The Manosphere Report

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0:22Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to A Numbers Game with Ryan Grudusky.

0:26Thank you guys for being here.

0:27I had an insane weekend that I want to tell you about before I get

0:31into the topic at hand.

0:34So first of all, very important.

0:36I don't really talk about this very often, but I held, I hosted company over

0:40the weekend, made my grandmother's homemade meatballs and sauce.

0:43And let me tell you, it was a home run.

0:46More importantly, I had to go to DC to just go for a work meeting.

0:52It was a quick 24 -hour turnaround trip.

0:55I get there late one night and I said, well, let me go meet with

0:59somebody, just have dinner with somebody.

1:01So I reached out to my friend who's a very well -known reporter and he

1:03said, come to Cafe Milano.

1:05This is a very she -she restaurant, very expensive, a place that people want to

1:10be seen at, right? Because it's a lot of connections and people in the DC

1:13scene. So upon entering, I immediately see three US senators with a very well -known

1:19DC military contractor. So I, you know, I spot that out of the corner of

1:23my eye. I roll my eyes and I just keep walking.

1:25Well, we get to the table where my friend's at and he has some friends,

1:30British friends who are reporters and politicians at the table as well.

1:34And most Americans, that means nothing to them.

1:36But for me, because I follow British politics so frequently, I knew exactly who was

1:40sitting with us. So it was a former member of the British Conservative Party, a

1:45very, very prominent member of the British Conservative Party.

1:49This was a man who was in charge of all the vaccinations during COVID.

1:53This was, he ran for prime minister and lost to Liz Truss.

1:58Most Americans, by the way, would not, that would not register at all.

2:01I immediately knew, I only not only knew who he was, I knew his record.

2:04And he was kind of, for an American, he's way too big governor for American.

2:09I guess in Britain, he wouldn't be considered very conservative anyway.

2:13Anyway, so we started talking and we're chatting about, you know, the state of England,

2:17the state of American politics.

2:18We're talking about Nigel Farage and Reform UK.

2:20And he has since left the British Conservative Party to run, to work, to be

2:24part of Reform UK. And someone at the table asked him, are you going to

2:28run for office again? And he said he's being considered, he's considering doing it.

2:32He's considered running for office again.

2:33And, you know, people always accuse me of being abrasive and, or putting on a

2:39show that I'm abrasive. I am the same way morning, noon and night, whether you

2:43see me, whether you don't.

2:44I mean, it's always the same personality.

2:46So I kind of, I couldn't hold my tongue back.

2:50I just said to him, respectfully, sir, your party was in the majority for a

2:54decade in the UK and you did virtually nothing.

2:58Like, you left the country off way worse than when you found it.

3:03And why, like, what did you learn differently this time than last time?

3:09Like, why are you going to, what, what, what else could you possibly, you know,

3:13wreck if you get elected again?

3:14And he said some interesting things, especially about energy policy.

3:17The UK has a horrendous energy policy.

3:19They have net zero, which is doing terrible things for their, their economy.

3:24And identifies particularly like the Tories, the Conservative Party should have made their identity about

3:29wiping away former Prime Minister Tony Blair's record.

3:32Tony Blair is the one who kicked open the floodgates of third world mass immigration

3:38to England. Tony, Tony Blair pushed forward on, on, on, on net zero, him and

3:44his successor. Tony Blair had the Equality Act, which put all these policemen at risk

3:50of losing their jobs if they were accused of racism when the grooming gangs were

3:54happening. I mean, Tony Blair was a horrendous prime minister to the UK.

3:59And the same way that Trump's, a lot of Trump, what Trump does is to

4:03erase the Obama legacy. The Tories should have been very, very complicit in erasing Blair's

4:08legacy. And they kind of went along with the continuing a lot of Blair's legacy.

4:12It was crazy. So after pushing back, I just, I try to make everything nice.

4:17I said, what is some interesting things that you remember from your time there being

4:20such a senior ranking member of the ruling party?

4:23And he said that there's thing in the UK called Cobra.

4:27Now I'd heard of it before, but my other guest did it.

4:30Cobra is like the secret government meeting of top notch people when there is a

4:34national crisis going on. It's like, it would be like going to, it's not the

4:38same thing as Camp David, but, or the situation, maybe like going to the situation

4:41room, it's called Cobra in the UK.

4:43It's not the health insurance alternative policy.

4:45It's called Cobra. Anyway, um, that's also called Cobra, this American Cobra.

4:50Oh, back to the, back to the story.

4:52So I said, what was, what are some things like that you can share that

4:55were two like crazy moments during Cobra?

4:58And he said, one was the vote to shut down the government because he said

5:02that he wasn't for it knowing what he said.

5:04I don't, I don't believe that.

5:05I think he was probably very for shutting down the government.

5:08But, um, he said the weirdest thing is the Cobra meeting was in London.

5:12So it's a huge city.

5:13It's millions and millions of people.

5:14So he would like, they agree, we're going to shut the government down.

5:18And then he walked down to the street to, as he called it, humanity.

5:22There's thousands of people walking past him.

5:24And he goes, the whole time I'm thinking, you have no idea what we've just

5:28decided. Like, we're going, everyone's on lockdown, like in 24 hours, and you're all just

5:33going, this is the last moments you have to go about your business the way

5:37that you've been doing your entire lives.

5:38That was kind of fascinating from a psychological, he wasn't taking Galeena, by the way,

5:42he wasn't sounding like a sociopath.

5:43He was, he was feeling like, this is insane.

5:46And then the second thing, this is crazy, because I had not even heard of

5:50this. And I follow the news pretty closely.

5:52He said that they got a Cobra call because this is several years ago, Putin

5:57was going to test a nuclear missile in the Black Sea, which is the, you

6:03know, water barrier between Russia and Ukraine and Turkey and all these other, and a

6:09lot of the Balkan nations.

6:12And he was going to test, yeah, he was gonna test a nuclear bomb.

6:19And I said, what did you do?

6:20Like, what do you do when you hear that Putin had a test nuclear bomb?

6:22He said, we immediately started trying to call China to ask China to turn, talk

6:27him out of it. And we were trying to figure out every other world leader

6:31with a close relationship with Putin to turn, to make him change his mind.

6:36Anyway, he did, he changed his mind in the end, but it was a fascinating

6:39story. It really had me kind of gripped to the edge of my seat.

6:42Oh, wait, that was, that's the whole story.

