By the end of the 2016 presidential year, 2,394 Super PACs spent more than $1 billion on federal elections alone (and raised $700 million on top of that)—again, most of it on negative ads. (Seven percent more was spent on Republican candidates than Democrats.) Do the math: that’s a lot of “speech” uttered by a small number of organizations, Yes, the organizations consisted mainly of individual donors, but, no, those individuals weren’t Mom and Pop U.S.A. Most Super PAC money came from a few hundred wealthy individuals.
