Those people throw tens or hundreds of dollars. Not tens of millions of dollars. Big difference.
> Again, there is a paranoid subculture that assumes every donation brings legislative power
No I don't believe the $3 Bernie was asking for would bring any legislative power but $30,000,000?
Nope. I’ve been close to New York, California and Wyoming federal politics for a short bit. There is always someone throwing big money in a bill market. They get suave dinners and photo shoots. But nobody takes what they’re saying seriously. Enough is done, in private, to keep the dollars rolling. But for powerful incumbents, there are more big donors than swing senators. (The non-swing guys can’t push the margin. But they still get dollars, because the point is the photo shoot.)