6:44That was the whole weekend, but that was the weekend trip.

6:46But it was, I thought it was great.

6:47That was really an interesting caveat that you guys would really like.

6:50Okay, so over the last week, something else completely different, aside from my trip and

6:56the dinners I cooked, were, that came out.

6:58And it's around the topic of AI, which you guys, I have not had like

7:03an autistic spasm talking about AI in quite some time.

7:05So give me some credit, but we're gonna talk about it now because it involves

7:09both politics and policy and polling.

7:12All my favorite subject matters to put into one.

7:15So let's talk about specifically the polling first.

7:20David Shore, who's a very, very intelligent Democratic pollster.

7:24I'm a big fan. I've been invited on this podcast many times.

7:27He has not since come.

7:28I don't think he's gonna come because I don't know, a lot of progressives, I've

7:32had a lot of good progressives on the show, but a lot of them are

7:35afraid that they're gonna be attacked by the liberal mob if they come on and

7:40talk with me. I don't know.

7:40I am assuming that. I was never been told.

7:42I actually was told that by one person, but I'm assuming that's the truth for

7:45everyone who doesn't agree to come, who is a progressive that I think is smart.

7:49But David Shore is a very smart progressive.

7:51And he had a data about AI that I think you all need to hear.

7:58So here's what he found in his data.

8:00No issue has increased in importance to average voters than AI.

8:05No other issue. Not, think of everything that's come in the last year, right?

8:09The only other issue that even comes close to how much people have taken interest

8:14in AI is war in the Middle East.

8:17Put that into perspective. How much coverage has war and conflict in the Middle East

8:21received in mainstream media, in alternative media, in social media, and versus AI?

8:28I believe if you studied it dollar for dollar, it's probably one -sided for war

8:33with Iran and war in the Middle East.

8:35Nonetheless, people care about more AI than they care about any other issue, including war.

8:40Secondly, AI is hitting at a time where most Americans are increasingly saying life is

8:47unaffordable. Only 9 % of Americans say that life is getting more affordable.

8:5261 % say life is more unaffordable.

8:55Only 25 % of voters say they feel confident in their financial future.

9:02That is not big, especially when you consider how much of the population is wealthy,

9:08retired, or on benefits of some sort where the government is financing a lot of

9:15their life. That's a huge part of the electorate.

9:18That's a huge, huge part.

9:20And still, only 25 % feel good in their financial future.

9:24Third, a majority of voters, 56%, are worried about their job security.

9:31And 79 % are concerned the government doesn't have a plan to protect workers from

9:36AI job loss. 77 % are concerned that industries are going to be eliminated.

9:43And 79 % are worried there will be fewer opportunities for young people.

9:47Those are those 80 -20 issues.

9:50That is like a poll question asking, should a known rapist with a penis be

10:01allowed to shower next to a nine -year -old girl in a public bathroom if

10:06he declares that he is a woman?

10:08Like, that's that lopsided, right?

10:10I want you to put this into perspective.

10:12This is not an issue where there's a lot of gray nuance.

10:17People have serious opinions that are extremely one way.

10:24It is like the transgender issue.

10:26It is one way, and it is going towards that way.

10:29It is increasingly moving towards that way.

10:31We're gonna have a transgender episode next episode, by the way, but another transgender episode.

10:36But anyway, this is where it's going.

10:37It's moving in one direction.

10:41Fourth, voters do not trust the notion that everything is going to be fine.

10:45When told that AI will create economic productivity that benefits everyone, 56 % of voters

10:51don't trust. that statement. 36 % say they trust it somewhat to a lot.

10:56Voters also do not trust the idea that AI will not cause widespread job loss.

11:02Only 26 % of voters believe that AI will not cause widespread job loss.

11:0967 % do not trust people who say that.

11:13When asked, what is the more important?

11:15Funding the creation of new jobs and basic benefits like healthcare, even if it means

11:21limiting the amount that American tech companies can profit from AI or keep innovation so

11:28the American outcompetes the rest of the world in developing AI, even if it allows

11:33tech companies to profit from eliminating jobs.

11:36By the way, David Shore, who made that question, a little bias, a little bias

11:39of a question. Anyway, obviously, they cared more about protecting jobs than innovation.

11:46Next question. And while I want you to hear this, I want you to, if

11:51you hear nothing else from this entire podcast, listen to the next two points.

11:56I have said over and over and over again, AI is how Democrats are going

12:02to put socialism in this country.

12:05Ro Khanna was on this podcast and basically said it.

12:08It's his plan for the new deal.

12:10Massive redistribution of wealth, even at mass unemployment levels.

12:16When asked if people would rather have a job or direct handouts, like Ro Khanna

12:22said, 54 % said they would rather have a job and rather have the government

12:28ensure they have a job.

12:30Only 17 % want direct handouts.

12:3315%, only 15 % are libertarians who say we don't want the government to do

12:38anything. 55 % want to make sure tech companies cannot make unlimited profits.

12:47They include a plurality of Trump voters.

12:51Listen to me and listen to me carefully with what I just said.

12:56More Trump voters believe tech companies should be held financially responsible for the jobs they

13:04destroy through AI, that AI eliminates, than believes they should be able to profit off

13:10of it. This is not a small thing.

13:14This is not a, oh, maybe there's some gray area, maybe we're gonna, maybe we're,

13:17no. Remember I had on, I had on the pollster a couple weeks ago who

13:22said that he was shocked by how, um, how politics has become a circle that

13:27very far right wing people are believing in very far left wing things and we're

13:32not a linear political belief anymore.

13:34This is a perfect example.

13:37When nearly 50 % of Trump voters are saying tech companies should not make unlimited

13:45profits, we need to regulate them.

13:48It is not a question of if those regulations are going to come.

13:53It is a question of when and to the severity.

13:57You need a very smart politician to make sure you do not destroy the entire

14:01system or they just vote for someone who will throw a, you know, a Molotov

14:07cocktail. They will vote for a Trump of the left.

14:09They will vote for an AOC type.

14:11I'm not joking when I say this.

14:13It is a very sincere point I am making right now.

14:17It's not a question of if, it's a question of when.

14:21Last two points on this poll.

14:24And while voters prefer a tax that specifically taxes companies on AI, they like that

14:31more than like the idea of a wealth tax.

14:33Remember the California wealth tax?

14:34They're taxing billionaires. All these billionaires are fleeing.

