, most from casino owners sheldon and miriam adeleson in las vegas. all of this points to what's new in this campaign. for example, if romney goes on to the nomination, scott, all these meg donor can help claim they... can cl

those romney ads were not paid for by romney or his campaign they came from a super pac called restore our future and guess who is the one of the top contributors to restore our future. surprise wall street billionaire hedge fund manager john paulson now romney is running for president wall street and the hedge fund managers who want to protect their capital gains tax loopholes are the ones really running for president so tonight mitt romney is going to give a big victory speech but the real winner the big one or wall street. after the break america's infrastructure is collapsing literally it's collapsing but congress continues to bulk out to filibuster or hold hostage the crucial infrastructure legislation by demanding stuff like oil pipelines it could be built instead so is it about time to put politics aside for a moment and ensure the americans are secure when they're driving over roads and bridges this in time we boost our economic recovery to. we just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old and she told the truth. i'm a contestant i'm a total get of friends that i love traveling

those romney ads were not paid for by romney or his campaign they came from a super pac called restore our future and guess is that one of the top contributors to restore our future. surprise wall street billionaire hedge fund manager john paulson noorani is running for president wall street and the hedge fund managers who want to protect their capital gains tax loopholes are the ones really running for president so tonight mitt romney is going to give a big victory speech but the real winner the big one or wall street. in two thousand and ten just like every two years every single seat in the house of representatives was up for reelection and thanks to the supreme court's citizens united decision earlier that year outside corporate front groups were given free rein to spend unlimited amounts buying the elections which they did over three hundred million dollars was spent the two thousand and ten midterm election that's more than a four hundred percent increase in outside spending from the last midterm election in two thousand and six and because most of that outside money came from big corporati

n some cases they are, and i think what's interesting about restore our future, the romney superpac, it raised $30 million, more than all the other g.o.p. competitors have raised, a lot more. >> ifill: eliza you spent your life following the "follow the money" edict. wasn't the supreme court's goal to allow for transparency. you can give as much money as you want, as long as you say you're giving it. >> you can spend as much money as you want as long as you say what you're spending. there were complaints around the superpacs for two reasons -- or continue to be complaints. one is leading up to the primary a number of them requested changes in filing deadlines to the s.e.c., which means it prevented people from seeing donations until the 31st of january after a number of primaries and caucuses had already taken place. that's one reason s.e.c. disclosures have been carefully watched because this money hadn't been disclosed until now. >> ifill: when we are we going to find out about the money spent since january 31? >> we know about that spending. it's just they number of the primaries

for santorum is really a vote for freeze and door which brings us to mitt romney super pac restore our future dwarfs all of the other super pacs and fund raising raising thirty six point eight million dollars so far and unlike the other super pacs restore our future spreads the wealth around doesn't rely on one sole funder instead it received six figure contributions from twenty five different people so a vote for romney is a vote for a whole slew of millionaires and billionaires most them from wall street a few from big oil and then there's this guy texas billionaire harold simmons he sort of a free agent simmons cut a five million dollars check to the karl rove affiliated super pac american crossroads g.p.s. which hasn't endorsed any candidate yet but will throw its treasure chest beat behind whoever comes out on top in the republican primary and considering that simmons has given over sixteen million dollars to karl rove's american crossroads and you may as well consider him one of the front running guys who will run the white house if the republicans win the republicans don't want you to

it's restore our future versus rombo. take a look. >> how did rick santorum actually vote? santorum voted to raise the debt limit five times and for billions in wasteful projects including the bridge to nowhere. in a single session, santorum cosponsored 51 bills to increase spending and zero to cut spending. >> all right. >> on full throttle. this time romney's firing his mud at risk santorum. romney and his super pac have spent a staggering $20 millio l millionalmilliona millionally attacking -- >> mark as we look at the ad wars, romney has come out and said that he hasn't been the person that's slinging mud at risk santorum. is kind of offended he feels he's being targeted by the santorum campaign. where is the fact in all of this? >> the fact is that his campaign in michigan isn't running any negative ads at risk santorum. but the pro-romney super pac restore our future which the ad that you just played there there where portraying santorum as a washington insider definitely is going negative. and so that santorum response ad is actually, he's trying to basically say loo

