Reid has been portrayed as obsessive about the Koch brothers-- there's obviously a lot of footage of him out there talking about them-- but I wanted to share this because its interesting to hear Reid talk about the need for reform as a narrative, taking you through his 40 years of experience beginning with his first run in 1974.
He particularly focuses on 1998. A famously tough election. Reid beat John Ensign, a sitting Congressman who, after his defeat, would go on to win Nevada's other Senate seat two years later and was talked about as a future national Republican star until a sex scandal sank his career. The race came down to 401 votes, out of well over 400 million cast. And they spent $10 million. Combined.
Reid talking about that election, less than 20 years ago, sounds like a grandfather talking about how pop used to only cost a nickel.
It's scary but his 1998 race's combined spending amounts to a single digit percentage of what was spent just two races later. (Going off of his numbers, $10M/$120M= 8%.)
Outside groups spent as much money in the last election as was spent in the last 12.
Shit is getting worse and its getting worse fast. What he says about the Koch brothers is true and it is amazing that it is tolerated.
This is arguably the most important issue in America because of the impact it has on almost all other policies and potential for reform.