14:36Only 27 % of voters want a wealth tax because overall we are a capitalist

14:42nation, but 49 % want an AI tax.

14:46And if you don't do one, Republicans, listen, if you don't do one, you will

14:52end up with the other.

14:54I'm making it perfectly crystal clear.

14:57If you don't push for some kind of AI tax or movement, you will end

15:03up with a wealth tax.

15:05Lastly, AI specific populism outperforms all other conversations around economic populism and AI when it

15:13comes to support, helping Democrats win elections.

15:15It moves the needle, the electric needle, an average of 4 % towards Democrats.

15:22Do you understand what that means?

15:24It means you go from a Trump 2024 election to an Obama 2012 style election

15:30if just the AI populism point is hit on.

15:33Now, obviously there's other issues.

15:35There's transgender issues. There's immigration.

15:37There's a lot of things Democrats believe that are nutty and batty and crazy.

15:40You put the unemployment level at 10 to 20 % because of all these AI

15:44regulations and AI innovations rather.

15:47We are in a different world then.

15:49Now, this all comes as two things are happening.

15:53There are two competing Republican rollouts when it comes to AI regulations.

15:58The first is from the White House.

16:00It is a four -page memo on the AI framework policy.

16:04It is pretty straightforward. It's only four pages if you want to go read it.

16:06It's pretty simple. I'll go through a few, few points because it is, it's a

16:10lot to read. But basically there's the main, the first point is about protecting kids.

16:15It says Congress should empower parents and guardians with robust tools to manage their child's

16:19privacy settings. Screen times, content exposure, and account controls.

16:24A, meaning it's on the parents.

16:27They're going to do the same thing they do for YouTube and all the other

16:29stuff that has gone forward for a lot of these social media websites.

16:32But it's all on the parents.

16:34It's not to the AI companies.

16:35Congress established commercially reasonable privacy, protective, and age assurance requirements for the AI platforms.

16:42That's on the AI companies.

16:43Congress should require AI platforms and services likely to be accessed by minors to implement

16:49features that reduce the risk of sexual exploitation and self -harm to minors.

16:54Congress should affirm that the existing child privacy policies apply to the AI systems, including

16:59limits on data collection, remodel training, and targeted advertising.

17:02All of the most regulatory or pro -regulatory language around AI came from the child

17:11section about protecting kids, where I think you're going to get the most amount of

17:14bipartisan support. And also the taxpayers should not feel the increased electricity costs from data

17:22centers, streamline federal permits around AI infrastructure.

17:25That's a boom for the AI industry.

17:27Grants for small businesses so they could develop AI in their businesses.

17:31Once again, boom for the AI industry.

17:33More antitrust liabilities for AI.

17:35That means that you can't just steal people's content.

17:39More protections on copyright. Allow for collective rights and licensing framework.

17:43Prevent government from forcing AI companies to comply with ideological standards.

17:47That's the whole free speech stuff.

17:48And when the next Democrat comes in, Congress should not create any new federal rulemaking

17:53body that regulates AI. Once again, big win for the AI industry.

17:57And should instead support a development and deployment of sector -specific AI applications through existing

18:02regulatory bodies with a subject matter, expertise, and thorough industry -led standards.

18:08Expand efforts to study trends with job losses.

18:12What a stupid freaking part of the bill.

18:14And develop AI youth development program.

18:18Also incredibly stupid. We're going to have an education episode about what we're discovering with

18:24AI and education. It's going to make your jaws drop.

18:27But okay. But mostly the AI companies win big time because what this outlines on

18:32the bill, what an outline does is it says to the states, it gives them,

18:37it gives a little bit around child protection, a little bit around copyright protection, a

18:41guidelines for Congress. But what it mainly says is Congress should preempt state AI laws

18:46that impose undue burdens to ensure a minimally burdensome national standards consistent with these recommendations,

18:53not 50 discordant ones. This national standard should respect key principles of federalism and not

19:00preempt traditional police powers retained by the states to enforce laws of general applicability against

19:06AI developers and users, state zoning laws, requirements of governors to state their one's own

19:12use of AI, whether it be procurement or services.

19:15Preemption must also ensure that state laws do not govern areas better suited for the

19:20federal government, states should not be permitted to regulate AI development because it is inherently

19:25an interstate phenomenon, states should not unduly burden Americans use of AI for activity that

19:30would be lawful if performed without AI, states should not be permitted to penalize AI

19:34developers for third parties on lawful conduct, including involving their models, i .e.

19:41what that means is someone using AI to harm you, AI companies, they're not, they're

19:48not, they're not responsible. It's a huge win for the AI companies, huge win.

19:52It is, it's as if somebody that, the whole outline is as if somebody just

19:57woke up one day from the White House and said, guys, we're doing the bare

20:01minimum today. That's what it is.

20:03It's the bare minimum. I mean, the voters are going to respond positively to the

20:06child protection stuff. They'll, you know, respond, you know, respond positively towards issues around copyright

20:16and licensing. What they will not respond positively to, because we know how slow Congress

20:21moves, is all other regulation only can go through Congress when they're giving so limited

20:27regulations in this, in this bill.

20:29I mean, there's not a lot there.

20:32This doesn't have a ton of teeth, and it's more protections for AI industry than

20:36it is regulations to protect citizens and protect workers is, like, not in there at

20:42all. Now, Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Republican of Tennessee, also issued her own bill

20:47around AI regulation. Unlike the four pages from the White House, this bill was 291

20:52pages long. I'm not going to pretend I read it, I did not read it,

20:55but it covers a series of AI regulations that are overwhelmingly popular with voters and

21:00absolutely encroaches on AI companies' ability to make endless profits while displacing American workers.

21:06That is why the AI tech people, the minute the bill came out, started screaming

21:10how horrible it was. And you can already see, by the way, the White House

21:13has reached out to all their influencers to talk about how amazing their framework is.

21:19The people who don't have a high school diploma are screaming how great they know.

21:23They know every AI regulation at this point.

21:25It's amazing. The Marsha Blackburn bill is obviously an opening, you know, offer.

21:31It's not a perfect bill.

21:33It will go through many, many different cycles, but it is there.

21:36It is something. It is also baffling to my mind how the White House is

21:43doing this now in March, knowing how few dates are.

21:47available left for this Congress to even offer an AI bill, knowing that parts of

21:53the bill are so unpopular ahead of the midterms.

21:56This makes no sense whatsoever.

21:58I mean, I cannot even get into the whole political standings of this entire thing.