restore >> our future tells us about the future -- the foot is from romney's old media team but it blurs line between campaign and super-pacs. >> now, your instaweather plus forecast. >> a very interesting day so far. in baltimore, we have a lot of clouds but once he gets south of annapolis and washington, the sun is breaking through and it has been sunny down and virginia so we're stuck in the 40's and they are in the 60's and 70's and we had some thunderstorms around harrisonburg and in the mountains of virginia and west virginia and they have calmed down but this is the cold front so we are in a squeeze play. will the temperatures go up? it sounds like a soap opera. look at the difference in temperature is. 40's where you see the blew up to baltimore and return to green, in the 50's and 60's and 60's and 70's down to the south. you can see where the warm temperatures have ganged up against us and here is a cool front in west virginia. in the baltimore area, we have east winds coming off the atlantic ocean which helps bring in temperatures from northern new jersey but it has kept cloud

here he is -- here it is the pro-romney superpac restoring our future ad that was unleashed. it is ago negativity. rick santorum in three upcoming states, michigan, arizona, ohio. here is the latest ad from the romney-aligned pac. let's watch. >> here did rick santorum actually vote? santorum voted to raise the debt limit five times and for billions in wasteful projects including the bridge to nowhere. in a single session, santorum co-sponsored 51 bills to increase spending and zero to cut spending. santorum even voted to raise his own pay and joined hillary clinton to let convicted felons vote. rick santorum, big spender, washington insider. restore our future is responsible for the content of this message. >> the santorum ad produced this ad in response, called rombo and mocks romney's reliance on negative ads as you just saw to destroy his opponents. a lot of people think this is a very smart ad. let's watch it. >> i'm rick santorum and i approve this message. >> mitt romney's negative attack machine is back on full throttle. this time romney's firing his mud at rick santo

n some cases they are, and i think what's interesting about restore our future, the romney superpac, it raised $30 million, more than all the other g.o.p. competitors have raised, a lot more. >> ifill: eliza you spent your life following the "follow the money" edict. wasn't the supreme court's goal to allow for transparency. you can give as much money as you want, as long as you say you're giving it. >> you can spend as much money as you want as long as you say what you're spending. there were complaints around the superpacs for two reasons -- or continue to be complaints. one is leading up to the primary a number of them requested changes in filing deadlines to the s.e.c., which means it prevented people from seeing donations until the 31st of january after a number of primaries and caucuses had already taken place. that's one reason s.e.c. disclosures have been carefully watched because this money hadn't been disclosed until now. >> ifill: when we are we going to find out about the money spent since january 31? >> we know about that spending. it's just they number of the primaries

restore our future goes up tomorrow with nearly $1 million buy of broadcast television advertising, they are adding to buys that they have in michigan and ohio, where they have been at air hitting gingrich and go up in five new southern state, super tuesday and you march 13th pry markers as you can see from oklahoma to georgia. by comparison, santorum has made only a $42,000 cable buy in michigan where he is running this ad emphasizing his conservative credentials. fund raising in california, newt gingrich responded to the national review, which wrote yesterday, "it would be a grave 'tis mistake for the party to make someone with such poor judgment and persistent unpopularity its presidential nominee. the proper course for gingrich now to endorse santorum and exit. here's newt." >> national review wanted me to drop out in june t is silly. you guys go around and pick up the same people who said i was dead in june who then said i was dead after iowa. you know, twice i have led in the gallup polls, okay? >> and gingrich may be too honestly responded to santorum's comment that the republican

about newt gingrich not himself, new research data i mentioned, romney's campaign and super pac restore our future own the air waved, put up more than 12,700 ads in florida compared to 210 ads by the gingrich campai campaign. in dollar terms, romney and al lies spent $15.7 million in florida compared $3.9 million for gingrich and friends. is there a down side to this win for mitt romney? >> caller: you think president is a likeable guy? >> sure. >>. >> caller: he ran more negative ads in 2008, i don't think voters necessarily correlate whether they like someone or not with negative ads, i think mitt romney has plenty of time to build himself back up with voters and i think negative ads are not his problem. >> quickly, newt gingrich claimed yesterday he has the 46 state signs all around will go all the way through with this. does he believe that, a, and b, is it possible? how much longer can he go? >> caller: he believes it, he believes he would be a better candidate than mitt romney. he believes mitt romney can be taken down. i think this goes until at least the first couple weeks in march. six co

the pro romney super pac restore our future spending $640,000 on ads in the state of michigan over the next week. when it comes to the race on a national level, a new pugh research poll shows santorum and romney in a statistical tie. that's a look at the bigger picture nationally. as newt gingrich drops to the bottom of the field, the national review is calling on the former house speaker to drop out of the race. in an editorial called santorum's turn. they say when he led in the polls, he urged the pennsylvaniian to leave the race. on his own arguments, the proper course for him now is to endorse santorum and exit. that's from the editors of the national review. >>> fresh off his cpac straw poll win, mitt romney is pushing his conservative. the former massachusetts governor tried to set himself apart from the other republican candidates painting his main rivals again as washington insiders. >> perhaps the greatest distinction is how what we've done during our lives. our life experience. my congressman paul was a doctor and then went into government. but the other guys spent their life

