>> it's the first presidential race in which we have seen the super pacs, the citizen united ruling alloweds n. 2012, they are spending a lot more money. there are maybe 1 thrirt super pacs and they spent $66 million already. the big super pacs are backing the g.o.p. candidates? are they contributions in the $5 range or are they in a bigger range? >> what's really interesting so far is that the large proportion of their donors are millionaires and billionaires from big industries, like real estate and investment, industry, energy industry donors. and romney's super pac got at least 10 contributions of $1 million or more. some donors have given $10 million, such as the casino mogul who gave that amount with his wife, a super pac backing newt gingrich. >> greta: they are associated with associated with the candidates, but they are separate. there may be a lot of -- i think this is my feeling, there is a lot of nodding and winking, but they are not connected to the candidates? >> in fact, they are forbidden by law from coordinating with the candidates. >> greta: but -- i never see a -- i mean,

it's not just because of the citizens united ruling. my own view is that the greatest threat to transparency, if you can be call it a threat, is the increased activism and political engagement of nonprofit groups, as i'm sure you guys know. the internal revenue does not require nonprofits to discover the source of their spending. there are minimal reporting requirements and that's probably for very good reason. it dates all the way back to the civil rights era when the irs wanted to protect groups active in issues like civil rights and protect the anonymity of their donors. but nonetheless, beginning with the 527 organizations in 2004, we've seen millions of dollars flow through nonprofit groups of different types to be spent in arguably campaign-oriented fashion. now, 527 groups disclose everything to the irs. so eventually you saw the money and where it has come from. i would argue that there are a number of transparency challenges that have been presented. super pacs present special tran r transparency problems for three reasons. one

liable for human rights abuses in other countries especially poignant debate after the citizens united ruling corporations are people that are free speech in our elections for the downsides of personhood like accountability and those applies well so do you think corporations should be responsible for our producer patrice and sent you to the streets of d.c. to find out what she had to say. i'm on the streets of d.c. to tell people in the nation's capital what our viewers on twitter facebook and padded say and we're going to see if they want to keep or delete your comments. and we. should major corporations be held accountable in u.s. courts for human rights violations that they committed in another country so marina on facebook said definitely of corporations are accountable at home why not abroad keep it or delete it i would say keep it i would say if you're a corporation and you want to see your business overseas represent your company but you also represent american values and we have to keep that nationwide and also worldwide donna on you tube said if global corporations are not responsibl

organization that they set out here it is by the ones the three is basically a product of the citizens united ruling right or these now are going to say fans that take in all kinds of finding and then hand over to the super pacs and that's why the donors aren't so close that's all part of the same problem. as well that's a problem. super pac that's the irony you keep calling it out so definitely an irony of it all but you know i have to ask you that when you thought about the horizontal structure right and how this is something that's being done from clearly differently where do you think the occupy movement is right now that has been in five months they don't really have a large physical presence anymore or do you think that i know that you know you. you serve as an and media element i think of the movement and the t.v. that you do what else is it that they need to do to stay relevant they had actions last week they weren't huge actions by apac also didn't get the numbers it didn't get the media attention as they did last fall those couple of factors that come into play you know late into the fall

super pac that were created as a result of a supreme court ruling in 2010 known as the citizen's united rulings probably a good court ruling, it says you can't restrict people's free speech, but what is the result? well, let's take a look at some of the super pac ads and then we'll talk about how this happens. ♪ ♪ >> why is this man smiling? because his plan is working. brutally attack mitt romney and hope newt gingrich is his opponent. why? newt has a ton of badge. for ethics violations or freddie mac before it helped the cause the meltdown. >> and mitt romney, bain capital, the mission, to reap massive rewards. >> mitt romney, those guys don't care who i am. >> he's for small business, no use, he's not. >> you're going to be on a hit list, now what. >> from latin machine, began a pattern of exploiting dozens of american businesses. >> that's pretty rough stuff. that's what super pac's do. they do stuff that no candidate would put their name on and so rough. it would blow back to the candidate. super pacs are created independent of the candidate. there's no ability for the candidate and the s