22:03Tone deafness must be clinical to a lot of this White House.

22:08Tone deafness must be completely clinical.

22:12It must be, I don't know, contagious.

22:16I have no idea. Something is going on where they are not reading the room

22:21and they're only hearing influencers who want to be invited to the right parties and

22:26people in the business sector who want some profits because that's all it seems to

22:31be and everyone else is getting scraps.

22:35I can't describe it any other way.

22:37I think this is insane.

22:38I just think this is completely insane.

22:41While all this is going on, there is a primary in Chicago where AI and

22:46crypto and the American -Israeli Political Action Committee all were working to have their own

22:52candidates win. $32 million was spent on four house races in Illinois.

22:59Staggering amounts of money is larger than all the campaigns themselves is the outside money

23:05that these companies, especially AI, are now putting to get their chosen person elected to

23:11Congress that will play ball with them on the issues.

23:14And they're not even running on the AI issue.

23:17It's very complicated, but it's very interesting.

23:20Stay tuned for my interview with Dave Weigel, national reporter who covered this.

23:24That's coming up next. Hi, I'm Lita and my business, The Donut Mum, is backed

23:32by ComBank. When we opened, it was just me and my husband Holly.

23:36No big team, no fancy systems.

23:39You see the big stores and think they've got people for everything.

23:42We've just got each other.

23:44But with ComBank, I know our business payments are protected.

23:47That matters because this place is everything to us.

23:52Business security baked in, no doubt.

23:55Eligibility criteria and T's and T's apply.

23:58With me on today's episode is David Weigel, the national political reporter for Semaphore.

24:03David, thanks for coming on this podcast.

24:04It's great to be here.

24:06Thanks for having me. So, David, you covered the Illinois elections.

24:09As I said in my monologue, this was an incredibly expensive series of house primaries,

24:15over $32 million spent by just a few groups, and that's not including the progressive

24:20interests. Who were the biggest winners of this election cycle?

24:26The absolute biggest winner in Illinois was Governor Pritzker.

24:30So, Governor J .B. Pritzker, I think famously is a billionaire, is able to fund

24:35whatever campaign he wants. He did this when he first ran for governor.

24:38He's done it in his subsequent campaigns.

24:39He's shoveled money to state parties where he might run, he might want to favor

24:44later if he runs for president.

24:46He basically helped elect Julianna Stratton, or nominate Julianna Stratton, his lieutenant governor.

24:53The sense I got there from covering that campaign is that it was Rajat Krishnamurthy,

24:59the congressman, who'd spent $40 million, much more than ever been spent, to win that

25:02seat in Illinois. The U .S.

25:04Senate seat. The U .S.

25:06Senate seat. U .S. Senate seat to replace Dick Durbin.

25:08He had the advantage, and Pritzker deciding to put millions of dollars into Super PAC

25:13for Stratton. That changed that race.

25:15See, down the ballot, he helped to let people that he wanted.

25:18I think he had a 100 % record.

25:20Now, he wasn't as involved in the House races, and so that was a nice,

25:25messy story. There was not one particular narrative from the election.

25:29What you saw instead was groups that had played in it come out quickly to

25:33declare victory. AIPAC was the most vocal, saying, we had a great election night.

25:38It was not that great of election night.

25:39It was better than, they started the year in New Jersey with a debacle, where

25:44AIPAC spent millions of dollars to beat Tom Malinowski, ended up with a more left

25:47-wing candidate. Okay, sure. Sorry if we're going too fast.

25:52No, no, no, no, no.

25:53I want to set the stage, because that is true.

25:55So the biggest winner is the governor, Pritzker, who's likely running for president, or at

25:59least flirting with us. AIPAC, the American -Israeli Political Action Committee, they are the pro

26:04-Israel PAC, as you said, in New Jersey earlier this year, really campaigned against Tom

26:09Malinowski, the former congressman, to defeat him, ended up with a further left -wing anti

26:14-Israel candidate. Now, they invested in how many seats in this election in Illinois, and

26:18how did they come out?

26:19In four. They won two, they lost two.

26:22The one that they had the biggest victory in, in Southside Chicago, in the suburbs,

26:28that's where Jesse Jackson Jr.

26:30lost. They were helped by Jesse Jackson Jr.

26:32being pretty toxic to all but his base of voters.

26:34The other one they won, Northwest suburbs of Chicago, like Schaumburg, places like that, they

26:41were pulling in the same direction as Fairshake and the AIPACs that are new to

26:46this cycle. That also had a pretty mixed night.

26:48So, AIPAC won two races.

26:50It declared victory overall, and I'm being critical, not critical since the election, but just

26:56pointing out factually, as it was clear that they were not going to run the

27:00table, AIPAC's public spin started to be, well, we want to keep these potential squad

27:05members out of Congress. And so, we're going to keep Kat Ubegazela, Bushra Amawala, who

27:12is running in the ninth district, which is Evanston LA.

27:15part of chicago uh frankly i went to northwestern i lived in evanston it's it's

27:20really the district where people like there um they go to school they usually live

27:24in wrigleyville when they graduate uh and maybe they get a kid and move to

27:28the suburbs so that very very district i know a lot about um the they

27:33wanted dan biff to lose the mayor of evanston who is a uh what he

27:37called when i talked to him a progressive zionist israel should exist but we should

27:42stop funding them militarily they wanted to meet him they got behind laura fine who's

27:47a state senator who's much more pro -israel down the line uh this and this

27:51he was telling everyone before the election he's talked about more but after this is

27:55polling said apac's brand is terrible in a highly educated progressive district he ran against

28:00apac and he said my opponent is supported by apac i i am a progressive

28:05who's going to oppose them and never take their money and never be influenced by

28:08them so they did they did spend to beat uh kat abogazela who was more

28:13left -wing on israel more calling it a genocide she didn't even support iron dome

28:17during one of the debates she said you know supporting weapons there's no such thing

28:20as defensive weapons yeah she's on cnn a lot you famously she me if anyone

28:26may know her she was the woman who went to the ice protests and they

28:29literally threw her on her ass like they they picked her up and threw her

28:33on her ass um yeah she she but she wasn't even from the district when

28:37she ran she wasn't she had no ties to the district uh her partner which

28:43she disclosed is ben collins who uh took over the onion last year i believe

28:48in the 2024 i believe is when he took it over and they moved there

28:51because uh she lost her job at media matters when they downsized after a bunch