magazine's list of the richest americans have given to superpacs. 12 gave to the pro romney group restore our future. that includes hotel moguls, bill and richard marriott and wal-mart heirs jim and alice wallton. total, 10 million from donors who gave a million dollars each. one of them is florida energy company president william koch, another is frank vanderslo the united states. mr. obama get a different job. >> reporter: vanderabsolute is also a romney campaign finance co-chairman that illustrates the very close relationship between campaigns and superpacs. according to bill allison of the sunlight foundation. >> really does seem to be blurring the distintions that don't forget llionaire hars and his company donated $8.5 million tothrough superpac, half a million to the pro gingrich superpac winning our future. simmons donations are second only to those from billionaire casino owner sheldon adelson. add e8son and his family gave $11 million to the pro gingrich group. >> there is about, you know, 22 donors who have given the vast majority of the money. man's game. >> reporter: movie director stev

including primaries in states including michigan where we saw a number of new ads out today from restore our future, that is the so-called super-pac aligned with mitt romney. >> how did rick santorum actually vote? santorum voted to raise the debt limit five times and for millions in wasteful projects including the bridge to nowhere. cosponsored 51 bills to increase spending and zero to cut spending. santorum even voted to raise his own pay and joined hillary clinton to let convicted felons vote. rick santorum, big spender. washington insider. i'm rick santorum and i approved this message. >> romney's spiraling at rick santorum. romney and his super-pac has attacked fellow republicans. why? because romney's trying to hide from his big government romney care and his support for job killing cap and trade. in the end, mitt romney's ugly attacks are going to backfire. >> the latest from team romney and team santorum. campaign ads now on the air in michigan. millions expected to be spent in this state. it is a must-win state. and santorum campaign sensing the possibility of victory 13 days before the pr

the three biggest super pacs are republican controlled, including restore our future.osely tied to g.o.p. front runner mitt romney, and as of december, the last time it had to disclose its donation, the super pac had taken more than $30 million in, but how much it's raised between now and then anybody's guess. all secret. we have to wait until a filing. president obama has been a staunch opponent of super pacs, and the citizens united decision. but political reality has set in and he now says he will use them in his reelection campaign. why the about-face? senior democratic officials warn republican operatives like karl rove and wealthy g.o.p. dopers like the koch brothers will spend a half billion dollars to defeat president obama. so is president obama responding to a political reality or trying to have it both ways? democratic strategist donnie fowler joins us again in the war room and from washington we're joined by the organizer of national occupation of washington kevin zeese. thank you so much, both of you for joining us. let me start by asking you for a reactio

in a number of key states including michigan where we saw a number of new ads out today from restore our future, the so-called super pacs aligned with mitt romney and a new ad from the santorum campaign. >> how did rick santorum vote? wasteful projects including the bridge to nowhere. in a single session, santorum cosponsored 51 billings to increase spending and zero to cut spending. santorum voted to raise his own pay and joined hillary clinton to let convicted felons vote. rick santorum, bic spender, washington insider. >> i'm ric santorum and i approved this message. >> mitt romney's negative attack machine is back on full throttle. this time romney fires his mud at rick santorum. he and the super pacs spent a staggering million opposing the republicans. why? romney is trying to hide from his big government, romney care and in the end, mitt romney's ugly attacks are going to backfire. >> the latest from team romney and team santorum. campaign ads now on the air in michigan. millions expected to be spent in this state. romney campaign viewing it as a must-win state and the santorum campaign s

and then there is the $30 million brought in my restore our future.ceived a million dollars from the koch brothers. nearly $400,000 from executives at goldman sachs. $300 thousand dollars from construction executive and $400,000 from the wal-mart family. newt gingrich has raised some $15 million so far, much of it already spent. myth's super pac has raised from $12 million but nearly all of that was spent in florida and nearly all of that was provided by one family. we're joined by nia-malika henderson. thanks for being with us. >> it's great to be here david. >> any incites on the romney campaign as tried to decide what mattered most? >> they are obviously feeling very, very good almost cocky about that strong victory down in they feel like the strategy of carpet bombing newt gingrich and baiting him which is essentially what you saw mitt romney doing in those final days in florida. we would talk about how angry newt gingrich would be. and if he could bait him into this back and forth, he would get this genuinely angry newt gingrich. but those debate