Did John Roberts and Nino Scalia Kill the Republican Party with Citizens United?

[pampango]

My view is: perhaps they did. The argument is that the Koch Brothers and others of their ilk now think that they bought and paid for the Republican Party--and in the primaries they are largely right. But money is much less influential in presidential elections, and so the minus effect on candidate quality in the primaries outweighs the positive effects of more money in the general election.

This is a panel about whether, and to what degree, money mattered in the 2012 election…. The simple fact is that if you had followed the election simply be reading stories about money in politics, then those stories — which included a lot of very alarming quotes from people in this room — would’ve led you far astray….

I did some reporting on this question back in the waning days of the election. And the smart, savvy, sophisticated take was that the money question was overblown on the presidential level but absolutely decisive in House and Senate races…. And I want to own up to this: That sounded completely right to me…. That didn’t happen either…. It was apportionment, not ads, that kept John Boehner in the Speaker’s chair….

It’s hard to look at the 2012 election, with its record fundraising and the flood of super PACs and all the rest of it, and come away really persuaded that money was a decisive player. And yet the way we talked about money in the run-up to the 2012 election, we really suggested it would be a decisive player….

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2013/05/did-john-roberts-and-nino-scalia-kill-the-republican-party-with-citizens-united.html

I am sure things did not work out the way the big money boys expected them to, but it seems rash to conclude that the impact of Citizens United was overrated. The relatively greater impact of Koch and other big spenders on the primary process may have skewed republican candidates to be further right and hence more vulnerable in the general election. It is true that all the republican money got them 47% of the presidential vote, 49% of the House vote (gerrymandering saved them) and a Democratic Senate, but it would have been a much bigger Democratic win without Citizens United.

[graham4anything]

1. Liberal Jerry Brown creamed Meg Whitman. Zero money to hundreds of millions. Case Closed.

Hillary will cream any republican candidate in 2016.

[CincyDem]

3. but but but...what about that guy Ben Ghazi (R - Dipshitville). Surely he can beat her? lol n/t

[Kolesar]

2. I agree with you eom