28:55of state and elon musk lawsuits uh she ran as i have fought billionaires i'm

29:01responsible for getting tucker carlson off the air um yes i'm not from here but

29:05but i'm the sort of democrat you want to get to have in dc fighting

29:09for you actually did a good job with no ties the district uh 26 of

29:13the vote and turnout was very high there i mean i the what's the biggest

29:18left -wing victory that set off a lot of their strategy was aoc winning in

29:22uh 2018 more people voted for kat and abogazela in this district than voted complete

29:27period in the aoc race right 30 i think 31 000 or 32 000 votes

29:32so she did tap into something there but this had a record as a progressive

29:37critic of israel and i think if this is not in that race in a

29:41divided field she she probably could have won uh she she had more support than

29:45lara fine yeah so apac took credit after the election but they they really learned

29:50in that district that the brand the apac brand after a couple cycles of doing

29:54this and i've been covering this since the beginning apac starting up a pack with

29:58a different name running in a seat if people say apac supports you it is

30:01now a huge demerit in a democratic primary and the other race they lost was

30:06uh kind of a loop of chicago the a very safe seat in downtown chicago

30:11uh they they backed uh city treasurer melissa conyers urban she flopped uh and another

30:19democrat was elected apac sort of took credit because a more pro a more anti

30:23-israel democrat was not elected but no that was so far for the cycle apac

30:28is um they're i'd say two for two for five on who they actually want

30:32to be in congress winning to they're they're they're winning by losing uh in their

30:36words and the one person that they backed it's what's what's what is it purist

30:41uh what is it purist said or somebody said to purist you know another victory

30:45like that and we're done for like that's kind of the apac style in these

30:48primaries yeah the um the other person that they really backed was melissa bean she

30:53was a former congressman running again um she was backed by apac crypto and ai

31:00she basically had the the everyone supporting her with all this outside money um and

31:07she was the one victor for basically everybody before i go to ai let's go

31:10to crypto they spent a lot of money the crypto people they're putting a lot

31:14in this entire election cycle how did their elections shake out no not great so

31:20this is the worst night for the crypto pack since they've gotten involved in politics

31:24that started in 2024 uh they didn't pretend it wasn't they quickly reacted to the

31:29results and said look we spent for these candidates we got three people elected they

31:32they took credit there was a nikki basinski who's a democrat in a safe seat

31:35uh and the illinois gerrymander is famous all these a lot of seats because they'll

31:39draw a line across the state to get all the democratic precincts uh she had

31:43a progressive challenger she smoked him they took credit for that but that wasn't really

31:47competitive um fair shake bean was the biggest victory they had so being being this

31:52former former congresswoman she lost in the 2010 wave uh she was one of the

31:57most conservative democrats in the house when she was there and the campaigns all of

32:01them including hers but fair shakes ads really leaned on this they kind of reintroduced

32:05her as a progressive pro -obamacare anti -ice democrat the the victory had a lot

32:11to do with progressives did not unite behind anybody uh you just so bernie sanders

32:16and aoc got behind the same person warren got behind him but united about ahmed

32:20who was a pretty well -known progressive in the district but the congressional black caucus

32:25backed somebody else there was a there were other electeds in the in the in

32:28the brace who had no support but they kept running so being wins was about

32:3232 percent there's no runoffs in illinois that was a good victory for fair shake

32:36fair shake uh is also on the right side in uh in in the in

32:40the this the district that jesse jack jr lost the second in the south side

32:45but it spent uh 10 million dollars to help roger christian morthy i i was

32:50double checking that's the most they've spent on the candidate who lost and fair shake

32:54has made these very a little bit ironic if you're a crypto investor you have

32:58some capacity for risk fair shake's pretty careful uh fair shake generally moves into winnable

33:02races or races where somebody's winning already like uh who was a democrat that supported

33:06in 2024 ruben gallego who was always favored to beat carrie lake it really wanted

33:11to beat sherrod brown spent a lot it's been good in races where the battlefields

33:17might go their way anyway they took this risk on what did not look like

33:21a risk on raja and he lost so this is not a pretty decent amount

33:26too he was bigger than people thought yeah it wasn't particularly close and the ironic

33:31thing with his race is he won rural ex -urban white parts of the state

33:37and got demolished in the progressive areas and in the ethnic areas and in the

33:41black areas yeah that and you could tell on election night uh talking to campaigns

33:47they knew raja was in trouble early on because some of the first counties that

33:51are reporting are more rural outside the city places where uh stratton did not have

33:56the money to put a go on the air even with the super PAC and

33:58he wasn't doing that great you know like rural illinois outside of east st louis

34:02he was he was tied there losing losing to stratton parts of that any place

34:07where there was a college any sort of any place with a lot of state

34:10workers he was getting crushed so he uh threatened and i talked to her ad

34:14makers for something else i'm writing stratton in this very smart campaign where she her

34:18first ad was a bunch of uh people saying f trump vote juliana but they

34:23said the word the letters after f the three letters after f they said that

34:26um and the goal was let's identify her as the not just pritzker's friend but

34:31the democratic fighter whereas raja is this much more mealy -mouthed guy who raises a

34:36lot of money they they made her the the fighter candidate which is very successful

34:40um robin kelly this this congresswoman who left her seat uh in the south side

34:44that's why it was open she ran as a more progressive democrat she was the

34:48only one to say that israel's carrying out a genocide in a debate it kind

34:51of a she didn't roll that in a weird way neither here nor there but

34:54just just this she at the last minute said oh it's a genocide so she

34:59people who wanted raja to win were pushing her saying if you're a progressive please

35:03waste your vote on her didn't really work um and so talking the campaigns what

35:08raja did raja always had a heavy carry i mean he was a congressman from

35:12the suburbs but he was not a he's never been a dynamic celebrity candidate he's

35:17a he's a more progressive down the line but will break from the party sometimes

35:22democrat uh very good fundraiser but not really somebody who generated passion and uh the

35:30fact that he ran those these ads running for him across the state backfired in

35:35an important way so the fair shake ads and some of his ads attacked stratton

35:41because one of her group packs got donations from ice contractor uh private prison company

35:46that the contracts with ice so they ran these ads those two packs in the

35:50campaign saying stratton was taking money from ice contractors and what i was learning during

35:56and after the campaign is that that backfired just because voters did not look at

35:59david pritzker's lieutenant governor and think oh she's bought off by ice stratton had already

