15-16 Billion was spent this cycle according to public data. They talk about the donors a lot. But they hardly tell anyone the biggest beneficiary is the Media.

This year we also had the EU, Indian, UK and French elections and the total cost was less than 2 Billion.

So the big underlying question is what are Americans even getting out of all that spending? Better quality journos? Better quality politicians? Or just better spin doctors, consultants, fund raisers, talking heads?