they were created as a result of a supreme court ruling back in 2010 known as the citizens united ruling. the fact is, the super pac probably was a good court ruling. it basically said that you can't restrict people's free speech, but what is the result? let's take a look at some of the piewrsuper pac ads and we'll tak about how this happens. >> why is this man smiling? because his plan is working. brutally attack mitt romney and hope newt gingrich is his opponent. why? newt has a ton of baggage, the fact that he was fined $300,000 for ethics violations or he took at least $1.6 million dollar from freddie mac before it helped cause the economic meltdown. >> mitt romney's mission, to reap massive rewards for himself and his investors. >> mitt romney and them guys, they don't care who i am. >> he's for small business? no, he isn't. he's not. >> you're going to be on the hit list, you know that. >> romney took foreign seed money from latin america and began exploiting dozens of american businesses. >> that's some pretty rough stuff. that's what super pacs do. they do stuff that no candidate

they were created as a result of a supreme court ruling back in 2010 known as the citizens united ruling. the fact is, the super pac probably was a good court ruling. it basically said that you can't restrict people's free speech, but what is the result? let's take a look at some of the piewrsuper pac ads and we'll tak about how this happens. >> why is this man smiling? because his plan is working. brutally attack mitt romney and hope newt gingrich is his opponent. why? newt has a ton of baggage, the fact that he was fined $300,000 for ethics violations or he took at least $1.6 million dollar from freddie mac before it helped cause the economic meltdown. >> mitt romney's mission, to reap massive rewards for himself and his investors. >> mitt romney and them guys, they don't care who i am. >> he's for small business? no, he isn't. he's not. >> you're going to be on the hit list, you know that. >> romney took foreign seed money from latin america and began exploiting dozens of american businesses. >> that's some pretty rough stuff. that's what super pacs do. they do stuff that no candidate

rules. you've played outside the united states' rules. >> no. we've actually played inside the rules.o out to get the material. we operated just like any u.s. publisher operates. we didn't play outside the rules. we played inside the rules. >> there is a special set of rules in the united states for disclosing classified information. there is. >> there is a-- >> longstanding... >> there's a special set of rules for soldiers, for members of the state department who are disclosing classified information. there's not a special set of rules for publishers to disclose classified information. there is the first amendment. it covers the case. and there's been no precedent that i am aware of, in the past 50 years, of prosecuting a publisher for espionage. it is just not done. those are the rules. you do not do it. >> no one has accused assange of stealing secrets. the apache video and the classified documents were allegedly provided to wikileaks by private first class bradley manning, a low-level intelligence analyst in iraq who is accused of copying them from a classified government network

. >> so, then we have in about 30 states challenges to this citizens united ruling, right?hought is this could be a long and drawn out process. tell me how what happened last night you think fits into your overall objective. >> i'll tell you, i think the people of vermont, in fact the people of america, are totally disgusted with what they are seeing in terms of the huge amounts of money that billionaires and corporations are now throwing into the political process. look, honest people have honest disagreements about policy. what very few people, whether you're a progressive like me or a conservative, think that it's appropriate in this democratic society where people fought and died to maintain our democracy, to see a handful of billionaires say, oh, we're going to give gingrich $10 million, we're going to give romney this amount of money, we're going to give santorum -- we're evolving into a situation where we're going to have corporations deciding who will be our president, who will be our senators and members of the house, because they will be able to pour in unlimited

. >> i think we've been talking about this since the citizens united ruling.nding dollars. restore a future which is the mitt romney super pac spending about $1.2 million, winning our future, the newt gingrich super pac drastically out spending newt gingrich, the candidate. super pacs in many wayings have taken over the messaging for these candidates. it's absolutely amazing and unprecedented in modern campaigns. >> it's daddy warbucks campaign. three rich men. three very rich men. thanks. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports". don't forget to follow the show online and on twitter at mitchell reports. thomas roberts has a look at next on "news nation." >>> coming up, rick santorum lays out his argument for this two man race with mitt romney. rick santorum supporters call for gingrich to drop out. >>> former senator mike dewine on who is backing santorum. >>> plus, the obama re-election team releasing a sneak peek of campaign film it's rolling out. sam: i'm sam chernin. owner of sammy's fish box. i opened the first sammy's back in 19

with the vice president of the russian center for political studies and has also worked with the ruling united russia party. thanks very much for being with us. what is your reaction to what the monitors have been saying? >> we must take into account the presidential elections in the past 20 years, these elections were the most free in the history of modern russia. this happened thanks to the enthusiasm and zeal of tens of thousands of civic activists who participated as observers. for international observers, this is a happy hour and they have performed their job. nobody denies that the election system and system of democracy in russia should be further improved and become more sophisticated. >> but there were problems. >> of course there were problems. some opposition leaders say that 3000 or 4000 cases of fraud and violations occurred. but everybody understands that and everybody recognizes that fraud could not have a substantial or significant impact on the overall result of the election. >> would you expect that president putin will order an investigation into these thousands of allegatio