36:04attacked raja by saying he'd gotten money from palantir uh very just and there was

36:09a bit of a race to who could be the most pure most um unwilling

36:13to take money from anybody who did something bad as according to democrats of 2026

36:17uh but she won that argument and people didn't think they didn't believe that she

36:21was she was truly soft on ice and ice was huge issue in this the

36:25fact that pritzker whatever however whatever credit one people want to give him for uh

36:30working against ice uh in the state trying to get them out stop the operation

36:34democrats love that you mentioned katuba gazella getting thrown at the um at the protest

36:39of broadview the ice detention center uh that really made her her that and her

36:43getting indicted for doing that uh she went from and the polling was all over

36:48the map but she went from somebody who was an interesting story but not really

36:51in fighting for first place to occur after that she was very credible and democrats

36:55really have we learned in this primary really put a premium on if you are

37:01willing to fight trump on specific things he's doing and maybe risk your own safety

37:06to do it you know oh i'm going to vote for medicare for all that

37:09matters less than if you are going to prove that you're really fighting trump yeah

37:13we're really in a french revolution era of the democratic party where it's like the

37:17age of enlightenment everyone has to an age of enlightenment but uh but uh the

37:21uh the where is bros pierre putting everyone on trial um uh major terror the

37:25reign of terror part yeah major terror part of the democratic primary cycle that's just

37:30boiling down in new york where they have that really important primary in new york

37:3312 where alex boris is the and is the ai regulation guy and he happened

37:38to used to work for palantir so he the ai companies are saying you worked

37:43for palantir meanwhile they are they all are associated with palantir and it doesn't really

37:47matter anybody um okay ai speaking of ai let's go into ai how did ai

37:52spend in this election how do they fare oh one thing i will note at

37:57the top and i when i was writing about the races i was fairly sympathetic

38:00to something the left was saying which was these companies are spending money on they're

38:05not saying vote for this candy who's good on our issues they were saying vote

38:10for this candy that we've pulled and this is the best issue for him he's

38:13a fighter for affordability or he's fighting ice or something uh so the ai attacks

38:18split their money they were in for bean as you were saying she was the

38:22biggest win for all these groups of of the day they went in for jesse

38:25jackson in uh his comeback jesse jackson jr i should say not that not that

38:30it's jesse jackson obviously but his son his son is a person with um how

38:35do i say this partly seeming to have a long history of mental health issues

38:39yes his son very well known his son went to went to jail for misusing

38:45campaign funds about uh three quarters of a million dollars in campaign funds he spent

38:49on himself and the story there is he he was in a safe seat he

38:53wanted to run for senate one day or be appointed to the senate he asked

38:56rob blagojevich who has been pardoned by trump about that senate appointment um after he

39:00didn't get that appointment he he had but he has struggled with depression and was

39:04spending a lot of money on gifts for himself and his wife is now is

39:08now separated uh or divorced um partner and he went to jail he came out

39:13he tried to re -establish himself in his his 60s now as a different man

39:19as a man who'd learned he wrote a book uh his mom wrote a book

39:22of their prison letters um it just wasn't very credible in the south side of

39:26chicago so i got the sense the ai packs thought well this makes sense this

39:31is the kind of uh that can win in this district and he was also

39:34very pliable uh jesse jackson jr was putting out these in uh videos about his

39:39his economic plans that basically said yes i'm i'm for building data i'm building data

39:44centers i'm for what ai wants to do it's if you've seen eddington they're basically

39:48the ads that um pedro pascal's mayor is running in that movie and didn't work

39:54so uh they they did they did for melissa bean didn't work there uh and

39:59these are tough remember it's we were saying it's gerrymandered so some two of these

40:03seats were in chicago in the city very working class districts mostly black districts two

40:09of them were more suburban uh the suburban ones are more amenable to it and

40:13because there was so much money in it didn't become like that alex boris race

40:16boris is really trying to turn his campaign to a referendum on i can't be

40:20bought by ai the ai money just didn't become as big of a story it

40:24was just this this cloud of of pack spending and they blurred into it well

40:29i think that i think the two things you said were really important one the

40:32amount of money from third party entities is now larger than any campaign or really

40:37larger than almost all the campaigns put together at this point yeah it is its

40:41own i mean this is this is the the outside money for these four house

40:46races is large enough to be a u .s senate race in itself in the

40:49primary can you speak about that like the immense amount of money being put into

40:53these races oh yeah these are again safe democratic seats were usually the winner now

40:58there's always gonna be packs and uh groups get involved but the winner typically only

41:03has to spend maybe two or three million dollars to win those things and and

41:07has no republican opponent in the fall so they don't even become big fundraisers uh

41:10so everyone was outspent by these by these super packs the senate race was only

41:15not lopsided because raja krishnamorthy had raised so much for his own campaign but um

41:19the money that fair shake spent the 10 million dollars in that race that's as

41:22much as dick durbin spent for every one of his senate each year he would

41:26spend about 10 million 12 million dollars in the entire race uh and so that

41:30became a major issue in chicago and all across illinois but most of us in

41:34chicago of people turning because it's one big media market at the tv the mail

41:39was dominated by this these new packs and people had not heard of them and

41:43there are a lot of bitterness now the progressive the most progressive cat is lost

41:46but they were very bitter not inclined to be pro ai in the first place

41:50this is you're seeing this division where um progressives are a little bit more luddite

41:54a little more anti anti uh progress on ai because they see the working class

42:00job loss part of it um but they they were really turning on these facts

42:07because suddenly people were getting mail in their in their mailboxes that talked about how

42:12they this candidate was corrupt and this candidate took money from corporate interest so the

42:15ad was coming from crypto or from ai well i think that i think the

42:19most important what you said is that they're not even talking about the subject of

42:22ai they're not talking about crypto they're not talking about anything that they're talking about

42:26other things like ice and immigration and uh and making that the referendum and not

42:31telling you who is spending or what they're spending on behalf it's a very it's

42:35it's it's different than back in the day when there would be corporations giving candidates

42:40a lot of money for their to make their own case but this immense amount

42:44of super PAC spending is beyond what you you usually see it is and and

42:49that's important the last thing you said because the old there's disclosure regulation for money

42:56you campaigns take there's less for the super PACs that that this has been the

43:00penumbra that i think has made people very cynical is this this area where PACs

43:05can rate some PACs and 501c3s can raise money and either never report exactly where

