00:00billionaire campaign spending reaches unprecedented levels in the united states midterm elections
00:05driving by the supreme court's landmark citizens united ruling corporate interest groups mega
00:11donors led by elman musk's record 446 million dollar contributions employing vast sums to
00:20superpacks to influence congressional outcomes for an analysis of how private
00:25well dominates the political system rejoin our correspondent nan albright in boston
00:33yes great to be with you again u.s elections are financed largely through private private money
00:39with strict limits on some donations but virtually no limit on independent political spending
00:45individuals can give candidates only a few thousand dollars per election but wealthy donors
00:51and corporations can give unlimited amounts to what's known as political action committees or
00:57packs sometimes called super packs which can spend that money supporting or attacking candidates as
01:02long as they do not legally coordinate with their campaigns these rules have been in place since 2010
01:08when a conservative majority supreme court decided the landmark citizens united case striking down
01:15restrictions on independent political spending by corporations helping open the door to today's
01:22system of massive outside spending this year for example according to a washington post analysis of
01:29federal election records the world's richest individual elon musk has poured about 446 million dollars of
01:37his own money into the midterms mostly supporting republicans making him the largest individual
01:43political donor i believe in u.s history and some political non-profits can spend money without
01:50revealing all their original donors so while direct contributions remain regulated billionaires and
01:57outside groups can spend enormous sums trying to buy elections dan albright telesor boston back to you