debate with the results of december's parliamentary vote which handed a majority of seats to the ruling united russia party leading to fraud accusations and mass protests in response to government promised the most transparent presidential election in russia's history nearly two hundred thousand where cameras were installed polling stations across the country the online monitoring system which cost over three hundred million dollars allowed anyone anywhere in the world to log on to our website show one ally broadcast of russians cast in their ballots . hello gentlemen two million you thank you very much for joining us on the show well first of all gentlemen the the the font upshift in there many of the the public opinion poll company had published cruel luminary results just the world couple of days before the for the actual election and it predicted that putin will win in the first round well this is pretty much the same that we are having today at this minute when we are hearing the first results from the from the central election committee well here here's the poll here's how here is how th

debate were the results of december's parliamentary vote which sounded a majority of seats to the rule united russia party leading to fraud accusations and mass protests in response to government promised the most transparent presidential election in russia's history nearly two hundred thousand were cameras were installed all in stations across the country the online monitoring system which cost over three hundred million u.s. dollars allowed anyone anywhere in the world to log on to our website show one oh i broadcast on russians casting their ballots. so this is this is the world the results look like we have them on the screen and here in the studio after the sentencing of political analysts that with whom we will be discussing the the result was that in welcome the welcome to the show well as a result of the results that we see now they they they fully correspond to the public opinion polls expectations this is mean that we aired a clear transparent and fair election is it like clearly what we have to wait a couple of days you know i can see that absolute of the same as it was. but today

it's mixed this hour on the one hand wednesday's data shows that crude stockpiles in the united states of rules last week essentially pressuring the oil price on the other hand braun's oil production is the lowest it's been about ten years as sanctions against iran's nuclear program heard an industry that's already been suffering from years of under-investment we'll see how the situation develops we'll keep you posted on this throughout the day now on to the asian markets in asia they are higher this hour in tokyo the new. is gaining quite a bit it's quite robust thanks to a weaker yen that supporting the exploiters and in the whole kong the hang seng is actually flat to positive the sour of those that in the red most of the day and that's the way things are at this moment now into the currencies a euro is actually setting value against the dollar and the ruble is also lower against both the dollar and the euro and on to the russian equity markets here in moscow the markets opened sharply in the red but they've balanced the value this hour as you can see there now the biggest movers on the my s

information in the rule making doc indicates that the new unit max standard was set using performance data from logan units. the epa posted a chart and the doc is showing six separate with logan failing the standard five out of six times. well, we've told the public that the new unit max standards would not prevent new units from being built but yet your own data seems to show that the very units would fail a compliance test. am i wrong on that? >> yes, i believe i disagree with you on that, sir. the mercury and air toxic standards are based on achievable technology for the best 12%. they look at individual contaminants, like mercury, arsenic, acid gases individually. and one of the concerns is looking at condensable versus total particulate matter as air pollutants. so we believe that they are achievable and that the standards meet the requirements of the clean air act in that regard. >> okay. back to logan. is it not accurate that they thought they failed five out of the six tests? >> sir, i can certainly look at the individual data you are citing but the low implant, it's a well-pe

alternate delegate to be bound by any attempt of any state or congressional districts to impose the unit rule." of the primaries and caucuses through april 1 are proportional -- that is another party rule. it states that the delegations must be allocated on a proportion of who wins in congressional districts or across the state, meaning there is no winner-take-all. we have a call from oklahoma. democrats' line. good morning. caller: good morning. a duet for letting me talk. i am calling from oklahoma. host: go ahead. caller: i am a democrat. i would never -- i have never seen anything so horrifying than what the republicans are trying to do now. they use to the honorable. what they do to this president is not necessary. i am so proud that i am a democrat because president obama is doing what he can and bush, i have never seen anything so ridiculous. president obama is a good person. host: u.s. for the call. springfield, oregon. the possibility of an open republican convention your your thoughts? caller: if it is only the two that are left, we could be -- santorum am romney -- and romney. i wa