43:10it came from progressives do this all the time there's a there are donor funds

43:14and they gave to some group and you never find out where the money really

43:17came from uh or those PACs that could start up on the on the calendar

43:21where they're not going to release their donors until after the election's over that's what

43:25happened in illinois where all of a sudden in january um elect chicago women chicago

43:30progressive partnership these groups were popping up with the everyone's awareness they're not going to

43:35report who took who their money is from APAC did not get credit it uh

43:39to not take credit i should say for putting these facts into the field and

43:42so that has made people very cynical because the old way is um this candidate

43:46is taking here's here are his donors you can go to the fec and pull

43:49down uh okay he took this much from the dialysis industry isn't it coincidental that

43:54he has a dialysis bill in the congress this really has broken that connection where

43:59uh and it's a it's led to a lot of paranoia about where money's coming

44:05from and so you were seeing that the final stage of these races were just

44:08people accusing each other of well you took money from this guy and you took

44:11money from this and you 10 years ago took money from this and then it

44:15was it became very much about donors of the campaigns in a way that was

44:18much messier and less enlightening than it that it used to be where somebody oh

44:22this guy's taking money from the oil industry and he represents the houston that makes

44:26sense it was much much more scattershot in in terms of connecting the money to

44:31what they were doing okay my last question you mentioned that all the progressive the

44:34progressive candidates lost a lot i was going to talk about that but it's not

44:37that interesting what is interesting is going into the next couple of election cycles in

44:41the next couple primaries where are these three major groups crypto ai and and israel

44:46apac spending and where is the next big fight going to take place in which

44:51primaries or which states one coming up is is colorado the answer is uh these

44:56packs are going to spend in places where there are for mostly democrats because i

45:03think most people expect democrats at least to win the house uh democrats who are

45:07facing progressive challenges are open seats where somebody has a pro ai position somebody's anti

45:12so colorado has a couple of competitive races it has um in in the denver

45:18district and to get uh she's experiencing what happened to some candidates in illinois which

45:24is the sunrise movement uh which is a climate group and i have a story

45:27that's now doing a lot of campaigning around uh apac and data centers less less

45:32climate um it has people what they call bird dogging and going up to her

45:37and asking her about her funding for israel recording it uh targeting her now that's

45:43the sort of race that i think these packs are going to look at and

45:46say is it worth spending some money to defend somebody who's good on our issues

45:50against a progressive who's going to tear us up uh that's what happened north carolina

45:54not to expand that even more but north carolina had its primary two two weeks

45:59ago and it was really ai's interest that wanted that that saved a democrat who

46:05had a progressive challenger uh because she was on the ai democrats special committee she

46:11was not going to regular well i'm not going to give her all in politics

46:14but her opponent was running against ai and data centers they said well this is

46:17clear but we'd rather have a democrat who deals with us than one who's running

46:20against us um that will matter in california you're going to see some of the

46:26spending the one who was more pro ai won yes and the one is more

46:31pro ai won by one point uh you're going to see this in california too

46:35because of the new map drawn by democrats there in virginia if this new gerrymanders

46:40succeeds which has to be voted on april 1st same thing there there are going

46:44to be new open districts and you saw wherever there is an open seat candidates

46:49face this question should i put something on my website or have a meeting with

46:52one of these groups or sign a pledge that says i'm pro technology pro ai

46:56pro crypto if i am i might get money spent for me because you can't

47:00actually coordinate you can just say you can't go to a super PAC you're not

47:03allowed to still legally although it's not really the FEC doesn't really do anything about

47:07it can't go to a super PAC and say i'm with it with you please

47:10spend this much money here what you do is sign some forms or take some

47:16pledges that signal what your politics are or if you have a record you say

47:19look at your voting record and then put on your website it'd be really nice

47:23if somebody ran ads for us on these topic and this topic and this topic

47:26um the downside is and you saw a little bit if you're that candidate in

47:30a democratic primary you're going to get a progressive hitting you and saying this person's

47:34bought and paid for um so that is that is the risk that is the

47:37risk assessment candidates are doing is it worth getting free money if i might get

47:41accused of taking too much free money right well jave wagle where can we go

47:44to follow your reporting right a lot of really interesting stuff on the congressional side

47:48and all these elections that are coming out yeah so it's a semaphore .com i

47:52have a newsletter that comes out weekly called americana that's uh reported around the country

47:56we have other newsletters every day we have independent stories i put a lot on

47:59twitter too i mean on x i i i link to the stories but also

48:03i build out a lot of stuff on x because it's really helpful uh whatever

48:07people think of the site it's really helpful to in real time say what do

48:11people think of this get reactions and sometimes somebody comes out of the woodwork and

48:14says check out this race but the the reporting that i am gonna i could

48:19the quote i did i did the quotes i travel i put it into stories

48:22that's uh semaphore .com well thank you so much for calling this podcast i really

48:26appreciate it thank you hey i'm johnny and my physio practice is backed by combank

48:33my business account lets me run my clinic my way the business account that grows

48:37with you no doubt eligibility criteria and t's and c's apply product target market determinations

48:43can be found on the combank website now it's time for the ask me anything

48:47segment if you want to be part of the ask me anything segment email me

48:50ryan at numbers game podcast .com that's ryan at numbers floral numbers game podcast .com

48:56love getting to all your questions this one comes from chris it is a little

48:59long so chris i'm gonna abbreviate it he says you've been knocking out of the

49:02park with park with your scorched earth deep dives and interesting guests Thank you, Chris.

49:06I really, really been working hard on this podcast to try to make it something

49:09good. And I think people are starting to take notice.

49:12You were mentioning how Ohio has changed significantly over time.

49:16You write that the private sector labor unions that provided such a blue wall and

49:19support Northeast Ohio have disappeared with offshoring and automation.

49:23Hamilton County, which had a healthy balance of Republican leadership, has basically gone out of

49:29the city and into the suburbs.

49:30But it's all Democrats at this point.

49:33Anyway, your main question is, Amy Acton is a Democrat, is a formidable candidate in

49:38the sense that Gannett Papers, Cincinnati, Inquirer, Columbus Dispatch elevated her to a Fauci -esque

49:44status during COVID and continue to fawn over her.

49:47I hope that Jessica Anderson is correct in her assessment that Houston and Ramaswamy will

49:51be competent each will complement each other because I'm very concerned of the low propensity

49:56Trump voters saying this out.

49:58There's a Jesuit joke in there somewhere about why Vivek is so unlikable.

50:02He mentions it in his book, but plays fast and loose with his high school

50:05education at St. Xavier. And yeah, I don't, here's the thing about, I think the

50:13question is about, is Amy Acton as formidable or do the Republicans have a chance?

50:17It's a Democrat year. It just, it's way it's playing out.

50:21And Sherrod Brown's a very well -known name.

50:24Uh, but this is Sherrod Brown's fourth time or fifth time at bat.

50:30Um, voters do know him and they just kicked him out.

50:34And I think what John Hustead, um, he's as bland as you could possibly get.

50:41There's nothing that, I mean, I think he had a quib the other day that

50:45kind of went out, um, that didn't land.

50:48But besides that, he's been, he's very, very, very bland and he's very smart because

50:52he's making voting, uh, voter ID a big issue.

50:57He's even throwing it to the Democrats now.

51:00Um, I don't think he's very controversial and I think Sherrod Brown's just going to

51:05attack him as being a Trump supporter, but in overwhelmingly Trump state.

51:08So I, I've heard that there's polling that Sherrod's up, but not by much.

51:13At this point in Ohio, a lot of times the Democrats up, but not by

51:16much. And it seems that Sherrod is actually polling worse than Acton.

51:22Here's the thing about Acton.

51:24Yes. Acton was all about shutting down the government.

51:26Acton was all about, you know, um, all about, uh, uh, all about, you know,

51:31COVID, how she gained prominence.

51:34The thing is, is there's two major issues.

51:37Remember when I said on this podcast, all the Ohio listeners, Ramaswamy is not going

51:42to show himself much in the ads because they did.

51:47And I know this from the presidential campaign, they tested it that when he was

51:51on camera, people liked him less than when people talked about him.

51:56And in his second ad that came out, his first ad was his wife and

51:59his wife is very lovely and sounded very smart and, you know, was very compassionate

52:02and did a great job.

52:03And the second ad, his, it was somebody else also talking about him.

52:08It was not him talking about himself.

52:11And then he got on television or wherever he was.

52:14And he said, our problem is we have too many public colleges.

52:17We should condense them. Now you could say that's a really smart idea or yes,

52:22that's possibly true. Or let's like, let's look at this analytically.

52:26That's something you do once you are in office, not something you say when you

52:31are running for office, because what that means for Joe Schmo in Miami, Ohio, or,

52:38you know, in, in parts of the state that are really in not great financial

52:44shape is it means one of the biggest job providers for their local community, it

52:49may possibly go out of business because of VEC.

52:53It's not that's, you don't say something like that.

52:56Like you don't say, hey, hey, let's put kids in school all year long while

52:59you're campaigning, which is something that VEC did.

53:03Don't try to think you're smarter than the voters.

53:08Running for office is not, and excuse my language, but this is truth.

53:12Running for office is not an exercise in mental masturbation.

53:16It's not to show everyone, look how bright I am.

53:19I can think of 7 million different ideas that you have to live under.

53:23That's not the point. The point of a good candidate to run for office is

53:28to repeat what their people already feel, promote ideals that they understand.

53:35You're not trying to educate them.

53:37You don't bring up 50, we're going to launch people into space and then they're

53:41going to bring out their own energy from the sun.

53:43No, no, no. Listen, talk to them about things that they already know, things that

53:47are tangible, tangible solutions. I always tell it to candidates, tangible solutions.

53:53If you can't run on just, you know, words and phrases like hope and change

53:59or the free market or American exceptionalism, if you can't reuse that and you need

54:03actual policy solutions, run on things that people understand.

54:07Don't try to sound smart on them and make the solutions tangible.

54:10If you close your eyes and you thought of what build the wall looks like,

54:14you could think of what that tangibly looks like.

54:17Close your eyes. You can think of what Medicare for all actually looks like.

54:20It's a tangible, easy to understand, comprehensible solution.

54:25Vivek is not doing any of that right now.

54:28And that is why Amy Acton is winning.

54:31Some, I think it was Cook Political or one.

54:33these pollsters that analyzed the sailor race, moved the Ohio race from likely Republican to

54:39lean Republican, and then blamed it on the fact that Vivek is Indian.

54:43It has nothing to do with that at all.

54:46It is literally because he is making himself as unlikable as humanly possible.

54:52And to answer your question, Chris, I think that there is a world out there

54:56where Houston wins, but so does Amy Acton.

55:00I don't think they have to win as a pair.

55:02I do think there will be crossover because I think Vivek is doing everything he

55:06possibly can to turn people in these college towns and say, hey, your whole livelihood

55:11could be down the drain.

55:12We don't know. We'll see.

55:14I think this is a good idea, possibly.

55:16Telling moms, hey, guess what those summer vacations you were planning?

55:19Let's talk about having school all year long and changing the way you've done things,

55:23and you've done things for generations.

55:25He's creating instability in people's minds about the future of their state, and that's a

55:30scary thing, and he's not doing a great job at it.

55:32He still is the likeliest candidate to win.

55:34I want to emphasize it to you because Ohio is so Republican, but he's doing

55:38everything he can to lose.

55:41It is his race to lose, and he is making sure he can try to

55:45lose it. That's all. And you guys know I'm not a fan of Vivek.

55:48I'm trying to really call it balls and strikes as it is and not temper

55:52my personal feelings with my political assessment.

55:56He does also, one of the things, Vivek has a lot of union support, which

55:59Republicans usually don't have, so maybe that also will bail him out.

56:03Unions don't always vote for who their bosses support, just FYI.

56:07All right, that's this episode.

56:08I'll see you guys on Wednesday.

56:09If you like this podcast, please like and subscribe on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

56:13wherever you get your podcasts, and on YouTube.

56:15And if you're feeling generous, give me a five -star review.

56:17It really helps share this podcast, everybody.

56:19I will see you guys on Wednesday.

56:23Hi, I'm Lita, and my business, The Donut Mum, is backed by ComBank.

56:28When we opened, it was just me and my husband, Holly.

56:32No big team, no fancy systems.

56:34You see the big stores and think they've got people for everything.

56:38We've just got each other.

56:40But with ComBank, I know our business payments are protected.

56:43That matters because this place is everything to us.

56:47Business security baked in. No doubt.

56:50Eligibility criteria and T's and C's apply.

It's a Numbers Game: The Numbers Behind Illinois Primaries: $32M Spending, PAC Power & Political Winners