the united states has not ruled it out, and senior republicans say it must be done in the right way. >> if we don't do this when we can prevent a massacre from taking place, then i think the united states will have abrogated its responsibilities. >> but none of the measures taken so far have been enough to stop scenes like this. these are apparently wounded activists. it's just one reason why some are so keen to defect. >> now, a question that they're asking in greece, will they or won't they? private creditors will announce whether they'll accept a deal to cut greece's debt burden. the government needs a large majority of investors to go along with it, otherwise there will be fears building once again of an imminent greek default. they call it the haircut, with creditors losing up to 70% of what they're owed. that would be the lanchest debt restructure that goes through for any question ever recorded. to get some more on this and how it all works, i spoke to the bbc's mark lowen in athens. >> well, it would be over 100 billion euros of the 206 billion euro that is greece owe s to its

the that would be the end of the international law and the end of the charter of the united nations there are rules to be observed sovereignty of member states this is not me i'm saying that this is the problems of the talking you have to respect the sovereignty you have to respect the territorial integrity you don't have to interfere in the domestic affairs of member states you have to help yes you have to assist yes but don't take advantage of the suffering of the peoples in order to interfere in the mystic affairs for your own purposes usa and britain have never been keen interest in serving the interest of neither the syrian people nor the russian people nor the chinese people these powers insisted for six decades on ignoring the sea it is an ideal completion of the world if they were really serious about helping the syrian people they would have exactly pushed on these that i need to withdraw from the syrian border to withdraw from the remaining pretoria in south lebanon occupied by using it to to give to the palestinians their. million of a right of self-determination and having their own sta

rules. and i have real questions with respect to the united states using its wto rights to insist that russia comport with global trade rules and i think what you've said in particular, today mr. williams, raises some of those concerns. that's what i want to explore for a minute. that you all have talked about the challenges in terms of doing business in russia, we're talking about discrimination, we're corruption, expropriation, failure to enforce intellectual property rights. a host of issues that relate to this question about a rule of compliance. and for me, an indicator of the administration's appetite to enforce russia's wto commitments might be found in looking to the degree of interest we've seen in enforcing the eligibility criteria for the generalized system of preferences, what's known as gsp. and i want to just spend a quick minute looking at how gsp has applied to russia. now, gsp is a preferential program, we looked at it on the trade subcommittee, that provides duty-free treatment of imports from russia so long as russia complies with the eligibility criteria that congress esta

russians really very like there was also a very poor there was a very small very to the united russia party britain the ruling party and iran issue even gave instructions are very very slow very much astonished very true so this idea that people love united russia and lost putin i think that's where all the election results come through well i would. agree with you no no no russia is going to be the first i agree with a lot of what got us in just sad but you know just two years ago i would completely agree that russian voters are appreciative now that's not the case very good or that's not the case you know my niece was very young who didn't go to vault at the last election and who never was interested in politics today she works as an observer at the election she's withdraw her of steam she dislikes prosser of to be frank with you but she went there because it's interesting you and her if you do it is i want russia to be a country where people choose their leaders. hume i'd choose put him i'm eighty percent sure she would warm for him because jonathan you're right you said the younger russians are the intern

the united states constitution is the rule by law. the rule by law is to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority. it is the classic definition of law. now, the rule of law is what justice kennedy and justice roberts recently spoke about. in their opinions, one was involving the flag-burning case. texas vs. johnson. the other one was by justice kennedy. the other one was by justice roberts very recently in the demonstrations of military fit -- demonstrations at military funerals. they both said the same thing. they said, we don't like what these people did. as a matter of fact, what they did and their beliefs are abhorrent to most americans, and to us personally, but unless we protect their rights, all our rights are in jeopardy. and that is why the concept of a constitutional democracy is so important and must be preserved, but is not understood today. it is not understood by many americans. why? it is not that hard to understand. we live in a democracy. a democracy is supposed to be governed by a majority opinion. so, w

syria the that would be the end of the international and the end of the charter of the united nations there are rules to be observed southern feel of number states this is not me i am saying that this is the provisions of the topic you have to respect the sovereignty you have to respect the territorial integrity you don't have to interfere in domestic affairs of member states you have to help yes you have to assist yes but don't take advantage of the suffering of the peoples in order to interfere in their domestic affairs for your own purposes you as a france and britain have never been keen interest in serving the interests of neither the syrian people nor the russian people nor the chinese people these powers insisted for six decades on ignoring this theory that israeli occupation of the golan if they were really serious about helping the syrian people they would have exerted pressure on these ladies to withdraw from the syrian border to withdraw from the remaining people in in south lebanon occupied by using that tool to give to the palestinians their you know you know variety of some of the commu